Solve File Move, Delete, or Copy Errors

This error denotes that the files can not be manipulated because access is denied. The reasons for that could be several:

1. Access Denied Because of Antivirus Applications

   
   In 99.99% of the cases when customers report such a problem it is caused by a poor antivirus application. We have seen examples of AVG, F-Secure, Bit Defender, Trend Micro, and other poor antivirus applications blocking access to files without even displaying a notification. A nonsense RANSOMWARE PROTECTION is more likely to kick in and block access to your files if you are trying to organize cloud storage folders like ONEDRIVE, Google Drive, or Dropbox.
   
   It does not matter if other applications can move the files or not. Those antivirus tools perform poorly and may block ONLY certain tools. Do not email our support with claims that if other applications are working then the issue is in our tools. That is not a correct statement - antivirus tools may block applications selectively based on poor detection logic. PLEASE CHECK THE ANTIVIRUS APPLICATION LOGS FIRST.
   

   Recommended solution:

   Check your antivirus application logs. Try to disable the antivirus application and retry the file move, copy, or delete action. Please note that in many cases it is not easy to disable your antivirus application. Those install services on your system - even if you close the antivirus tool or kill the user interface from task manager, it is still running in the background. You have to go into the antivirus application settings and explicitly DISABLE PROTECTION.
   
   If the copy, move, or delete operation succeeds you should report FALSE POSITIVE - INCORRECT DETECTION to your antivirus vendor, or just completely stop using it and switch to a better antivirus solution like NOD32.
   
   Most antivirus tools provide SAFE LIST or WHITE LIST where you can add our tool so that your antivirus application no longer prevents its normal operation.
   
   

2. Access Denied Because of User Account Permissions

   
   Another reason for an ACCESS DENIED message could be that the user account which you use to start the tool does not have sufficient privileges to read, write, or delete the files. To fix this you should either start the tool with a user account that has sufficient privileges or provide such privileges to your current account. Try running the tool as Administrator - right-click the application and select "Run as Administrator". Please note that using an ADMINISTRATOR account does not mean that it has access to all files. For example, a local ADMINISTRATOR account may not have access to many network locations or access to files on an external hard drive.
   

   Recommended solution:

   What you have to do is go to the folder that contains the files that can not be modified, right-click that folder and switch to the SECURITY tab. There you will find the users and their permissions for the currently selected folder. Please note that if you want to apply changes you have to use the ADVANCED button in order to apply them to ALL SUBFOLDERS AND FILES. Modifying the security settings just for the top-level folder is not enough.
   
   

3. Access Denied Because of Locked Files

   
   Access to a file may be blocked by other applications too. For example, if an application has opened a file for editing or viewing it may apply a FILE LOCK preventing other applications from accessing it.  Such an example is opening a file in Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop will lock the file and no other application can move, delete, or modify it until you close the file in Photoshop.

   Recommended solution:

   1. Close all running applications and retry the file operation in our tool.
   2. If the above does not help, save your results to a project file. Restart your computer, load the project file and retry the delete operation.
   3. If step 2. does not help then the cause may be a startup application. Some applications start when your computer starts. Such applications may have locked your files. Restart your computer in SAFE MODE, load the project and retry the file operation in our tool. In SAFE MODE only the system files are loaded and the system prevents non-essential applications from starting when the system starts.

4. Access Denied Because of Read Only Media or Write Lock

   
   Access to a file may be blocked because it is located on a READ-ONLY media like a CD ROM or on a media which is locked for writing. For example, some SD cards have a WRITE lock switch that prevents writing/deleting files. Check if that is not the case.

   Recommended solution:

   Disable the write protection for the device if it has such. If the media is READ-ONLY like a CD-ROM (ROM is an abbreviation for Read Only Media) then you can not do anything about it. Such media can not be deleted or modified.

5. Access Denied Because of File System Errors

   
   Check your file system for errors.

   Recommended solution:

   Run ScanDisk on the problematic location to check the drive for errors. Open Windows Explorer (File Explorer), go to My Computer and right-click the drive that you want to check. From the popup menu select Properties and switch to the Tolls tab and clock Check Now...

