I have windows 8.1 and am trying to do a refresh as I've had some problems. But I keep getting a message that says, "The drive where windows are installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again." I then did a scan using "SFC/SCANNOW" When it was finished it said that it found some corrupt files but could not fix some of them. So the question is: What is a locked drive and how do you unlock it?
View 9 RepliesYesterday I was working on some stuff on my computer and left it when my door rang. When I came back the computer was on but no matter how many times I tried to move the mouse or press keyboard shortcuts Windows wouldn't come back on. So I manually powered down, and then it got worse. It wouldn't repair manually or from the Windows disk. I tried all kinds of stuff. I tried a refresh install but I got this
"The drive where Windows is installed is locked" Then this morning when I went back to back to turn it on and trouble shot. All I got was a black screen. No NVIDIA window or anything.
I keep getting this when trying refresh my Windows 8 rp
The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again.
I have windows 8 installed on c drive and Linux mint installed on separate hard disk. Everything was working fine before I installed kubuntu from Linux mint. After installation I couldn't get into windows 8 because it was giving error message 0*c000000f. I tried to refresh Windows but no avail because windows has locked that drive and I couldn't access it. Than I decided to backup important files from windows 8 hard disk from Linux. I accessed windows 8 drive but three folders were missing "Windows" , "Users" and "Program Files(64)" other than that I can access all files and problem is all important data is in user folder.
Than I installed windows 8 on different partition still same thing cant access those three folders. Is there any possible way to simply access user folder?
I have an Asus T300LA Transformer with Windows 8.1. My keyboard stopped working so wanted to use the recovery utility, but when I get there it says my hard drive is locked and to unlock it. How do I do that?
View 5 Replies View RelatedI have a 1.5 yr. old ASUS notebook which has been upgraded from the initial Windows 8.0 to 8.1 and then to PRO several months ago. The PRO was done in an attempt to install the encryption technology, Bitlocker. Shortly after the install of Bitlocker, I found it would not work and traced it back to a discussion with ASUS who said this particular notebook was not built with the ability to be encrypted. (This is the second notebook/laptop in several months that I ran across this!) In any case, Bitlocker is not turned on anywhere, and unfortunately, I can't find any tool to remove it from my harddrive as of yet. I only mention this as a possible bearing on the issue since apparently it embeds itself in the root directory, if I am correct. This problem recently started for some unknown reason I can't contribute anything to.
My drive D: is an extension on the physical drive. When I try to manipulate and files or folders, it comes up with "the media is read only" or "the disk is write protected" all dependent on what I am trying to do and what application is open. It will, of course, allow me to copy files to C:. I have tried the following:
-CHKDSK which found nothing
-FILE CHECKER which found nothing
-PERMISSIONS checked and everyone and everything has full permissions
-DISKPART/ATTRIBUTES ran to check everything and according to the attributes on this volume, there is NO READONLY! I ran the CLEAN command 2X anyway which came up "successful" each time.
-I also ran some quality DISK MANAGEMENT software which could not make any modifications since it views the drive as "Read Only".
I was trying to share my c drive to my network and took it too far. I ended up changing permissions and now I cant access the c drive or any program, I am locked out. What now ???
View 3 Replies View RelatedSomething terrible happened to my computer today. I'm honestly not sure exactly how, but my hard drive locked itself. I was trying to install FL Studio 11, when it kept saying I didn't have write permissions. I thought that the installer might be corrupted, so I downloaded it again. It still had the same issue. I thought maybe it was an issue with Windows 8, so I burned it to a USB and connected my iPhone to iTunes to try and sync some music to it before I restored Windows. Not only did the driver not install, but iTunes closed and said I either don't have read/write permissions or iTunes is on a locked hard drive. Frustrated at this point, I turned my computer off and booted from my Windows 8 install USB.
Windows 8 will not install because it says that my hard drive is locked so I can't install Windows 8 on the hard drive. I tried installing it again and the installer said that the temporary installation files could not be copied to the hard drive. I can't boot into Windows now, it just stays stuck at the flashing symbol (I've left it there for about 5 hours now, still nothing). I have a lot of files that I really need for making my music and a lot of unrecoverable pictures, so I really need to get this computer fixed.
At the moment I'm installing Windows on a USB in hopes I can boot from that and move all my files to a backup PC and then format my hard drive, but I'm not 100% sure that will work. I checked my BIOS and my hard drive is not locked with a password or anything, so this just doesn't make sense to me. It might have something to do with all the partitions I've made in the last few days to install Linux and I decided I didn't need it so I deleted the partitions and extended my main partition again.
Also, I've already tried automatic repair about 6 times nothing has worked, it says it can't fix my PC. I fixed this problem by downloading Hiren's Boot CD, going into Mini XP, moving all my files to another laptop with USB, and formatting my hard drive completely.
Have decided to take the plunge to reset my computer (because Windows Store would not open). Booted from the installation disk but cannot Reset or Refresh, I get "The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again."
View 6 Replies View RelatedI formatted a HD that had the bootmanager on it. The Win 8 disc can't repair it. I'm also getting a message that my C: drive is locked.
