Solved External drive access denied

I first tried to access a usb but received this message:
"Drive:\is not accessible
Access is denied"

then I found out that all other external drives that are connected to the PC via usb ports have the same problem. The drive's Properties Advanced Security Settings shows "Owner: Unable to show current owner".
In the Permissions tab it shows this message ""You do not have permissions to view or edit this objects' permission settings"

What I've done:
1/Performed the options in the thread

Enable or Disable Access to Removable Storage Devices in Windows 11​

but it doesn't work.

2/ Reinstall Windows 11 via Systems -Recovery -Fix problems using Windows updates
it doesn't work.

Other issues also pop up:
-In Windows Start, these options :Event Viewer, Device Manager, Disk Management, Computer Management, File Explorer", when clicked, no longer response!
I' don't know whether they are related to the above issue. However in the old Control Panel all options are working fine.

I hope someone will have a solution for this problem.

TIA

Any chance you have BitLocker external hard disk encryption?

And welcome to the forum

You will not be able to use flash drives or removable hard disks in the system if the administrator prohibits reading the usbstor.inf and usbstor.pnf files in the %windir%\inf directory.

Thank you all for the quick response.

1/ In the Data Encryption the BitLocker is off on both Fixed data drives and Removable data drives.

2/The usbstor.inf and usbstor.pnf are in the Windows\INF directory but how can we know their reading is prohibited?

Maybe you enabled USB Write Protection, use the attached batch script to disable it.

FreeBooter said:

Maybe you enabled USB Write Protection, use the attached batch script to disable it.

Click to expand...

Access is denied for all external drives, including usb. All external drives, including usb, are recognized in the File Explorer but cannot be accessed!

marcgzz said:

The usbstor.inf and usbstor.pnf are in the Windows\INF directory but how can we know their reading is prohibited?

Click to expand...

I’m not as switched on as @abactuon, I’m sure they’ll reply.

Just winging it here, if you add this registry to enable reset permisions to your context menu, use it on both those files. It tells you how it works at the top of the tutorial.

Also, at the bottom of this first post is a file. The post tells you what it is. Download and run it. It incorporates actions I could list but it’s easier in my opinion to just run this batch file.

Thanks antspants. Today I just thought that why recent days the Opswat MetaDefender Endpoint just popped up when my pc is turned on. This software has been on my pc for awhile though I do not remember that I did install it! I thought it was a security apps . A search about Opswat on the web would give me the links from opswat.com itself.

Today I decided to uninstall this software, and without restarting the pc "the external drive access denied" just disappeared.

Hey that’s great news, Marc!

Sometimes when installing something, we forget to uncheck any other offers to “Also Install” and we end up with unwanted software.

I’d be scanning the PC. Also, it would of been better to use REVO to uninstall this so as to get rid of any leftovers.

marcgzz said:

A search about Opswat on the web would give me the links from opswat.com itself.

Click to expand...

This was also my result. It would seem whoever did the SEO setup for this company did a bang up job.
Also, I find it hard to believe that you’re the only person who ever had this software installed unbeknown.