Windows cannot find Make sure you typed the name correctly

If you see the error message Windows cannot find … Make sure you typed the name correctly on a Windows 11 PC, read this post to know how to fix the issue. It often occurs when users try to access an application or a file on a Windows PC but the OS fails to locate the file. In this post, we will briefly cover some of them and show you what methods to follow to fix the errors.

Windows cannot find Make sure you typed the name correctly in Windows 11/10

As already mentioned, Windows cannot find … Make sure you typed the name correctly error can have many variations, and a few of them are as follows:

Windows cannot find Explorer.exe
Windows cannot find AMD Software Installers
Windows cannot find printmanagement.msc
Windows cannot find C:\Program Files
Windows cannot find GPEDIT.MSC
Windows cannot find C:/Windows/regedit.exe
Windows cannot find Powershell.exe
Windows cannot find ‘wt.exe’
Windows cannot find ms-windows-storePurgeCaches
Windows cannot find Bin64\InstallManagerApp.exe
Windows cannot find wfs.exe
Windows cannot find Steam.exe

Let us cover these errors in detail one by one.

1] Windows cannot find Explorer.exe

This error is commonly encountered when users click on the File Explorer icon present in the Windows 11 taskbar. Due to the error, they cannot open and use File Explorer on their PC. The complete error message reads:

Explorer.EXE – Windows cannot find”. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

If you encounter this error, you should change the File Explorer Options to fix it. Type ‘file explorer options’ in the Windows Search bar and press the Enter key. File Explorer Options window will open. Within the General tab, select This PC in the Open File Explorer to dropdown. click on Apply and then on OK.

Apart from this, you may run the sfc /scannow command in the System File Checker, perform an antivirus scan, and delete Explorer-related entries from the Registry Editor.

For more details, read: Windows cannot find Explorer.exe.

2] Windows cannot find AMD Software Installer

This error appears when users try to update or install the drivers for AMD’s graphics card on their Windows 11 PC. The complete error message says:

Windows cannot find ‘C:\Program Files\AMD\CIM\Bin64\InstallManagerAPP.exe’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

If you see this error, temporarily turn off Controlled folder access in security settings. Search for the Windows Security app and open it. Navigate to Virus & threat protection. Select Manage settings. Click on the toggle button next to the Manage Controlled folder access option to turn off the option.

You may also temporarily disable your antivirus, reinstall Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable, and reinstall the AMD drivers.

For more details, read: Windows cannot find AMD Software Installer.

3] Windows cannot find printmanagement.msc

This error is generally encountered when users try to print to a specific printer after updating Windows to the latest version. The error occurs when Print Management, which manages printers and printing jobs on a Windows PC, gets missing. The complete error message reads:

Windows cannot find ‘printmanagement.msc’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

If you see this error on your Windows 11 PC, you should manually add the Print Management feature via the Settings app.

Go to Settings > Apps > Optional features. Click on the View features button next to the Add an optional feature option. On the next popup window, search for Print Management, click on the checkbox next to the option, and then click on Next > Install.

Next, you should run the System File Checker or repair system image to fix the issue.

For more details, read: Windows cannot find printmanagement.msc.

4] Windows cannot find C:\Program Files

This error occurs when users try to launch an app, such as an MS Office app, an Adobe app, or other apps on their Windows 11 PC. The complete error message reads:

Windows cannot find ‘C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\outlook.exe’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

The above error message indicates the user is trying to open MS Outlook. You may receive the same error for any other app, the only difference will be the ‘path’, which will include the root directly of the app or program you’re trying to access.

If you see this error, you should temporarily disable your antivirus software. Another fix would be to delete the program’s ‘.exe’ key from IEFO in Windows Registry.

Open Registry Editor and navigate to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options

Right-click on the program’s executable in the left panel and select Delete.

For more details, read: Windows cannot find C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\outlook.exe.

5] Windows cannot find GPEDIT.MSC

Windows cannot find GPEDIT.MSC error occurs when the Group Policy Editor is missing on your Windows system. The error message read:

Windows cannot find ‘GPEDIT.MSC’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

First of all, confirm that you’re running Windows 11 Pro/Business/Enterprise/etc. editions. The Home edition does not ship with the Group Policy Editor. After that, run the System File Checker, Repair System Image, and use the Cloud Reset or Reset this PC option to fix the issue.

For more details, read: Windows cannot find GPEDIT.MSC.

6] Windows cannot find C:/Windows/regedit.exe

This error appears when users try to open the Registry Editor on their Windows PC. This may happen when a malware has altered the settings of the registry to block your access to the Registry Editor. If your PC is affected, you will see the following error message:

Windows cannot find ‘C:\Windows\regedit.exe’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

Registry malfunction is considered extremely dangerous, so you should take immediate steps to resolve the issue. Run a complete antivirus scan, preferably at boot time to remove potentially harmful viruses (malware) from your PC. Then run SFC and DISM tools to repair system files and system image. If nothing helps, repair the Windows OS using installation media.