View 6 Replies View RelatedI'm booting off my SSD which is drive C: and I have games and programs on an extra hard drive which was origanally drive H: but after a restart it switched to I: and when I go into Disk Management to change it Drive H: isn't there.
View 3 Replies View RelatedWhen I go to Computer Management my main (OS) drive shows as "Disk 1" and my 2nd internal data drive shows as "Disk 0". Should I switch the SATA cables so that the main drive will show as "Disk 0 and the 2nd internal drive as "Disk 1"?
View 5 Replies View RelatedEvery time I use a FLAC file, I noticed on the delete, and rename in right click context menu, there is a UAC shield next to the text, initially thought nothing of it, but now I just go to delete the FLAC files, and it's refusing to let me, says I need Administration Permission, thing is...I am the admin!!
Same issue when I select rename, or drag to another folder. Is there anyways to stop Windows from locking these files? It's literally only FLAC files it does it with!
Just purchased a new Inspiron Desktop from Dell and the Windows 8 setup was all going well...
1) set up computer account OK using existing hotmail account - accesses email Ok
2) reach stage of wanting to transfer user files from external hard disk
3) notice that top-level user directory and below on new machine are all read-only so figure I should turn that off
4) system starts changing attributes for hundreds(?) of files - I was only expecting a few directories to be affected so I cancel that process and set all back to read-only and load user files
5) BUT... accessing email from the start page now just hangs - sits there with the rotating circles - everything else functioning OK
6) ran out of time so figure I'll investigate later - turn off system
7) now try to login on startup and after accepting account password it just sits there. Occasionally the start screen (with blank icons) is flashed up very briefly.
8) Do some of the files under the user directory need to have write access? But how can I now gain access to them if I can't get into the machine?
My son's laptop suddenly had all keyboard functions totally locked last night.
He was wondering whether he entered some sort of control sequence, accidentally, for this to happen.
He has managed to recover by going back to a restore checkpoint for earlier this week.
In case this happens again, is there any Windows control sequence he could have used to resolve this?
I am getting quite used to the start screen on Windows 8 (as opposed to a start menu (?) - this change in nomenclature is sure to confuse users...)
I followed the tip on organizing into groups - quite useful.
However, once I have my start screen organized the way I like, I find that within groups icons tend to 'shift' positions randomly - which is irritating.
Any way to 'lock' them so once they are in position - one would think MS would have thought of that already.
Noticed something interesting - I am on a dual monitor set-up and when I open the start screen on a different monitor the organization of the start screen changes. Maybe that is why it is not an option (?) ...
I have done a re-install of Windows 8 due to stabilty and speed issues.
It is a DUAL boot with Ubuntu 13.04, but this is not the problem.
The DESKTOP (I use Classic Shell) to get to the Desktop not the START screen. This worked well with my previous install.
However, I can't put ANYTHING on the blank Desktop - the folder Desktop has TONS of stuff in it.
Checked Permissions. Tried to Create a new folder or shortcut - it SAYS it's OK, and puts the New Folder in the Desktop folder, but it does NOT appear on my Desktop.
The Background works and I can get the Next Background by right clicking and selectin Next Desktop Background.
The START screen Icon of Desktop is also blank, except for my Background.
I have a laptop with Two Hard Drive( one SSD of 24 gb and one big). Windows 8 is set up on the SSD hard drive
Yesterday, I got a freeze and I had to restart the computer by unplug it. After that, I can't boot it any more. I had a message which said that it missed boot.ini (something like that).
I tried to repair it but the HD is locked. I tried to reinstall it, but I can't find the SSD hard drive during the installation process. I use GParted Live but it didn't found the SSD drive too.
This is weird, occasionally as I open up firefox and go to enter text into any field I notice that I am unable to type. Instead what happens is if I hit a key such as F which is linked to a windows shortcut for files, the files search menu pops up even though i never pressed the windows key at any time. This problem isn't just limited to firefox, once it is started I have a very hard time getting it to being able to type normally. So if there is no shortcut linked to that key, there is no input otherwise i get the shortcuts (H - share, Q - search, etc). Restarting doesn't always work, sometimes all it takes is excessive clicking of a search bar, other times just closing an internet broswer. Pressing the windows key does nothing, and I haven't been able to find a concrete fix for the issue. Is there a way to fix and or avoid this completely?
View 1 Replies View RelatedI am developing a tablet experience that will be handed out to a number of employees in a number of stores. I want to customize the start screen a certain way and basically lock it so that employees (or customers) cannot move icons around, install new apps, or run unapproved applications.
View 6 Replies View RelatedOkay, so this the worst I've ever been locked out of a computer. There's an account on the computer that's been linked to a Microsoft account, however the MS account password is lost and since all the forgot password options have been filled in with gibberish there's really no way to recover it.
Normally I'd say just reinstall the OS, but apparently we need access to this account.
There's no other user accounts whatsoever. Just one administrator account.
So, facts:
- It's linked to Microsoft.
- Microsoft account in inaccessible.
