My Documents Folder Does Not Open When You Double-click the My Documents Icon
Looking for:
- Cannot open folder windows 10 |
Cannot open folder windows 10. Fix File Explorer if it won't open or start
At the top of the next window, you'll see a field labeled Owner. This will likely say Unable to display current owner if you're having an issue. Click the blue Change link next to this to fix it—note that you'll need to be an administrator to do so.
You'll now see a dialog box titled Select User or Group. Inside this, in the Enter the object name to select box, type the account name of the new folder owner. This can be either an account username, or a group of users on your PC.
Groups include standard units like Administrators if you want all computer admins to own it , or Users for everyone to own it. For home usage, it usually makes the most sense to assign ownership to one person. We assume that you want to take ownership of the folder with your own account, so type your username here. If you use a Microsoft account to sign in to Windows, your username is the first five letters of your email address.
Hit Check Names once you're done to make sure it's correct. Click OK. Back on the main Advanced window, you'll notice a box at the bottom that starts with Replace all child object permission entries If you want your changes to apply to all folders inside the current one which you probably do in most cases , check this box. Then hit OK twice, and you're all done. When dealing with "access denied" errors, you should apply the above steps with care.
Avoid taking ownership of folders in system directories like Windows , Program Files , Program Data , or similar. Doing so will weaken the security of your system, because normal accounts aren't meant to be the owners of these directories.
They contain important Windows folders that you shouldn't touch. You can still get access to most of these folders by navigating to them in File Explorer. You'll have to confirm admin permissions, then you can take a look at them without becoming the owner. If taking ownership of a folder doesn't work, or you're an administrator trying to give permissions to someone else, you should next review what users have which permissions for the folder in question. Pull up the same Security tab in a folder's Properties box as before.
At the top, you'll see a list of users and groups on your PC. Select an entry here, and the bottom panel will show what permissions they have for this folder. Hit the Edit button to change the permissions for each user as desired.
As you'd expect, Full control gives a user or group complete power over the folder and everything inside. Read is the most restrictive option, as it only allows you to see what's in the folder. See Microsoft's page on file and folder permissions for a more detailed breakdown. Sometimes, your antivirus can get overzealous and end up messing with your ability to access files. If you've confirmed that everything is correct with your file permissions after going through the above, you should consider checking your security tool next.
Take a look around your antivirus program's settings and see if there's an option like a file shield, ransomware protection, or similar.
Try disabling this and then attempt to access the file again. If it doesn't have an effect, temporarily disable your antivirus entirely and see if that helps. Another reason you might see the "access is denied" message is that a folder's contents are encrypted. As you may know, encryption protects a file by only allowing someone with the key to view it. You can encrypt folder contents in Windows, though this feature is only available in Professional and above versions.
To do so, right-click a folder and choose Properties. On the resulting window, click the Advanced button on the General tab.
Here, check the Encrypt contents to secure data box. With this in place, everything inside the folder will be locked.
This type of encryption is transparent, meaning that the owner never notices the encryption. As long as they're logged into the system, they can access these files. Was this reply helpful?
Yes No. Sorry this didn't help. Thanks for your feedback. For us to understand the concern, what is the name of the folder that you cannot open? Also, what is the contents of that folder? You can isolate the concern by opening the folder in a new window. You can do this by right clicking the folder, and then choose Open in a new folder.
You can also copy the folder on a USB flash drive and see if you can open the folder using another computer. It sounds like the cause of this issue is related to some updates or programs installed on your PC.
To isolate the cause of this issue, we recommend that you perform a clean boot to start Windows by using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. This helps eliminate software conflicts that occur when you install a program or an update or when you run a program in Windows Kindly check this link as a guide on how to perform a clean boot.
I've done the clean boot, the folder opens on the first attempt which, iirc, it has done in the past after a normal boot , but not after that leave the folder and try to re-open it.
The system hangs until I hit ctrl-c then displays the following error:. This error has appeared several times and in each instance it has stopped at different files i.
I started in safe mode, same problem. Instead I simply uninstalled all apps that were listed as being installed since the problem began and that seems to have fixed the issue.
I can't say exactly which app was the problem, but I suspect it was a free video converter. Choose where you want to search below Search Search the Community. Search the community and support articles Windows Windows 10 Search Community member. In my Windows 10 File Explorer I can open one of the folders.
A message flashes "Working on it This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. I have the same question Report abuse. Details required :. Cancel Submit. Hi Lanny, Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.
The issue could occur if some system files is corrupt. To assist you better, please provide the information: 1. Have you made any changes to the Computer prior to the issue? Is this is issue specific to a particular folder? Refer to the below methods and check if it helps. If the issue still persist, refer to the below method.
Press Windows Key. Click on search bar. Right click on it and select Run as Administrator. Reply to us with the information, so that we can assist you better. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.
Comments
Post a Comment