Such issues are usually caused by third party applications that have modified your system or have installed "copy hooks". Such problems may also be caused by poor antivirus applications. Please be informed that all our tools use native Windows file manipulation functions that are used by Windows Explorer. If you experience any issues they are definitely caused by third-party applications.

1. Please make sure that a poor antivirus tool is not causing this problem. Stop (disable) the antivirus application and retry the delete operation. Make sure to check your antivirus application log files as it may silently block access to your files.
2. If that is not the case most likely a poor tool has installed "copy hook" on your system that does not function properly or does not support multi-threading.
   Download and run this tool:
   http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.zip
   http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html
   Sort the list by TYPE and find the Copy Hook Handler types in the list. Disable ALL non-Microsoft entries and retry the delete operation.
3. If the above does not help make sure to check the startup applications in your system. Disable all startup applications and restart your computer and retry the delete operation.
4. Try to restart in "Safe Mode" and retry the delete.

The most common reasons for such issues are:

1. Filters and Options - You have altered settings or applied filters and you forgot to restore or turn them off. Make sure that all supported file types in settings are ticked and that you have not set any filters. Make sure that you have not added a single folder in the folders list and ticked the "Exclude from self-scan" option - do not tick the checkboxes in the folders list without referencing the help file. If you can not remember what you have changed, you can uninstall/install the application to reset all the settings to their defaults.

2. Access Permissions - The user account that you have used to start the tool does not have sufficient permissions to read the files. Use an account with sufficient permissions or change file/folder permissions. Read the section about permissions here: MOST COMMON ISSUE - DE_ACCESSDENIEDSRC 0x78 Security settings denied access to the source.

3. A poor antivirus tool is silently blocking access to the files. Read the section about antivirus tools here:MOST COMMON ISSUE - DE_ACCESSDENIEDSRC 0x78 Security settings denied access to the source.

4. Unsupported file types - make sure that the files which you are scanning are supported.

   Misleading File Names

   We have received reports from users that VSDIF does not find their duplicate images and it turned out that their "images" were actually videos named IMG_329389 and the like. As the user was looking at thumbnails in Windows File Explorer and there was no file extension listed he thought they were images. Switch to DETAILS VIEW in Windows Explorer and check the file extensions of your files. Windows Explorer is poorly configured by default and will hide the file extensions for known file types (the ones that are associated with a particular application). Click on the Start menu and type "Folder options" and open the folder options settings. In the list find the option "Hide extensions for known file types" and un-tick it. You can view the file's extension by right-clicking a file and choosing "Properties" too.

   Wrong File Extensions

   Other customers have changed their file extensions either automatically or manually and have reported that the tool does not list them. Changing the file extension changes your file type! If you change the file extension of an audio file MySong.mp3 to MySong.mp3.bak or MySong.bak or MySong.$$$ or anything else it will no longer be supported by ANY audio application that works with MP3 files as those are no longer AUDIO file extensions. The extension is what determines the type of the file - you should NEVER change file extensions! So in this case even if you are comparing MySong.mp3 to MySong.mp3.bak the files will not be identified, because .bak is not an audio format and will not be scanned at all. This applies to ALL file types - not just for mp3 songs.

5. Protected or system folder - make sure that your files are not located in protected system folders. There are files in those folders that are duplicated on purpose by the system for backup and restore purposes and deleting such files may damage your system. Fast Duplicate File Finder for example has "Protect system files and folders" option enabled by default and will skip those folders. If you are a PROFESSIONAL OR VERY ADVANCED user, you can disable that setting in options, but we absolutely do not recommend that. If for some reason you have stored your files in those folders, you should move them to your own folders.

6. There are no duplicates - last but not least if the tool reports no results then there are no duplicates. When searching for exact duplicates the files should be 100% identical up to the last byte to be listed as duplicates. Please note that even saving the same WORD document with a different version of MS Word will produce a different file. That is because the newer version of MS Word uses a different file structure to store the same document and adds the version of MS Word that was used to store it. That is why older versions of MS Word can not open files saved with the newer versions. Read more about exact duplicates here: https://www.mindgems.com/products/Fast-Duplicate-File-Finder/Fast-Duplicate-File-Finder-FAQ.htm#NO_DUPLICATES