For more details, read: Windows cannot find C:/Windows/regedit.exe.

7] Windows cannot find Powershell.exe

When users try to run PowerShell, they may sometimes encounter the following error message:

Windows cannot find ‘C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe’.
Make sure you’ve typed the name correctly, then try again.

If the above message is preventing you from opening PowerShell on your Windows 11 PC, here’s what you need to do.

Check whether PowerShell is enabled. Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off. Make sure the checkbox for Windows PowerShell 2.0 is checked. Then update Windows PowerShell. Right-click on the Start button icon, select Terminal (Admin), and run the following command:

Winget install --id Microsoft.Powershell --source Winget

If the error persists, run the System File Checker to fix the issue.

For more details, read: Windows cannot find Powershell.exe.

8] Windows cannot find ‘wt.exe’

Users encounter this error while downloading Windows updates or while upgrading their system from Windows 10 to Windows 11. The error occurs when Windows OS or Windows Terminal files get corrupted during the installation process. The complete error message reads:

Windows cannot find ‘wt.exe’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

To resolve the error, change the Windows Terminal settings on your Windows PC. Go to Settings > Apps > Advanced app settings > App execution aliases. Navigate to Terminal (wt.exe) in the list of apps and click on the toggle button next to the option. This will switch off Windows Terminal. Again click on the toggle button to turn the Terminal On.

Then navigate to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps in File Explorer and locate ‘wt.exe’. If the file is present, try running Windows Terminal. If not, repair or reset the Windows Terminal app.

For more details, read: Windows cannot find wt.exe; Windows Terminal not opening.

9] Windows cannot find ms-windows-storePurgeCaches

This is another instance of the error which appears when you run the Windows Store Reset command to remove cache and temporary files from the Microsoft Store. The primary cause of the error is file corruption or registry issues. The error message reads:

Windows cannot find ms-windows-storePurgeCaches is missing

Cannot find path ‘c:\windows\winstore\appxmanifest.xml’ because it does not exist

To fix the issue, you should open PowerShell using administrator privileges and re-register the Windows Store app using the following commands:

PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage *WindowsStore*).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest}"

Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.WindowsStore | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml"}

Apart from this, you can run the System File Checker tool, delete Microsoft Store’s local cache, and run the Windows Store Troubleshooter.

For more details, read: Windows cannot find ms-windows-storePurgeCaches.

10] Windows cannot find Bin64\InstallManagerApp.exe

$Windows cannot find Bin64\InstallManagerApp.exe$

InstallManagerApp.exe comes with AMD Radeon Graphics driver. It is part of the AMD Catalyst Control Center which overclocks and optimizes the graphics card. When the file goes missing, you may see the following error:

Windows cannot find ‘Bin64\InstallManagerApp.exe’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

To fix this, you should uninstall the AMD driver using the Display Driver Uninstaller in Safe Mode. Then visit the AMD Support page and download the latest drivers. Run the AMD Radeon Software Installer to clean install the drivers on your Windows PC.

For more details, read: Windows cannot find Bin64\InstallManagerApp.exe.

11] Windows cannot find wfs.exe

The wfs.exe is an essential component of the Windows Fax and Scan (WFS) feature that lets you send or receive faxes on a Windows PC. If this file goes missing, you see the following error message:

Windows cannot find ‘C:\WINDOWS\system32\wfs.exe’. Make sure you typed the names correctly, and then try again.

The best way to fix the error is to restore the wfs.exe file. You may run the System File Checker to fix the file automatically. Copy wfs.exe file from another running Windows PC and transfer it to your system using a USB drive. Or re-install the Windows Fax and Scan feature.

For more details, read: WFS.exe is missing or not found on Windows.

12] Windows cannot find Steam.exe

This error occurs when users try to open the Steam client using the desktop shortcut or the Steam.exe file directly from the Steam installation folder. The file becomes inaccessible and the following message appears:

Windows cannot find ‘D:\Steam\Steam.exe’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

Improper Steam installation, antivirus software, and malware attack are among the common causes of the error. To fix the error, you should check the Quarantine/Virus Chest or a similar folder in your antivirus. If you find Steam.exe there, restore it. If you’re using Avast antivirus, add Steam.exe as an exception. Also, scan your Windows PC for potentially harmful malware.

I hope this helps.

How do I get rid of Windows cannot find error?

You may fix the ‘Windows cannot find’ by running the System File Checker tool. Further, depending on the app or program for which the error occurred, you can take specific measures. For example, you can re-register the Windows Store apps, rename the executable, reinstall the software, or scan your PC for viruses. You may also need to use advanced methods, including editing the Windows Registry.

Read:

What is Windows Cannot find file path error?

Windows cannot find the specified path error occurs when you use an invalid path to download or save a file. The error may also occur if the file installation directory has been file modified or removed. To fix the error, make sure you have permission to access the file. Then ensure the file location is accessible (the file is not on a networked or removable media). Also, check if your antivirus is blocking the file.