Error 0x80070780, The file cannot be accessed by the system

If when you try to access some files or folders on your Windows 11/10 computer, external hard drive, or other USB devices but encounter the error message The file cannot be accessed by the system with the accompanying error code 0x80070780, then this post is intended to help you.

Error 0x80070780, The file cannot be accessed by the system

If you’re faced with this issue, you can try our recommended solutions below in no particular order and see if that helps to resolve the issue.

Run Windows File and Folder Troubleshooter
Run CHKDSK
Carry out the file operation in Safe Mode
Use Robocopy
Reinstall the disk driver
Backup data and Format drive

Let’s take a look at the description of the process involved concerning each of the listed solutions.

Before you try any of these solutions, make sure you’re logged on as administrator on your Windows device and try the folder/file operation. If it doesn’t work, you can now continue as follows.

1] Run Windows File and Folder Troubleshooter

You can run Windows File and Folder Troubleshooter and see if the issue will be resolved. The wizard will automatically diagnose and repair problems with files and folders – these problems might include the inability to delete files or folders from the Recycle Bin or troubles with trying to copy, move, rename, or delete a file.

2] Run CHKDSK

You may be experiencing this issue due to a system error or having bad sectors on the hard drive. In this case, you can run CHKDSK on both the internal and external drives and see if the issue will be resolved. You can run CHKDSK with third-party software if you want.

3] Carry out the file operation in Safe Mode

Boot Windows in Safe Mode or perform a Clean Boot and then try to carry out the copy, paste, edit, etc, file operation that you wanted. It is likely to help.

4] Use Robocopy

If you are encountering this error when you try to copy files from one location to another using the default native file transfer function in Windows, you can try the built-in Robocopy command-line tool.

5] Reinstall the disk driver

Device driver issues are also a likely culprit – like USB not detected by Windows, which can also make the files inaccessible. To rule out the possibility of driver issues, you need to reinstall the device driver. Here’s how:

Connect your USB drive to your computer if that’s where the problem occurs.
Press Windows key + X to open the Power User Menu.
Press M key on the keyboard to open Device Manager.
Once you’re inside Device Manager, scroll down through the list of installed devices and expand the Disk drives section.
Next, right-click on your USB drive and choose Uninstall device.
Click OK on the prompt to confirm the removal.

When the uninstallation process completes, disconnect the USB drive and restart your computer. On boot, reconnect the USB drive to the PC, Windows will automatically reinstall the driver. Try the file/folder action you performed earlier and see if the operation completes without the issue at hand. Otherwise, try the next solution.

6] Format the drive

Formatting a drive can help solve file system errors and may help fix some disk errors that may result in the error in focus.

Formatting will erase all the files existing on the drive, so back up your files to another external device or a cloud storage service, before formatting the internal drive or formatting the external drive, as the case may be.

I hope this helps!