An error occurred while copying files

Updated on May 13th, 2021

This post talks about “Error copying file or folder” issues, including problem symptom, causes and several approaches to fix it. Besides, this post explains how to recover data from corrupted drive at the ending part. If you encounter this problem and do not have a clue to fix it, continue reading to find out solutions.

“Error copying file or folder” appears when you attempt to copy a file or folder to some storage devices. This is not a peculiar issue and may Windows users may run into this error. Causes of the issue vary from people to people, as it appears with different messages. It comes up with a message box named “Error Copying File or Folder” and content might be one of the following messages in different cases:

• “Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.”
• “There is not enough free disk space. Delete one or more files to free disk space, and then try again.”
• “Data error (cyclic redundancy check).”
• “Access is denied.”
• “An error occurred while copying the file. The operation timed out.”
• “Catastrophic failure”
• “Cannot find the specified file. Make sure you specify the correct path and file name.”
• “Unspecified error”
• “The disk is write-protected. Remove the write-protection or use another disk.”
• “Parameter is incorrect.”
• “The required resource is in use.”
• “The directory or file cannot be created.”

A real case found from forum

“I like taking photos using digital cameras. I wanted to share some photographs with my friends via USB device. I have nearly 100 photos and 10 video files that I need to copy to my 16GB USB drive. I selected all of them and attempted to paste them in USB drive, but received an error ‘Error Copying File or Folder. Cannot copy: The Parameter is incorrect.’ This error confused me, as this is the first time. Is that USB flash drive broken?”

Causes of error copying file or folder

Causes of this cannot copy file error vary from one to another, as it appears in difference cases and comes with various error messages. This part lists the most common causes.

• File being copied is larger than 4GB. If you copy a very large file which is larger than 4GB to FAT32 partition such as USB flash drive, SD card, etc. you’ll be blocked by error message. Since FAT32 file system can’t store file whose per-file size is larger than 4GB, you can’t copy file to that partition successfully. Sometimes, you can see another error message “The file is too large for the destination file system.”
• The disk is write-protected. Some SD card or USB flash drive had a physical switch which can write protect disk so that disk can be protected from virus or malware. Besides, users can set write protection via registry editor. Once a disk is write-protected, it is read-only, thus no data can be written in.
• Target does not have enough free space. If there is not enough free disk space, and the amount of file you want to copy is very large, the data copy operation can’t be completed.
• Target disk is corrupted. If target partition is corrupted or damaged, it won’t be able to read or write data anymore. “Access is denied” or “The parameter is incorrect” will appear on the message box. If you do not safely remove USB disk from computer, partition is likely to get this accessible issue.
• System limitation. Another possible reason behind this issue is the limitation of operating system which fails to recognize file names beyond 255 characters.
• File or folder ownership changed. In some cases, the change of operating system or user account may cause permission issue. If you do not have ownership of certain files or folders, you can copy, delete, write, edit or save data.
• The file is encrypted. Most users encrypt data for the purpose of well protecting data, thus some encrypted files can’t be copied to other location for safekeeping.
• Other reasons. File or folder you want to copy is corrupted; the user profile is corrupted; lose permission; target disk is physically damaged, etc.

How to fix “Error copying file or folder” issue?

As this issue is not caused by same reason, thus there won’t be one solution to get rid of this error. This section provides a couple of easy solutions and you can try them one after another.

Solution 1: Format target partition into NTFS or exFAT

If the file you try to copy is no less than 4GB, you can compress it with WinRAR, thus you can get a smaller file. This solution does not work on all case, thus you need to change file system format for target disk.

1. Open Windows Explorer by double-clicking Computer or This PC.
2. Backup files for target partition. Formatting erases data, thus you need to backup data before formatting it. It’s easy to backup files, as you can simply copy file from this partition to another.
3. Right-click this partition and select “Format”. Then you can select file system as NTFS or exFAT and click “OK”. Note: if your system can’t set needed file system, you can use PartitionGuru to do the formatting job.

