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How to Fix “Location Is Not Available” or “Access Is Denied” in Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7

Receive the “Location is not available” or “Access is denied” error message when you want to access a file or folder? It’s mainly due to incorrect permissions that you are not able to read the contents of this file or folder. Here are 4 ways to help you fix the Location is not available error in Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows 7.

1. Reconfirm Permissions of Files to Fix “Location Is Not Available” Error

The “Location is not available” or “Access is denied” error exists because you don’t have the permission of this file or folder. To get the access of a certain file or folder, you just need to reconfirm the permissions of this file or folder. Take these steps:

Step 1.Right-click the file or folder and select Properties.

Step 2.Select Security and click Advanced at the bottom.

Note: You’ll see some text that says Owner: and probably Unable to display current owner next to it. Click the Change link to the right of this to change the item’s owner.

Step 3. In the Enter the object name to select box, type Administrators to allow all PC admins to access it, or just your username.

Step 4. Click Check Names and the box text will auto-correct to PCNAME\Administrators, and then hit OK

Step 5. Back on the Advanced Settings window, in the Owner field, just check the box for Replace owner on subcontainers and objects below

Step 6. Click Apply and then OK.

2. Modify Permissions for User Account Fix “Access Is Denied” Error

Another fix to get rid of the “Location is not available” or “Access is denied” error message is modifying the permissions for a particular file by going into its properties. Take the steps:

Step 1. Right-click the file or folder and select Properties.

Step 2. Navigate to the Security tab and click Edit.

Step 3. In the Allow column, check every option.

Step 4. Click Apply and then OK.

3. Restore to Default

To troubleshoot the “Location is not available” or “Access is denied” error message, you could also restore to default. Take these steps:

Step 1. Navigate to the drive where the Windows is installed (i.e. C:\Users).

Step 2. Use your username to open the folder.

Step 3. Right-click the blank space of desktop and select Properties.

Step 4. Under the Location tab, click the Restore Default button.

Step 5. Reboot your computer.

If you know other troubleshooting methods to fix the “Location is not available” or “Access is denied” error, welcome to share with us in the comments section below.