Unfortunately, sometimes some users when trying to perform important operations with a partition or removable media are faced with the fact that there is no access to the disk. In other words, the system displays the content, but something cannot be changed. In the case of removable media, the most common situation is when they are simply protected from recording mechanically or programmatically. You can remove protection very simply, for example, by setting the lock switch to the disconnected position or by unlocking the drive by disabling encryption like BitLocker. But what if there is no access to the disk or partition of a user computer or laptop? In this situation, several solutions can be applied, which are further proposed for consideration.
Why is there no access to the disk?
Before you take any actions aimed at restoring access to partitions, you should look at why it might disappear. There are not many options here. The following are considered the most common:
- accidental or intentional blocking;
- limitations of the operating system due to the lack of user access rights;
- exposure to viruses;
- lack of shared access to the resource.
How to open access to the disk in the case of a virtual partition?
First of all, we will consider situations where access restriction is observed in relation to logical partitions, which is very often associated with the rash actions of the user in terms of security settings or his lack of appropriate rights to change the contents. In the second case, the solution looks corny simple: you just need to use the user account that is part of the group of administrators to perform the necessary operations.
But there are more serious problems when the user seems to be logging into the system with the appropriate registration, but there is no access to the disk anyway.
In this case, it is advisable to refer to the properties of the disk or partition in the "Explorer", go to the security tab, click the "Advanced" button, and then look at the owner. If the default value is set to "System", you must use the owner change by adding either one user, who is necessarily a member of the administrator group, or an administrator. After that, you need to add or change the existing permissions by setting full access for the selected user or group (check boxes should be in the list at all points of the actions to be performed). Upon completion, access to the section will be restored.
Note: sometimes it may be necessary to set the owner change not only for the main partition (disk), but also for child objects. However, such a technique for child objects cannot be applied to the system partition in which the operating system is installed, although the owner itself can be changed.
How to display the security tab in the section properties if it is missing?
Now let's look at a situation where there is no access to the hard drive, and the steps described in the previous version are impossible due to the fact that the security tab in the section properties is not available as such. As already clear, it must be restored.
To do this, use the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc), in the user configuration through administrative templates, go to the Windows components, find the "Explorer" section, and on the right - the disable tab for the security tab. Having entered the change of options with a double click, this parameter must be set to the off state, save the changes and, to be sure, restart the computer system. After the restart is complete, access can be restored, as described above.
Using the Unlocker Utility
Now let's see how to make access to the disk if it is blocked by some third-party processes. In this case, the best option would be to use a small utility called Unlocker. In some versions of Windows 7 (in particular, in the "Maximum") it is built-in, for other versions you will have to install it yourself. Using the program is quite simple. It is enough to launch the application through the PCM menu on the selected section, and after determining the blocking descriptor, you can use one of the options offered by the application in the drop-down list. If we are talking about a logical drive on which system components are missing, you can choose to delete.
In the case of the system partition, it is better to use the unlock buttons of either one or all of the processes shown in the list. Deleting processes, despite the presence of such an item in the menu, is not recommended in any case.
Allow Disk and Partition Sharing
Now let's see what can be done if access to the partition, including the system disk, is necessary for users of other computer terminals integrated into one local network (for example, to speed up the workflow in an enterprise or office). In this case, you just need to share the selected resource in the properties section.
Usually it’s enough to limit yourself to installing simple shared access, however, to add specific users, provide them additional rights or apply restrictions, you can go to the advanced options and set the necessary parameters there.
What to do if a disk is blocked by a virus?
Finally, the most unpleasant situation is associated with the penetration of certain types of viruses on computers that can block access to both system and logical partitions. In particular, the Virus.VBS.Small applet related to executable scripts is capable of this. First of all, check all non-system directories for suspicious Autorun files with the .exe and .inf extensions, then delete the found objects. Also pay attention to the System32 directory.
In the system registry (regedit), select the HKLM branch, go to the Winlogon section in it, and then check the Userinit key (for it, the userinit.exe executable file located in the System32 folder with the full path output should be specified). If the parameter has a different value, change it and reboot the system. In theory, after that it will be possible to access the computer's disk.
Note: in passing, pay attention to the presence of the MountPoints2 key in the HKCU branch (it can be found directly through the search). If there is one or several, delete all the records completely and completely, then restart the system.