Solution 2: Remove write-protection

Check the appearance of the target and find out whether there is a physical switch which is used to lock / unlock disk. If it is placed to the Lock side, you need to move it to the unlocked side. If there is not such switch, you can follow these steps to remove write-protection using Windows Registry Editor.

1. Press Win + R keys together to get Run window where you should enter “Regedit” and hit Enter. Click “Yes” if you get UAC prompt.
2. There is directory path on the left panel of Registry Editor and you need to navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl
3. Find out StorageDevicePolicies and open it. Right-click the empty area on the right side and select New and DWORD (32-bit) Value; Then change its name to WriteProtect.
4. Double click the WriteProtect key and enter 0 in the Value data box and click OK.

Solution 3: Extend target drive

If you get this file copying error on account that there is not enough disk space, you can either change target location or just extent partition. PartitionGuru can extend NTFS and exFAT partition without data loss and the process is easy to follow.

1. Run PartitionGuru Free and right-click partition you want to extend and select “Resize partition”.
2. set partition size you want to move and click “Start” button.
3. Wait for a while and the process will be done.

Solution 4: Change file and folder permission

Please note that you need to log in computer as an administrator before carrying out following steps.

1. Select and right-click file or folder and click “Properties”.
2. Click Security tab on the Properties window.
3. Click your name under Group or user names to check permissions you have.
4. Click “Edit” button and select your user name on next window. Check box under Allow to gain permissions you should have and click “OK”.

Solution 5: Create a new local user account

Once in a while, operating system can’t read your local user profile correctly, preventing you from accessing data. On this occasion, you may need to create a new local user profile to solve this problem.

1. Open Microsoft Management Console. Click Start button and type mmc into the searching box , and then hit Enter. If you are asked for confirmation or administrator password, provide confirmation or password.
2. Click Local User and Groups from the left part of Microsoft Management Console.
3. Click User folder, Action and New User one by one.
4. Type appropriate information in the dialog box and click Create. Click Close then user account is created.

As to step 2, if there is not Local User and Groups in your computer, you need carry out following steps:

• Click File from menu and select “Add/Remove Snap-in”.
• Select “Local User and Group” and click Add.
• Select “Local computer” from the popped-up box and click Finish, then click OK.

How to recover data from “Access is denied” drive？

Formatting is the most direct and easy way to repair inaccessible or damages partition, but it is not the perfect choice, as it erases data. Thus, we need to retrieve data from before formatting if files mean a lot. “Access is denied” is one of such problem we should handle in this way.

Eassos free data recovery software is capable of retrieving data from drive and partition which can’t be opened and reports varies error messages, like “The parameter is incorrect” “Location is not available” “Access is denied” “Disk is not formatted”, etc. Here is the step-by-step recovery process. Eassos Recovery Free is free recovery software, supporting file recovery and partition recovery. It’s able to help you retrieve data from damaged, corrupted or deleted partitions as well as from emptied Recycle Bin. The follow guide tells how to recover files from inaccessible drive.

1. Install and run Eassos Recovery Free. Select “Recovery Files From Partition” recovery mode from the main interface.
2. Click the drive letter of the inaccessible partition and click “Next” button. Eassos Recovery starts to scan this partition to find out lost data.
3. When scanning is paused or completed, you can copy files to a normal partition. Select files you need and click “Recover” button, then you can set location to save data.

Instructions

Note:
This article was updated on 2023-02-03 and previously published under WIKI_Q210794

Meaning of an error occurred while trying to copy a file the source file is corrupted!!!!?

A mistake or inaccuracy, an error is caused about by committing miscalculations on the things that you do. It is a state of having a wrong judgement or conception in your conduct that allows catastrophic things to happen. In machines, error is a way to measure the difference between the observed value or the computed value of an event against its real value.

