Since last week, Windows 11 has shown "You don't have permission to access this folder" whenever I connect my work external hard drive, personal external hard drive, or an SD card. The prompt suggests changing permissions from the Security tab, but that tab is missing for the FAT32 devices. My personal drive is NTFS, and its Security settings appear to grant access to everyone, yet Windows still reports Access Denied.
These devices worked normally for years, and my wife can open both hard drives on her computer, so the issue seems specific to this PC. I also ran Windows virus and threat scans, and they found nothing. This is a work computer, although the listed removable-drive policies appear to be Not configured and our IT contact has not found an obvious cause. What could be blocking all external storage, and how can I restore access without risking the data?
2 Answers
Because both NTFS and FAT32 devices are affected, this probably is not a normal folder-permission problem. FAT32 does not support Windows ACLs, so it will not have a Security tab in the first place. The common causes are a company endpoint-security policy, device-control software, encryption requirements, or a damaged Windows security/profile configuration.
Have IT check the computer’s applied domain policies and any endpoint-security console, not just the local Group Policy Editor. Removable-storage restrictions can also be enforced by security software even when the related Windows policy says Not configured. Checking Event Viewer around the time the drive is connected may identify the product denying access.
First confirm whether the block is tied to your Windows account or the whole machine. Try a newly created local administrator account, or test the drives from Windows Safe Mode if your company policy allows it. If another account works, your profile or its permissions may be damaged. If every account is blocked, that points much more strongly to device-control software, a domain policy, or a Windows storage/security service issue.
Do not format the drives or repeatedly change ownership until the cause is known. Since the drives work on another computer, copy or back up important files there before making repairs on this PC.
The removable-drive policies all show Not configured, and our IT contact did not find a straightforward setting that restricts these devices. Since it is a work computer, I will ask them to check the endpoint-security and domain policy reports as well.