The full message reads...Windows cannot access the specified device,path,file. You may not have the appropriate permission to access the item. If anyone could suggest anything please help. My pc is playing up at the moment so please give me a few days to reply to emails. Please advise what to do. Many thanks in advance...
After the Auto WindowsUpdate of 8/15/07, I have had the problem of inconsistant activity on two of my admin accounts. User-A and User-B on my machine are both Admin authorized.
Before 08/15/07 I could depend on either User-A or User-B to allow me access to the Add/Remove Program feature while either one was logged on giving me the capability to maintain my system.
After 08/15/07 I can only depend on one of these accounts of having full system access. If I log onto User-A, I have full access and all of my background programs including Norton AV and ZoneAlarm are accessible to me for use, but switching to User-B, I lose this functionality in these apps. For example, if I am using User-B and try to open the Add/Remove application I rcv the following message: "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have appropriate permissions to access this item"
It usually doesn't matter whether I restart/reboot or shut the machine down and back on again, I get the same result? Just reviewing the Add/Remove screens, it appears that IE7 as well as XP Pro SP2 were updated with security fixes.
I have done a little bit of snoopying on my own and was suprised to find out that this problem existed when Win-ME was making its intro!? Some messages thru Google have stated that they have solved the problkem without really stating what the problem was OR how to permanently fix the problem, so I still hope to find a resolution soon.
If someone has a clue as to what's going on or how to correct this problem please let me know.
I have run into this very same problem in the past few weeks. One friend's computer gave the same error message about the exact time you noticed it. I tried Safe Mode and all the other options, but nothing would work. I managed to restore it back to July and it worked for a bit, but the message came back. I ended up restoring her OS and so far, it seems to be okay. Just tonight, another person called me with the same exact error message. I walked him through a restore over the phone and it's working okay for now. For this to happen in a few weeks time, is too odd. These two computers are both Dells, but I know that isn't the problem. The other thing they have in common is the PC-cillin virus and spyware protection software I installed. I'm betting that PC-cillin has done an update that has messed up the systems. It's a thought.
Thanks for the response. I finally discovered that the updates that I spoke of from MS were indeed the problem. I kept messing around until I was able to gain access to the add/remove system application and removed all of the Security updates for IE7 that had been previously installed by 'windowsupdate'. Running AV & PC-cillin
is of no help. Indeed, I finally removed PC-cillin after receiving one of its' strange application updates that were provided to me. Hope this helps in the future. . .
So, Tom, what are we to do, I wonder? We want the updates from MS, but how can we trust them not to mess up the machines? How do we know a good one from a bad one? Did you turn your Automatic Updates off? I might do that if this run of error messages continues. I've told so many people to buy PC-cillin and I'm sorry for that. It was listed as #1 in Consumer Reports, too! The two computers I mentioned are both running IE6. Thanks for telling me of the "fix" you found. I'll try that in the future if I don't totally get locked out of the system like I was on one of the Dells.
Hey Arizona, that is the $64,000 question. The trust issue is the next big mountain to climb. I have lapsed in taking the time to read some of the information provided by MS with these updates. While the research I was doing suggested that this problem had been around since the days of Win-ME, and appears to have been carried forward to the latest Win-XP SPII release, I doubt that anything significant in the way of hoping for a permanent fix would be on the horizon. Turning off the Automatic updates completely would not help other valid updates that might be relavent to your operating environment. I believe that windowsupdate has a way to prevent these updates of being surpressed at their website, but I have not had a chance to look into this as yet because we had a sudden death in our family during the week of the last response I sent to you guys and that has consumed me. I will keep in touch . . .
Very sorry, Tom, about the death in your family. Not an easy thing. I am not adding any more Security Updates, but I am accepting the Window Updates. It's my home computer and I have enough protection on it. We lose more and more of our freedom these days because of "security" issues. Hmmm -- sorry -- an issue that gets me going. Has anyone ever wondered how much space these updates are taking up or will eventually take up on the hard drive? If you look at the updates in Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, they are extreme in number and they will just keep piling up; not for XP alone, but for other programs as well. Just a thought. Take care and write when you can...