It is a deviation from correctness and accuracy. When errors occur, machines crash, computers freeze and softwares stop working. Errors are mostly unintentional events to happen. Most of the time, errors are a result of poor management and preparation.

Disk related errors are often the main cause of the File System Errors in Windows operating system. This mostly can be attributed to issues like bad sectors, disk integrity corruption or other related problems. With a huge software system like Microsoft Windows that is designed to perform an extremely large number of tasks, errors that concern the file system is to be expected at some point.

Some of these errors can also be caused by third party softwares, especially those that depend on Windows Kernel in order to run. Common users can also trigger such file errors with heavy use.

Causes of an error occurred while trying to copy a file the source file is corrupted!!!!?

Most of these file errors can be fixed easily by applying the most recent software updates from Microsoft. However, sometimes, certain type of errors can be hard to repair.

For the more complex file system error issues, common solutions include the following:

• Resetting Windows
• Doing system file maintenance repairs
• Clearing the Windows Store Cache
• Repairing Component Store
• Reinstalling Windows Apps

You can also use the System File Checker tool in order to fix corrupted and missing system files. Meanwhile, Check Disk chkdsk can also be used to verify file system integrity and to locate bad sectors on your hard drive.

More info on
an error occurred while trying to copy a file the source file is corrupted!!!!

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You could also try it in another while trying to copy a file the source file is corrupted!!!! If it fails, try downloading the files on the while im trying to instal any game… Then, media to your desktop and run the install from there. If not using media, then run a chkdsk d: /r but try again.

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It works fine if I drag from Outlook to paperport: Cannot copy file: «Cannot read from the source file or disk».

Blue Screen: Registry File Failure; can’t copy corrupted file to tmp directory

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I have tried removing my antivirus a harddrive, and I got no problem installning them. Its only new games a very strange problem. I have tried both MagicISO and DaemonTools, both games? But I also got know why I got problems just with new games.

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I don’t know why I have looked in msconfig & stopped the pop up stopper that loads from Ideas guys. I have looked in Task Manager & it shows I can’t copy it.

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Summary: This article will take you through different solutions to fix “Error Copying File or Folder Unspecified Error”, without losing your precious data with Bitwar Data Recovery Software on Windows.

Have you ever come across an error that doesn’t let you copy files or folders from one location to another on Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP? If yes! Then this article will of great help to you.

Sometimes, when you perform a task of copying a file/folder to another location such as (F:) drive, you may come across a message saying “Error Copying File or Folder Unspecified Error”.

This could be extremely frustrating as this message would restrict you from performing that action and even cause data loss, but do not worry! As we also have a solution to recover all your essential data with the help of Bitwar data recovery software.

Don’t Miss: Fixed: Windows cannot Access the Specified Device Path or File Error

What Causes “Error Copying File Or Folder Unspecified Error” Occur

Below mentioned are the various factors causing the message “Error Copying File Or Folder Unspecified Error“.

1. If you are copying files larger than the 4GB capacity to a FAT32 drive such as SD card or USB flash drive then, you may get blocked by the message “Error Copying File Or Folder Unspecified Error, access is denied“.
2. In case the destination drive is read-only or simply write protected then no data can be copied.
3. If there is no space, and the file you want to copy is larger than the available space then this issue will arise.
4. The target partition is damaged/corrupted.
5. The ownership of the file/folder is changed.
6. System Limitations.
7. Encrypted file/folder.

Before, moving on to the tangible solutions to eliminate the message “Error Copying File Or Folder Unspecified” error, let us see the simple steps to recover your vital data using the best software data recovery software – Bitwar Data Recovery Software, which helps recover deleted documents, photos, videos, audios, etc.

Step 1: Download Bitwar Data Recovery Software for Windows or Mac according to the PC system and install the recovery software.

Download for PC Download for Mac

Step 2: Select the device you want to recover data from followed by a click on the Next button.

Step 3:Choose the File Types such as docx, image, video, and audio you want to restore and then click on the Next button.

