Resolving Unspecified Errors When Copying Files or Folders in Windows 10

Here's a quick navigation guide to fix the "An unspecified error occurred" while copying files or folders in Windows 10: 1. **检查磁盘错误**: - 打开命令提示符(以管理员身份运行)。 - 输入 `chkdsk /f /r C:` (将 `C:` 替换为出问题的驱动器)。 - 按 `Enter` 运行命令，然后重新启动电脑。 2. **关闭实时保护**: - 按 `Win + X`，选择“Windows Defender安全中心”。 - 点击“病毒和威胁防护”。 - 在右侧，滚动到“实时保护”并关闭它（临时）。 3. **使用安全模式复制**: - 重启电脑并在启动过程中按 `F8` 进入高级启动选项。 - 选择“安全模式”并登录。 - 尝试在安全模式下复制文件。 4. **更新或回滚驱动程序**: - 按 `Win + X`，选择“设备管理器”。 - 查找可能引起问题的硬件，如硬盘或存储控制器。 - 右键点击，选择“更新驱动程序”或“回滚驱动程序”。 5. **重置文件资源管理器**: - 按 `Win + R`，输入 `regedit` 并按 `Enter`。 - 导航到 `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer`。 - 右键点击，选择“新建” > “DWORD (32位)值”。 - 命名为 `ResetFileExplorerSettings`，设置值为 `1`。 - 重启电脑。 6. **运行系统文件检查器**: - 打开命令提示符(以管理员身份运行)。 - 输入 `sfc /scannow` 并按 `Enter`。 - 等待扫描完成并修复任何损坏的系统文件。 7. **检查防病毒软件**: - 确保你的防病毒软件是最新的，并且没有阻止文件复制。 - 如果有必要，暂时禁用防病毒软件，然后尝试复制文件。 8. **创建新用户账户**: - 设置新管理员账户。 - 登录新账户并尝试复制文件。 9. **进行系统还原**: - 如果你有还原点，可以恢复到出现问题之前的状态。 - 搜索“创建还原点”，然后选择“系统还原”。 10. **重新安装Windows 10**: - 作为最后的手段，你可以考虑执行干净安装，但请先备份所有重要数据。 请按照这些步骤逐一排查，希望其中一种方法能解决你的问题。

Please provide the English content you want to translate, and I will do my best to translate it into Chinese.

"Error copying file or folder" with an unspecified error on Windows 10/8/7

"Hey there, folks! Do you know how to fix the unspecified error when trying to copy a file or folder to a computer's target drive? Yesterday, I attempted to copy a folder containing about 2 GB of files to drive F. However, upon clicking 'Paste,' my computer warned me that it couldn't copy the file to the target drive, displaying a warning message saying 'Unspecified error copying file or folder.' By the way, I'm currently using Windows 10. Could anyone please advise on how to resolve this issue so that I can copy and save the file to the target drive or hard disk? Any suggestions?"

Image alt: "Error: An unspecified error occurred while copying a file or folder." Height: "152" Data source: "/images/en/data-recovery/drw-pro/unspecified-error-copying-file-and-folder.png" Width: "400"

Any user of Windows 10/8/7 can come across the vague error, “Error Copying File or Folder” while trying to copy a file or folder to a new location. But what could be preventing you from copying a file or folder to the target device? There can be many reasons.

Possible causes of an unspecified error in Windows

If you're unsure how to fix or what's causing an unspecified error when copying files or folders on your Windows computer, you can check the following items to pinpoint the issue:

• Files larger than 4GB: If the file you want to copy is larger than 4GB and you try to copy it to a FAT32 partition like a USB or SD card, this error message may pop up.
• The disk is write protected: You cannot write data if the target partition or drive is in read-only or write-protected status.
• Not enough space on the destination disk: If there is insufficient available space, and the file to be copied is very large, the data copying will fail.
• The target disk is damaged, or the file is encrypted.
• System limitations.
• The ownership of the file or folder has been changed.

The above are the main reasons for the unknown error that occurs while copying a file or folder.

How to Solve the 'Error Copying File or Folder' Issue Without Losing Data

If you encounter this error and can't copy files or folders to the target device or hard drive, don't worry. You have several methods to resolve this issue. Immediately follow the steps below to消除the unspecified error “Error copying file or folder” in Windows 10. Below are the corresponding solutions based on the reasons listed above:

Method 1: Format the Target Partition/Disk to NTFS or exFAT

If you try to copy a file larger than 4 GB to a partition formatted with the FAT32 file system (you can check the drive's file system in its Properties), the copy will fail. Why? Well, even though you can have a single FAT32 volume as large as 2 TB, no single file can be larger than 4 GB.

