Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file.....

You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item. (this goes with the error in the title

Hi Guys

This comes up when doing a search in windows "start".

when i am looking for programs such as CMD, movie maker, sniper and a whole range of others, that disappeared from the start menu, but i have found a lot of them by searching for them in various folders.

Also using the windows key, on the keyboard, and F no longer opens the search explorer.

I installed win 7 on a new SSD drive and left XP on what was the old partitioned primary drive so i could have the option of duel booting.

Recently i decided to remove XP and gain more space. I couldn't work out how to uninstall XP and so i just deleted all the files, which gave me some trouble due to being system files and so i used a program to forcfully remove them all. (i chose to do that because i couldn't remove the partition or even shrink it and i couldnt format it either).

So after all that there was about 8GB of used space on the "empty drive"

But now i am thinking that some of the system files were Win 7 and not XPs because of things not being found etc. and recently the old HHD was hunting, when i wasnt doing anything and so i pulled the cable off it to stop it, and windows froze.

PS im reading what i have written it sounds a bit crazy to me that i did that, but i was all along thinking its just all XP and i dont want it any more so who cares right?

The easiest and best way to fix this would be to do the Windows 7 install again, this time deleting all partitions and then creating one new partition for the entire drive, and then installing Windows 7 in the new partition. When you start the Windows 7 install, you can choose "Custom", and it will give you the option of deleting and creating partitions.

By deleting all partitions, then creating one new partition, you will totally eliminate any problems that currently exist in your Windows 7 setup -- you will get a totally clean Windows 7 install.

Thanks MrJim

So do you agree that somehow some of the win 7 system files ended up on the old drive?

Likely. But whatever happened, what you now have is a mess; so the easiest and most complete way to fix it is to simply wipe the drive totally clean and start over from square 1.

yeah thats my thoughts as well.

thankyou so much for your help. much appreciated