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Windows 11 Access is denied or Access is denied clearly indicates insufficient privileges to manage the directory. It may be that a running application or game is trying to use files from a directory to which it does not have sufficient authority to access. The logical conclusion from the description of the problem is that you need to provide a sufficient level of rights for the current user. Such an action is simply obliged to correct the error with access, but there is another way – to change the owner of the documents. All error correction options are described below.

Causes

Access denied is a common problem on various Windows systems. The message says in plain text that we cannot use the file with the current privileges. This could be due to several issues.

Reasons for the error:

• the access level of the current account is insufficient to work with the file;
• a user tries to open a file that belongs to another user or group;
• a person tries to run, delete or modify a system file;
• the file you are looking for is encrypted;
• third-party antivirus software blocks access to documents.

How to fix Access Denied error in Windows 11?

There are several effective tactics that allow you to get those very missing access rights. However, in most cases, you will need administrator privileges, otherwise you will not be able to change some of the parameters. Even before starting these procedures, it is worth temporarily disabling the antivirus, perhaps this measure will already be enough to fix the problem.

Get administrator privileges for an account

After creating an account, depending on the settings of your Windows 11, it can become a regular user or administrator. In the first case, the “Access denied” message will appear constantly when you try to run the administrator’s files. It’s easy to fix.

How to join the admin group:

1. Press the Win + R combination and enter control userpasswords2, and then press the OK button.
2. The “User Accounts” window will open, where you need to check that there is a check mark in the “Require username and password” block.
3. Click once with the left mouse button on the active profile and click on the “Properties” button.
4. On the “Group Membership” tab, select the “Administrator” option and apply the changes.
5. It’s best to restart your computer now.

Grant file permissions

If an account already has administrator rights and is still denied access, the most likely reason is that certain actions for this profile are blocked on a specific file. This is fixable.

How to fix the “Access Denied” error in Windows 11:

1. Right-click (RMB) on the file and select “Properties”.
2. Go to the “Security” tab, and then click on the active “Change” button.
3. Select the “Administrators” group and set the flag in the first line “Full Control”.
4. It is better to repeat the same action for the “Users” group so that you do not have to run everything with administrator rights every time.
5. Click on the “Apply” button and we can close the window.

Important! Your account usually belongs to several groups: Administrators and Users. Blocking conditions always take precedence over access rights. That is, if a file change lock is set for users, it is applied to your account and with administrator rights. You need to check both categories.

Assign a file to this account

In Windows 11, it is possible to add your profile to the list of owners of a file or folder, this will mean hassle-free access to them.

How to access files:

1. Using RMB, click on the problematic directory and select the “Properties” option.
2. Go to the “Security” section, click on “Change”, and then on the “Add” button.
3. Enter the word “Administrators” in the “Enter names” block and click on “Check names”. The system should find the user group and add it.
4. Click on the Ok button.
5. Repeat point 3, if required, for the “Users” group.
6. It remains only to “Apply” and click on the “OK” button.

What else can you try?

In 90% of cases, the above measures are sufficient to fix the “Access Denied” error in Windows 11, but there may be more complex or specific situations. Other methods that have been written about on the forums may work in them.

Advice:

• Disable administrator account. Press the Win + R combination and enter compmgmt.msc. Open the “Local Users and Groups” tab. We go to the “Users” section, press the RMB on “Administrator” and select “Properties”. We select “Disable account”. Then go to the “Groups” section and select “Administrators” and “Properties”. In the “Group members” block, click on the “Add” button, enter test and “Check names” and click on OK.

• Go to the built-in administrator profile. Open “Command Line” and enter net user administrator / active: yes. Now select “Change User” and go to this account. We try to run the file from it.

Today these are all known ways to fix the “Access Denied” error in Windows 11. They should be enough for 99% of cases, but it is possible that the situation may be different for someone. Please write in the comments if the methods helped you, which ones, or your operating system continues to give an error.