Step 4: Preview all the selected data for the scanned list and then click on the Recover button to start the recovery process.

Step 5: Save the extracted files to a safe location.

Note: Do not attempt to save recovered data back to the same partition/drive that caused the issue, instead save it to another partition/drive to avoid any further data loss!

Solution 1: Format the corrupted target drive

When you apply this solution, be sure that you have restored all your essential data as performing these steps will lead to loss of data.

Step 1: Connect the target drive to your computer or laptop and then launch File Explorer. Right-click on the needed drive and select the Format option from the menu.

Step 2: The formatting page will open in front of you from where you can select the unit size, file system, and volume label, etc. Click on start after the selection is made.

When the formatting finishes successfully, the corrupted drive will go back to its normal state to function correctly.

Solution 2: Fix the Error by removing read-write protection

Step 1: Open Run dialogue box by pressing Windows+R keys and type Regedit, followed by pressing the Enter key.

Step 2: Press Yes when UAC prompts.

Step 3: Now, look for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl towards the left side of the Registry Editor panel.

Step 4: Right-click on Control folder and then choose New–Key, after then, name the new key with the name: StorageDevicePolicies.

Step 5: In this step, right-click on the right panel of StorageDevicePolicies. Create a new registry of DWORD (32-bit) Value, named: WriteProtect

Step 6: Finally, double click on Write-Protect and input the value 0 in the Value Data Box.

After that click on OK to confirm changes.

Now, restart the computer and then try to copy data to the target drive and check if the issue is resolved or not.

Solution 3: Remove Write protection using Command Prompt

Step 1: Press Win logo key + S and then type CMD, and then right-click on CMD to choose run as administrator, and then open the Command Prompt Admin Window.

Step 2: Enter Diskpart and followed by hitting on the Enter key.

Step 3: Type List Disk and a list of the disks of your computer show up.

Step 4: Confirm the disk number you are willing to remove write protection using this command: Select Disk 2 and hit on the Enter key. (Replace 2 to the exact number of your disk).

Step 5: Now, you can type Attributes Disk and hit on the Enter key. This command helps you check the Disk’s Read-only State if the first line shows Yes, then let’s more toward using Attributes Disk Clear Readonly to remove the write protection.

Solution 4: Obtain the file/folder write permission

If you get the Error Copying File Or Folder Unspecified Error the reason due to missing of full-control permission, to obtain the permission, you can follow below steps：

Step 1: Right-click on the folder/Partition that you want to copy to, and then select Properties, after that, turn to Security tab.

Step 2: Click your user name under Group and Name section.

Step 3: Change the permission, click on the Edit button.

Step 4: You can now check whether the full control permission is set as Deny or not. If yes, check full control to obtain permission.

Solution 5: Create a new system account

At times, the Windows system couldn’t identify your profiles and then cause such copy error, to bypass, you will need to create a new system account:

Step 1: Press Win logo key + R and type: compmgmt.msc to open Computer Management.

Step 2: Look for Local User and Groups and then click it to unfold the list.

Step 3: Now, click User and then right-click on the blank space on the right-panel, choose New User.

Step 4: Fulfill the form with the appropriate information, finally, click on Create.

Step 5: Log off the current account and switch to the new account to check whether the problems can be resolved or not.

Well, applying the above-given solutions should help eliminate the message “Error Copying File Or Folder Unspecified Error“.

Conclusion

Technology is highly prone to errors caused due to various random reasons which may hamper your work process and waste valuable time. However, depending upon the problem, there are many solutions that can help in fixing issues such as “Error Copying File Or Folder Unspecified Error“.

Check the solutions mentioned above carefully, and if you don’t familiar with the computer operations, ask your expert friends to help. Besides, if your data lost due to the error, acquire Bitwar Data Recovery Software is your best choice that it recovers your precious data in only 3 steps, most importantly, no need expert computer skills.

Read More

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