External Hard Drive Issue

M

Murudai

New Member
Hiya,

I'm having a very strange problem with my External Hard Drives (I have 2). What happens is that I am unable to open either of the external Hard Drives in 'Computer' by double clicking them. It just doesn't do anything. But when I right click and select 'Open' it says:

"Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I have checked the security details for the drives and I should be able to access them just fine.


But here is where it gets weird. I can right click and select 'Explore' and it will open up like normal and I can browse the folders just fine!

I used to be able to access these Hard Drives just fine before, but then they just went like this and I have no idea why. Since it happened to both Hard Drives simultaneously, I figure it is a Vista problem and not related to the specific drives.


Other symptoms are that the icon for the drives no longer shows up in 'Computer', although the name and disk space turn up fine. Also, I've noticed that the drives are operating much slower than usual, nearly a tenth of the normal read/write speed.


OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Version 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001


Thanks,
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
I recently had to do a system restore due to corrupted system files, I'm pretty sure I restored it to before the problem, so that didn't work.

I would try it again, but at the moment I have a huge project I'm finishing off and I'd rather not screw around with it much. I can still access the hard drives, so it isn't a major problem, it is just annoying.


That link you gave me doesn't apply to Vista Home Premium edition :(
 

My Computer

System One

Murudai said:
Hiya,

I'm having a very strange problem with my External Hard Drives (I have 2). What happens is that I am unable to open either of the external Hard Drives in 'Computer' by double clicking them. It just doesn't do anything. But when I right click and select 'Open' it says:

"Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I have checked the security details for the drives and I should be able to access them just fine.


But here is where it gets weird. I can right click and select 'Explore' and it will open up like normal and I can browse the folders just fine!

I used to be able to access these Hard Drives just fine before, but then they just went like this and I have no idea why. Since it happened to both Hard Drives simultaneously, I figure it is a Vista problem and not related to the specific drives.


Other symptoms are that the icon for the drives no longer shows up in 'Computer', although the name and disk space turn up fine. Also, I've noticed that the drives are operating much slower than usual, nearly a tenth of the normal read/write speed.


OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Version 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001


Thanks,
Click to expand...


I had the same issue, it was due to virus.

try to run a virus scan and check

Good luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    AMD
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    2GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 256MB
    Sound Card
    Creative 7.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" Viewsonic and Sony 26" S Series TV
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Sata (1 TB) and IDE (350GB)
    Keyboard
    Multimedia (Wireless)
    Mouse
    Optical (Wireless)
    Internet Speed
    2MB
Kernel said:
I had the same issue, it was due to virus.

try to run a virus scan and check

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Oh, okay. Let me fire up the ol' virus hunter...
Interesting, according to AVG, some of my system files have been 'Changed' :

kernel32.dll
wsock32.dll
user32.dll
shell32.dll
ntoskml.dll

No idea what that means though. Is there a way to fix that without just reinstalling Vista?
 

My Computer

System One

Murudai said:
Kernel said:
I had the same issue, it was due to virus.

try to run a virus scan and check

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Oh, okay. Let me fire up the ol' virus hunter...
Interesting, according to AVG, some of my system files have been 'Changed' :

kernel32.dll
wsock32.dll
user32.dll
shell32.dll
ntoskml.dll

No idea what that means though. Is there a way to fix that without just reinstalling Vista?
Click to expand...

You may try this:
How to Repair and Verify the Integrity of Vista System Files with System File Checker

if the virus report says there is nothing wrong....then you have to proceed with Repair Installation: How To Perform a Repair Installation For Vista
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    AMD
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    2GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 256MB
    Sound Card
    Creative 7.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" Viewsonic and Sony 26" S Series TV
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Sata (1 TB) and IDE (350GB)
    Keyboard
    Multimedia (Wireless)
    Mouse
    Optical (Wireless)
    Internet Speed
    2MB
sfc didn't detect anything.

And since Vista was preinstalled on my computer (and it's been upgraded to SP1) the Repair Installation won't work, according to that tutorial.

:(
 

My Computer

System One

Hi Murudai,

If you are using only AVG, you may like to also scan with this free app.- see if it finds anything else

Malwarebytes.org.

If necessary,it is possible to uninstall SP1 and run the repair install, or save what you need from your hd and use the recovery disc to reinstall as a last resort.

What make and model is your machine?

Hope it helps

SIW2
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
I downloaded and tried that program but it didn't come up with any problems.

My machine is a Toshiba Satellite Notebook.


I have this huge project that I'm finishing off so I'd rather not risk a full reinstall incase I lose a program I needed or even some work if I don't back it up right. I can do that after the project is finished, but until then I'd just like to explore options not involving a full reinstall.

What about something like this site? DLL-files.com - Download all your missing dll-files. Could I just replace the corrupted .dll files?
 

My Computer

System One

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dwarf Dwf/11/2012 r09/2013
    CPU
    Intel Core-i5-3570K 4-core @ 3.4GHz (Ivy Bridge) (OC 4.2GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M
    Memory
    4 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B (16GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GeForce GTX770 Gaming OC 2GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition on board solution (ALC 898)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic VA1912w Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    OCZ Agility 3 120GB SATA III x2 (RAID 0)
    Samsung HD501LJ 500GB SATA II x2
    Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1TB SATA II
    Iomega 1.5TB Ext USB 2.0
    WD 2.0TB Ext USB 3.0
    PSU
    XFX Pro Series 850W Semi-Modular
    Case
    Gigabyte IF233
    Cooling
    1 x 120mm Front Inlet 1 x 120mm Rear Exhaust
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 (USB)
    Mouse
    Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business (USB)
    Internet Speed
    NetGear DG834Gv3 ADSL Modem/Router (Ethernet) ~4.0 Mb/s (O2)
    Other Info
    Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 SATA Bluray
    Lexmark S305 Printer/Scanner/Copier (USB)
    WEI Score: 8.1/8.1/8.5/8.5/8.25
    Asus Eee PC 1011PX Netbook (Windows 7 x86 Starter)
Since 'Roll Back Driver' is grayed out, I'm guessing I've had the same driver for those drives all along and the problem isn't to do with that...

So yeah, more likely those corrupted .dll files I think.
 

My Computer

System One

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