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Error 5: Access is denied can occur in a variety of situations, but it most frequently occurs when attempting to install new software on a computer system. Users of earlier operating systems, such as Windows 8 or Windows 7, can also experience this problem, even though Windows 10 users are more likely to experience it. Users are unable to continue when attempting to install an app or launch a Windows update because a message that reads: As evident from the error itself, the access to the action was denied, interrupts the process. Usually, this happens as a result of insufficient system permissions.
As a result, many people can resolve Error 5: Simply trying to run the command or start an installer with administrator rights results in an Access Denied error. However, some users asserted that they were already logged in as the administrator, which begs the question of why this error would even occur in the first place. Additionally, this error can also appear in other ways, such as “Windows could not start the Software Protection service on Local Computer.” The Software Protection service, for instance, checks the software status of the installed programmes on the system in this instance.
The absence of the permissions is the cause of this problem. If you don’t have administrator rights or if your account is not the administrator account, Windows 10 will prevent you from installing. This issue can be resolved by granting administrator rights to your account on the computer. However, before continuing, briefly turn off your antivirus software to see if that makes a difference. If it does, it most likely indicates that the virus was to blame. If not, you can keep working through the below solutions and turn on the antivirus later.
Ways to Fix Error 5: Access is denied In Windows
Switch your user account to an admin profile
Installing the software inside an admin user account might be necessary if choosing the Run as administrator option doesn’t work. It may be necessary for you to change your standard account to an admin one as a result. You can change your Control Panel profile to be an administrator in the following ways:
Open the Program Install and Uninstall troubleshooter
Installation errors can be resolved using Microsoft’s Program Install and Uninstall troubleshooter. This is especially true if corrupt registry keys are preventing the installation of software.
Although Windows 1.0 does not include this tool, you can download it by clicking the Download button on this page. Press the Next button to launch the troubleshooter after it has been opened and downloaded.
Switch off or change the antivirus software
Access is denied error code 5 might be brought on by unreliable antivirus software. A genuine setup wizard may be misidentified by some programmes as something else, which is known as false positive detection. Using an antivirus that detects few false positives or none at all would be the best course of action. As they maintain real-time records of all threats, both old and new, up-to-date antivirus software shouldn’t have any problems detecting malicious software.
There are many antivirus programmes that are compatible with Windows 10 that can run quietly in the background and protect you at all times without setting off erroneous alerts or interfering with your system. If you would rather continue using your current antivirus, turn it off momentarily to make sure it won’t obstruct the installer. By choosing the disable option from the context menus, you can momentarily disable antivirus software. For instance, Avast’s context menu has a setting for controlling the Avast shield. Alternately, you can use Task Manager to disable anti-virus programmes from starting up with Windows.
Restore Windows with System Restore
Enable the built-in admin account via Command Prompt
net user administrator /active:yes
net user administrator /active:no
Adjust the UAC Settings
Final Words
We hope you like our article on how to Fix Error 5: Access is denied In Windows. Even if you are logged into Windows 10 or Windows 11 using the Admin account, you might occasionally encounter the Error 5: Access is denied error when attempting to install particular programmes or access particular files / programmes. This error may have been caused by an incorrect Windows configuration or a compromised user account that prevents you from installing the application you’re trying to install.
You might get Your computer is displaying error code 5. You don’t have the necessary permissions to install the programme to the target system drive, according to the error message during software installation. In addition, you cannot access or edit any files stored on it. Right-click the application file at this point and select Run as administrator. For further information regarding this error, you can also visit official Microsoft support website.