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Summary: Copying a file requires that you have access to both the source file and the intended destination. There are several reasons you might not.
There are several possible reasons that access to a file might be denied. Some are easy to fix, but others might require a little more investigation on your part. • Read-Only Files This is perhaps the most common case people run into, because it's not always obvious that the read-only attribute might get copied with the file. Your scenario shouldn't be affected by this, but here's a way that it could have been: "... you may be denied access to a file if it's in use
by another application."
The solution here is to delete the previously copied file, or at least reset its read-only status as well as that of the original file. File In Use Perhaps almost as common, you may be denied access to a file if it's in use by another application. This typically refers to the destination; meaning that if the destination file already exists and you're attempting to replace or overwrite it you may not be able to if another application has that destination file open. However this can also apply to the source file. Depending on the application, a program can have a file open in such a way that you cannot even read it in order to make a copy of it until the application has been closed. I'd actually expect programs like TurboTax to operate this way. Regardless of whether it's the source or destination, the solution here is simply to close any application that might be accessing the file. If you're not sure who might be using a file in use, then you might want to check out this article: How can I find out who is using a "file in use"? File Permissions This most commonly happens:
There are other scenarios where this can happen as well, but that's the most common. Most people forget that Windows is a multi-user operating system. That implies that not only does it keep separate settings and so on for each user that can log in to the machine, it's also charged with protecting those users from each other. One of those protections is file access permissions. The most obvious is that if you're logged in as user "User A", you probably cannot access files in "c:\Documents and Settings\User B". Attempts to access files therein will get you "access denied". NTFS actually supports quite complex per-user permissions on any file or folder. Right click on a file in Windows Explorer, click on Properties and then click on the Security tab for an idea of what might be involved. Other Thoughts Naturally there are other things that could be getting in your way. Filesystem or hard disk corruption might be one, which can most likely at least be identified by running CHKDSK in a Windows Command Prompt. Keep in mind that if all you're seeing is "Access is Denied", it's not telling which side of your copy you're being denied access to. It might be that you can't access the file you're attempting to copy, or it might be that you can't access the location you're attempting to copy to. Keep that in mind as you look at the various ideas above. You also mentioned that you're attempting to "move" a file. A move from drive to drive is nothing more than a copy followed by a delete. It's possible that it's the delete at the end that's failing. Related:
Article 11976 | Posted November 7, 2007 |
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I'm using XP Home. All my HDs are formatted NTFS. There's no 'Security' tab on any file's 'Properties' sheet.
Posted by: Al at November 10, 2007 9:35 AMSince I've been using XP I've never had so many 'locked' files in my life. I save a lot of web pages such as yours on my hard drive.
I double click on them to open them in Opera. That file will be locked and I can't delete or move it. On the other hand, if I open Opera first and drag and drop the file into it, it wont be locked.
I also have occasions where I had to delete files and sometimes sub-folders within a folder before I could delete the main folder.
I came across a simple utility that might help, called 'Unlocker', from:
ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/#description
www.geocities.com/terryhollett2003/
Posted by: Terry Hollett at November 12, 2007 4:45 AMhow to remove the Read-only or the System attributes of folders from the folders... tried but again it has become read only file.
Posted by: Preeth at January 24, 2008 11:50 PMhow to remove the Read-only or the System attributes of folders from the folders... tried but again it has become read only file.
Posted by: Preeth at January 25, 2008 1:36 AM