Almost all external devices or storage drives require USB connections. Many users reported the access denied error while connecting USB drives with Windows PC. Your USB device needs to communicate with your PC with the help of specific drivers.
Hence, before you find a solution for the access denied issue, it’s important to identify that your system has any pending driver updates for USB. Make sure you update USB drivers before you plug in any USB device on your system.
If the updated compatible drivers for USB didn’t solve the Access denied issue, here are the few fixes you can try. Also, log in from the Administrator account to apply these fixes.
To switch your current user account to Administrator, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Open Control Panel on your Windows and then click on User Accounts.
Step 2: Under the ‘Make changes to your user account’ section click on change account type. Enter your administrator password if required.
Step 3: Update user settings and then click on the start menu. Now log out of Windows and Log in again.
Reinstall your USB drivers again and check if the Access denied issue persists with your USB device.
Use the below methods to resolve the error.
Disable your Antivirus
Once you log in with your Administrator and the USB device is still inaccessible, turn off or disable your antivirus software temporarily. The antivirus software can block a few external connections due to the risk of viruses. Therefore, turn off the antivirus and check if the issue is fixed by blocking the anti-spyware program.
Permit the registry key- USBSTOR
It is possible that the USB access denied issue is due to denied access of the USBSTOR key. Below are the steps to allow permission to the USBSTOR key.
Step 1: Open the Run dialog box with the help of Windows and R shortcut keys.
Step 2: Enter regedit in the Open bar to edit registry keys on your device.
Step 3: Locate UBSTOR, with the help of the following address
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR
Right-click on the registry key and click on Permissions.
Step 4: Click on SYSTEM from the list of user names. In the next section Permissions for SYSTEM, Allow complete access with the help of allowing checkbox. Use the Apply option to update changes.
Check and allow these permissions for your user account too. Now apply the changes and update the USB driver. This will fix the Access denied issue for your USB device.
To update USB drivers you can use any of the two methods manual and automatic. Manual methods can be complicated for non-technical users as it requires download from the official website of the manufacturer. It is recommended to use Driver Easy software to automatically update all your drivers. The software can scan your system within seconds to check all the pending driver updates. You can download them with a single click or schedule these downloads at your convenience.
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The Driver Easy tool can not only download all driver updates but also has the following features:
- Optimize the performance of your PC
- 24*7 customer support with the professional version of the software
- Restore and Backup driver data
- 60-day money-back guarantee with the pro version
Update the USB driver with the help of Driver Easy and check if the access denied issue is solved.
If the issue remains, uninstall the USB driver from Device Manager and install it again. Also if the issue began with an update you can simply roll back to the previous version of the driver. Use the steps below to roll back to the older version of your USB driver.
Step 1: Open the Device Manager on your Windows PC. Click on USB controller or USB connector Managers to open USB drivers.
Step 2: Right-click on the driver and expand the properties option.
Step 3: Click on the roll back driver option present under the Driver Tab of properties.
Step 4: Reboot your PC to add the previous version of your driver on your device.
Connect your USB device and check if the device works fine on your Windows PC. This will resolve the access denied issue error on your PC.
USB Access is denied error: Fixed
We hope the above fixes have helped you to resolve the error. The Access Denied issue can be due to faulty drivers on your Windows device. These outdated or incompatible drivers can disable the communication between your USB device and PC. These issues can be fixed by downloading the recent version of compatible USB drivers. A recommended solution to download updated drivers automatically is by using Driver Easy software.
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