How to Fix the 'Access Denied' Error on the C Drive in Windows 10

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Sherly 

Last updated on May 12, 2024

• How to fix the 'Access Denied' issue on C drive in Windows 10?
• Why can't I access my C drive?

Permission issues are the primary reason for the “Access denied” error on the C drive in Windows 10. You might not have the necessary permissions to access the C drive partition. Besides, bad sectors can also contribute to this error when accessing system files.

Furthermore, User Account Control might also deny you access to certain partitions and target folders. Whatever the reason for this error might be, you can easily resolve it and access files on the C drive by using a tool.

Before attempting any possible solutions, it's advised to check if the drive is password protected. Make sure there are no passwords of any kind set, and proceed with the following potential solutions to fix the drive access error.

How to fix the 'Access Denied' issue on the C drive in Windows 10?

After dealing with the password protection issue, you can proceed with simple fixes to resolve the Access Denied error. All the troubleshooting methods explained in this section will help you sort out permission and drive health issues.

Once all the causes are taken care of, you should be able to access the C drive on your system without any hassle. So, let's check out these fixes one by one to resolve the “Access denied to C drive in Windows 10” error.

Solution 1: Grant Full Permissions to the C Drive for Windows 10

As mentioned above, issues related to accessing the C drive are often due to permission restrictions. Therefore, we'll begin addressing the problem of denied access to the C drive in Windows 10 by granting full control permissions to the user, allowing them to access system files on that partition. Follow these steps to accomplish this: 1. **Right-click on the Start button**: Located at the bottom left corner of your screen, press and hold the right mouse button on the Windows icon. 2. **Select "Explore"**: From the context menu that appears, choose "Explore" or "File Explorer" to open the file manager. 3. **Navigate to the C drive**: In File Explorer, locate the "This PC" or "Computer" section on the left panel, then double-click on "C:" to open the C drive. 4. **Right-click on "C:"**: In the main window, right-click on the C: drive icon and select "Properties." 5. **Go to the "Security" tab**: Click on the "Security" tab at the top of the Properties dialog box. 6. **Click "Advanced"**: At the bottom right corner of the Security tab, click the "Advanced" button. 7. **Access the "Permissions" settings**: In the Advanced Security Settings window, click on the "Change" link next to "Owner." 8. **Select your user account**: In the "Select User or Group" window, type in your username or select your user account from the list. If your account is part of a domain, ensure you choose the correct account with administrator privileges. Click "OK." 9. **Apply ownership**: A warning might appear, asking if you want to replace the owner on all subcontainers and objects. Check the box next to "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects" and click "OK." You may need to confirm the action with your admin credentials. 10. **Grant full control**: Back in the Advanced Security Settings window, under the "Permissions entries" section, click "Add." In the "Permission Entry for C:" window, click "Select a principal" and choose your user account again. 11. **Set permissions**: Choose "Allow" next to "Type of permission," then check the "Full control" option under "Basic permissions." Click "Apply" and "OK" to save the changes. 12. **Confirm changes**: You might receive a UAC prompt. Grant permission to proceed, and the changes will be applied. After following these steps, you should have full control over the C drive, and the issue of denied access should be resolved. However, please exercise caution when modifying system files, as it can potentially cause stability or functionality issues.

Step 1: First, open the "File Explorer" window and select "This PC" from within it. Next, locate the "C:" drive and right-click on it. A new menu will appear. From this menu, choose "Properties" to initiate the permission settings adjustment.

< strong > Step 2. In the opened “Local Disk (C:) Properties” dialog box, switch to the “Security” tab. Then, select the user you wish to grant Full Control permission on the C drive. After that, click on the “Edit” button to proceed to a new dialog for assigning permissions.

Step 3. In the “Permissions for Local Disk (C:)” window, check all the boxes under the “Allow” section. Then, click on the “Apply” button to grant this specific user access to everything on the C drive.

If this method has helped you with your C drive issues, we encourage you to share this article within your professional circles to help others access system files.

Fix 2: Check and repair bad sectors on the C drive

When you suspect that the C drive has bad sectors causing the issue, we recommend fixing these sectors to resolve the access denied problem. For this, you need an effective partition manager to deal with C drive-related issues. The tool, Partition Master Professional, is one such utility that can help you check the health status of your disk partitions.

Let's continue discussing how to fix bad sectors and resolve the C drive access issue on Windows 10.

Step 1: Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant on your computer. Then, locate the disk and right-click the partition you want to check, and choose "Advanced" > "Check File System".

Select "Check Partition":

Step 3: The software will now check the partition's file system on the disk. When it's done, click “Finish.”

Finish the check

You can use a partitioning tool like Partition Master to fix bad sectors. Additionally, the tool comes with a disk surface test that will mark bad sectors on your disk, so the system can recognize and avoid them, preventing issues like "Access denied to C drive in Windows 10."

Fix 3: Convert the current user profile to an administrator profile

If the issue persists due to permission errors, you might want to consider granting administrative privileges to your current user account. This will allow you to perform any system modifications without having to ask for administrator account permissions. The following brief instructions will help you promote your local profile to an administrator user account with just a few clicks:

Step 1: First, you need to open the "Control Panel" window on your device by using the search function in the taskbar. After entering the application, click on the "Change account type" option under "User Accounts" to resolve the "Access denied to C drive in Windows 10" error.

Step 2: In the new window, select the account you want to change the type of. All accounts on your computer will be listed here for easy access.

Step 3: Click "Change account type." You'll find this option in the "Change account settings" section at the top of the screen.