If the file you are trying to copy is larger than 4 GB, you can compress it using WinRAR or ZIP to get a smaller file. However, if that doesn't work, or if the target device is showing the “parameter is incorrect” message, you can directly convert the target partition or disk to NTFS or exFAT, which can be done by formatting the drive.

However, formatting will delete all files from the target drive, so you should back up your files beforehand using free backup software or copy them to another location. To format the drive:

Step 1: Open "This PC".

Step 2 . Right-click the partition that you want to format and select "Format" from the menu.

Step 3: Choose a Windows-compatible file system for the drive, and click Start.

Step 4 Click “OK” in the warning window to confirm.

You can also refer to our guide on how to format a hard drive in Windows 10 for alternative methods of formatting the target partition.

Method 2: Extend the Partition with the Unknown Error

If the unknown error when copying a file or folder is due to insufficient space on the target hard drive partition, you can solve this issue by freeing up disk space, or directly use a free partition manager to extend the hard drive partition with simple clicks.

Method 3: Remove Write Protection from the Target Disk

If you receive an "Error copying file or folder" message because your device is write-protected, you can follow these steps to remove the write protection from the disk using Diskpart:

Step 1. Run Command Prompt as an administrator.

Step 2. Type diskpart, and click Yes when prompted.

Step 3: Enter the following commands in order:

After that, you should be able to save files and folders to the target partition without issues. If the “Read-only” attribute is still there, try the other tricks from this article to fix the “Windows can't check the disk for errors on this volume because it's write-protected” issue.

If you consider yourself not very much of a power user or are uncomfortable with the command line, don't worry – there are graphical solutions that can help you unprotect your hard drive, USB drive, or even an SD card.

CleanGenius is one of those tools that can help you fix these issues on your disk without having to resort to the command line.

This is a simple and easy-to-understand guide on how to use this tool to address your concerns:

Step 1: Download and install CleanGenius (free) on your computer.

Step 2: Run CleanGenius on your computer, choose Optimization and enable Write Protection mode.

Step 3: Select the write-protected device and click Disable to unprotect it.

Method 4: Format the Disk or Decrypt the Files

If you receive an unspecified error while copying a file or folder, it might be due to a damaged disk or an encrypted file. If the disk is damaged, try formatting the disk. If the file is encrypted, you can simply decrypt the item.

Method 5: Change the User Account

The current account might not have permissions to change files and folders. Switch to another account on your computer, and then copy the data.

Method 6: Change File/Folder Permissions

If you don't have permission to control the items being copied, an unspecified error can occur when you copy items from one location to another. To change permissions:

Step 1: Navigate to the folder containing the file you wish to copy, right-click, and select “Properties.”

Step 2: Click on the "Security" tab and check the permissions for your user name under "Groups or user names."

Step 3 If you need to change the permissions, click “Edit,” select the desired permissions, and click “OK.”

You should now be able to use the target hard drive partition to copy to and save files and folders without issue.

Additional Tip: Recover Data from Hard Drive Partition Showing Undefined Error While Copying Files/Folders

If you encounter an unknown error while copying files or folders, resulting in the loss of crucial data on the target hard drive partition or storage device, don't worry. Before or after resolving the "error copying file or folder" issue, you can directly recover your data from the device using the methods provided here. The powerful Data Recovery Wizard tool – The Data Recovery Wizard enables you to scan all existing or lost files on the hard drive and restore them to a secure location on your computer with just a few clicks. Simply download this software and use it to search for and extract data from the affected hard drive partition with the unknown error:

Step 1: Run the Tool Data Recovery Wizard. Under "Select Location," choose "Select Folder." Browse to where your lost folder was located and click "OK" to scan.

Select the folder to scan

Step 2. You can search for the folder, or use the "Filter" feature to look for specific types of files within the folder.

Select the files to recover

Step 3: Preview the recovered folder. Thereafter, click “Recover” and choose a new secure location on your system to save the retrieved data.

Bottom line

There are other tricks to fix unspecified errors that occur while copying files and folders. You can download the Windows File and Folder Troubleshooter and use it to fix issues related to files and folders. You can also run the sfc.exe utility to scan and fix errors in the file system. If the methods we elaborated on fail, give these tricks a try.