- Microsoft account cannot be recovered.
- There's no backups or anything.
- Computer account needs to be accessed unharmed.
Ultimately, I guess we need to actually hack into this account by force and I honestly don't know how to do something going that far because I've never been forced to go that far before. I'm going to guess it's going to involve booting from a pendrive or something.
I have a Windows 7 / Windows 8 dual boot setup that was initially working fine. When attempting to update the graphics drivers in Windows 8 last week, something went wrong and the system crashed. Now when I attempt to boot into Windows 8, it goes into the Attempting Automated Repairs loop which never finishes, even when left running for several hours. I attempted to boot off of the Windows 8 installation CD and do a Refresh but it just errors out saying Windows could not be refreshed.
View 4 Replies View RelatedI have just bought a 4TB external USB 3.0 hard drive. The plan is to copy all of the data from my current internal 2TB drive to the 4TB, then I'm going to crack the case of the external hard drive open, take the drive out, and put it in my PC to replace the 2TB drive that's in there now (which I know will void the warranty). This isn't going to be a boot drive as I have an SSD for that.
I had read that Windows does not support large drives of this size and that it would show up as 2 partitions, so I was prepared to convert the drive to GPT in order to have 1 large partition. However, I connected the drive up to my Windows 8.1 machine and it shows as 1 large partition of 3.63TB, which is about what I expected.
Does this mean I don't have to convert the drive after all? Can I do what I'm planning to do and everything will work fine? Or do I need to convert it to GPT before I copy all of my data over and if so, how do I do that exactly?
I have a Samsung 530U3C laptop with a 500 GB HDD and an internal 24 GB SanDisk SSD. For some reason, the SSD is suddenly invisible to my system. It does not show up in Disk Management, it does not show up in DiskPart and it does not show up in Device Manager. Nowhere to be seen.
The BIOS has never displayed the SSD drive, so I can't see it there either. I don't know if it's connected with SATA or PCIe. All I know is that it's built in somewhere, and I don't see it if I open the laptop case. I also know that it's not a HDD/SSD hybrid.
However, if I boot up from a recovery USB and start a command prompt, I am able to see the SSD drive in DiskPart. But if I do the same after booting the OS, it's not visible.
Here's some details:
I've installed ExpressCache and Intel Rapid Start Tech to work with the SSD. This is what I did to the SSD:
Cleaned the drive with DiskPartCreate partition msr size=6200 (partition for Intel Rapid Start, 6 GB RAM)Set the partition id=84 (hibernation partition)Installed ExpressCache, which automatically created a partition of the remaining unallocated space.
This setup worked fine for a few days, but somehow the SSD drive is now invisible.
I know my dvd drive was working a few weeks ago cause i used it to load up shogun 2 total war. My bios recognizes my driver but i dont see it any were in my device manager. BTW i was running windows 7 and had no issues with my dvd driver.
Update i click show hidden devices and i see my dvd but I can't find it anywhere when I look in my computer and when I put a disk in it doesn't boot up the cd or anything. I also asked it to check for updates but it says i have the latest updates for the drive and the device is working properly.
DVD drive not recognize by windows-8 after update
i installed WINDOWS-8 RP 64bit for trail on DG41RQ mobo (as well as on other PC (DG31PR) where there is no problem).
all was well till i updated the intel chipset driver (Intel Chipset Device Software version 9.1.2.1008)
and the BIOS version (to RQG4110H.86A.0017.EB)
now the system doesn't recognize my LG DVD drive (HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NP20) , (also in device manger and also in SAFE MODE) my BIOS dose recognize it and i CAN boot a live Win-XP from it.
i tried to roll back the IDE intel controllers drivers, but no change.
i have an IDE HDD as master, and the DVD Drive as SLAVE (recognized as such by BIOS).
my UEFI is desabled in BIOS (i don't know what it is actually).
(i have Activation Key (PRO) but i want to make sure all is well before activation)
How I can create a new hard drive without using space on the windows c: drive ...
View 9 Replies View RelatedI have a Samsung SE-218 External DVD drive, and I cannot seem to access it in Windows 8.1 (though I have not had a chance to try it on any other computers yet, so there is always the possibility that something is wrong with the drive). Whenever I plug it in the light comes on and it will spin the disc for a bit, but nothing shows up in File Explorer or in Device Manager.
I've tried the command prompt command noted in this thread with no luck:
How to make empty ODD show?
When I look the control panel the CD/DVD does not appears, but in the setup you can see that the DVD is working. Before I had win 7 and it work well.
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Seagate 2TB drive mounted in a Thermaltake, Max 5 enclosure. The drive does not show in Windows 8. Does show when running Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) but shows as "Unallocated" without a drive letter. If run the Seagate drive tools, it shows up as unallocated, with drive letter "C". But there is obviously already a drive "C".
Disk Management does not present a means by which to assign a drive letter
Ever since I upgraded to Windows 8.1 (the day it came out) iv had this random drive listed in the disk optimizer thing. I just let it go but i'm pretty sure there's a way to remove it. Here's a pic of what it looks like: [URL] .....
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