Step 4: Next, under "Choose an account type for this computer," select the "Administrator" option. Once you've made your selection, click on the "Change account type" button to resolve any issues with C drive access privileges.

Click the Change account type button.

Fix 4: Run CHKDSK

Users unable to access the C drive due to bad sectors can run this command. This way, you can scan your hard disk to locate corrupted files and fix the "Access denied to C drive in Windows 10" issue. Follow the instructions below to fix problems related to the C drive:

Step 1. First, search for “Command Prompt” using the search bar in the taskbar. Then, click on “Run as administrator” to use the tool and execute the necessary commands.

Step 2. After opening the Command Prompt app, type the following command and press the "Enter" key to scan and identify any disk-related errors on your system.

"chkdsk C:" translates to "Check the C: drive" in Chinese. This is a command used to examine and fix the file system of the C drive in the Windows operating system.

Step 3. Additionally, you can run the following command to scan and fix any disk-related errors that might be causing the Access is denied issue on the C drive.

"chkdsk C: /f /r /x" in Chinese translates to: "Check disk C: for errors, fix issues, forcibly dismount and restart the volume." This command is used to check for file system errors on drive C: and repair any issues found. The parameters mean: - `/f` indicates that errors on the disk should be fixed. - `/r` looks for and attempts to recover lost data from bad sectors and fragmented files. - `/x` forces the dismount of the disk before checking, ensuring no other programs are using it.

Fix 5: Clone C drive to another partition

When you can't access the C drive, you can choose to clone it to another hard drive to get into the system files. You can accomplish this with efficient partition management tools like Partition Master. With this tool, you can clone sector by sector to access the data. Besides, this partition cloner also allows you to clone data between multiple partitions to resolve the issue of accessing the content.

Step 1. In the left menu, select "Clone." Click "Clone Partition" and "Next."

Step 2: Select the source partition, and click Next.

Step 3: Select the partition from which you wish to recover files, and click “Next” to proceed.

If you clone a partition to an existing one, move or back up your data first to avoid overwriting it. Review the warning and click Yes to continue.

Step 4. Click “Start,” and wait for the clone to finish.

You can learn how to clone a partition or the System Reserved Partition from this video tutorial.

With this partition clone feature, users can back up their data when upgrading from Windows 10. Apart from the partition clone, the Partition Master tool can also clone the entire system or internal hard drive to fix the “Access denied to C drive on Windows 10” issue.

Why can't I access my C drive?

After acquainting you with some fixes to make the C drive accessible, let's dive into diagnosing the issue for a better understanding. Here, we'll list all possible reasons behind the “Access denied to C drive in Windows 10” problem:

• Disk Permissions: Changes to disk permissions, for various reasons, might restrict certain users from accessing the C drive.
• Change of Ownership: Users who lose admin access to an account might encounter this issue due to lack of ownership.
• Logical Errors: Logical errors in the file system can also lead to restricted access to the C drive in Windows 10.
• Uninitialized Drive: When your C drive is still in the initialization phase, you won't be able to access its content. The drive must be properly set up before accessing its contents.
• Outdated Drivers: Users who don't frequently update their drivers might eventually run into the "Access Denied to C drive in Windows 10" issue.
• Password Protected Drive: If your drive is password protected, you won't be able to access the disk content without the password.
• Damaged Disk: Systems encountering disk damage issues will affect the accessibility of the C drive. Hence, you'll need to go through a recovery process to regain access to the drive data.

Here are some other topics about C drive errors that might interest you; feel free to browse through them if needed.

Conclusions

In this article, we have explained all the possible fixes and reasons related to the “Access Denied on C Drive in Windows 10” error. You can apply any of the solutions to access the partition data without any limitations.

However, for those facing such issues, Partition Master tool would be the ideal choice. With its partition cloning and sector healing features, this third-party utility can help you access your C drive data.

"Frequently Asked Questions about 'Access Denied to C Drive'"

Once you've finished reading this article, if you have any confusion left in your mind, it's time to read through the FAQ.

How do I grant full permissions to the C drive in Windows 10?

Users who want to resolve the C drive access issue can follow these instructions to grant full permissions to this particular partition.

1. Right-click the "This PC" window and select "Properties." This will open a new window where you can fix problems with your C: drive.

2. Next, switch to the "Security" tab and click the "Edit" button to open a new small window. Here, you need to select the user and check all the permission checkboxes under "Allow" to finally grant permissions to the C drive.

**How to fix "Access Denied" and "Hard Drive Not Accessible" errors on Windows 10?**

To address both issues, you can use the Command Prompt application to run the necessary commands. Here are the steps to do this on your system:

1. First, begin this process by launching the “Command Prompt” application and running it with administrator privileges on your system.

2. Now run the application and use it to fix bad sectors and resolve “Access Denied” and “Hard disk not accessible” issues.

"chkdsk C: /f /r /x" translates to "Check the disk C: for errors, fix them, and force unmount and restart." This is a command used in the Command Prompt to check and repair errors on the C drive in the Windows operating system. The parameters mean: - `/f`: Fixes errors on the disk. - `/r`: Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information. - `/x`: Forces the disk to be dismounted if necessary, checking it even if it's in use.

3. What can cause "Access Denied" on the C drive?

Access issues with the C drive can be caused by various reasons, including bad sectors on the disk and permission restrictions. Additionally, changes in administrative ownership of user accounts can also lead to this problem. Furthermore, file corruption and password protection can limit your access to the contents of the C drive.