The System Cannot Find The Path Specified – Windows 10 Error

Microsoft Windows is one of the most popular operating systems among users. Windows 10 was launched in 2015, with an increased focus on regular security and other features updates. However, it is not perfect, and there are many bugs that affect many users regularly.

The system cannot find the file specified is one such error, which prevents users from running applications, or performing other important tasks like installing drivers or updating Windows. Fortunately, this error is fairly easy to solve, and here I shall discuss the various ways in which you can do so.

How To Solve ‘The System Cannot Find The File Specified’ Error On Windows 10?

If on your device, Windows cannot find the file specified as well, you may follow these simple steps to solve your error. However, since the cause of this error may vary from user to user, not all of the solutions provided here may work for you. It is recommended to try these ones by one to diagnose and solve your error.

Solution 1: Check For Malware

Many times, a hidden virus or malware may be blocking some components of your device, therefore showing the ‘the system cannot find the file specified’ error on your device. This is a very common cause among the users and can be very annoying.

If you happen to own premium third-party antivirus software, you may run a full scan for searching and terminating any virus or malware plaguing your device. If not, you can also choose from a variety of free software like Avast antivirus and Malwarebytes free antimalware.

Solution 2: Check If Your System Partition Is Active

If you face this error while using Windows backup, you need to check if your system partition is set to active and enable if it isn’t.

1. Open the WinX menu by pressing the Win + X and choose Disk Management from the menu.
2. Disk Management will now start.
3. Locate your System drive, in most cases, it should have a C label assigned to it and right-click it. Select Mark Partition as Active option.

4. If you can’t select this option, it means that your system drive is already set to active.
5. Close Disk Management and restart your PC.

Solution 3: Open The Libraries Folder

Libraries are virtual containers for users’ content and can contain files and folders stored on the local computer or in a remote storage location. In Windows 10, it is hidden by default. Many users have reportedly solved this error simply by navigating to the Libraries folder.

1. Open File Explorer. You can use the keyboard shortcut Win + E.
2. In the left pane, right-click any empty space and choose the Show libraries option from the context menu.
3. After doing that, the Libraries folder will appear in the left pane.

Many users have reported that accessing the Libraries folder fixed the issue for them, it may also solve the issue for you.

Solution 4: Use WinRAR To Access The Files

If you receive the ‘the system cannot find the path specified Windows 10’ error while trying to perform basic actions like deleting a file etc. you may try using WinRAR to perform the action. WinRAR is a powerful archiving tool that can be used to perform other actions as well. To fix the issue, simply follow these steps:

1. Install WinRAR from the official website for the application.
2. Navigate to the problematic file in File Explorer and right-click it to reveal the context menu.
3. Choose Add to archive option from the context menu.
4. Make sure that the checkbox next to Delete files after archiving is checked.
5. Click the OK button to create a new archive with the problematic file. WinRAR will delete the original file from your system.
6. Finally, delete the archive to remove the file completely from your system.

Solution 5: Run System Checking Scans

Windows has included many scans that can be used to monitor and check for any issues, which may be plaguing your device. These include the chkdsk scan to check for damaged or corrupted files, and the DISM and SFC scan to repair or replace system files.

Run chkdsk scan:

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt. To do this, press Win + R to launch a Run dialog, type cmd and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to launch Command Prompt with administrative privileges.
2. Enter the following command in the command line editor to launch and run the disk check:
   chkdsk /f Z:

Note: replace Z: with the letter assigned to the drive that you want to scan.

Now you simply need to wait for the disk checker to repair your files.

Run DISM and SFC scan:

1. Open an elevated command prompt. Search cmd in search and select Run as Administrator from the right-click menu.
2. Type the following command and press Enter:
   DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

3. If you are using a repair disc or other removable media, you need to use a different command. The command for this is:
   DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:C:\<RepairSource\Windows>/LimitAccess

Note: you have to replace C:\RepairSource\Windows with the location path of your repair source. You can find this path in the address bar of the drive.

After this scan finishes, you need to run an SFC scan. In the same elevated CMD, write the following command to run a System File Checker (SFC) scan and press Enter:
sfc /scannow

After the scan finishes the problem should be resolved. If there are some corrupt files, the scan will show results as a message.

Solution 6: Make Registry Changes

The Registry holds all the configuration files required by applications and Windows itself to run properly on your device. The registry is a risky place to make changes to, so make sure that you backup your registry before making any changes, and do not make unnecessary changes which may end up bricking your device.

1. Open a Run dialog by pressing Win + R.
2. Type regedit and press Enter to launch Registry Editor. Click on Yes in the User Account Control prompt.
3. Navigate to the following location by pasting the path in the address bar of the Registry Editor:
   Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
4. Here, locate the RunOnce key in the left pane. If it does not exist, create a new key by right-clicking on CurrentVersion, and selecting New > Key. Name this key as RunOnce and press Enter.

1. Next, navigate to the following location:
   Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
2. Here, locate the RunOnce key as well. If it does not exist, create a key and name it as such.

7. Reboot your PC.

Check if your error is resolved. If it is not, continue with the following steps.

8. Open Registry Editor again.
9. Navigate to the following location by pasting the path in the address bar of the Registry Editor:
   Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
10. Expand the ProfileList You need to check each subkey carefully. Under each subkey, check if the ProfileImagePath entry has an available value in the right pane.

11. If certain subkey does not have a value associated with the ProfileImagePath entry, delete that subkey entirely. Right-click on the subkey and select Delete from the context menu.
12. Reboot your PC.

Check if your error is resolved. If you got this error while trying to reinstall the network driver, continue with the following steps.

13. Navigate to the following location by pasting the path in the address bar of the Registry Editor:
    Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkConfig
    If you can’t find this key in your registry, we advise you to skip this solution.
14. Right-click the Config key and choose Delete from the context menu.
15. Reboot your PC.

Now check if you have solved the ‘the system cannot find the file specified’ error on your device.

If you face this error while trying to run an application, there might be some trouble with the hard disk, or the application itself. Try these solutions if this is the case.

Solution 7: Update Your Hard Disk Driver

Sometimes, there may be a corrupt or missing storage driver, which is causing the ‘the system cannot find the file specified’ error on your computer. In these cases, you can try updating your storage drivers to solve this error.

1. Open a Run window by pressing Win + R.
2. Type devmgmt.msc and press Enter to launch the Device Manager window.
3. Expand the Disk Drives section by clicking on the arrow next to the section.
4. Right-click on the external hard drive and click ‘Update Driver’.

Solution 8: Reinstall The Program

If updating the drivers did not solve your ‘the system cannot find the drive specified’ error, you may have to reinstall the program in order to solve the problem.

To uninstall the misbehaving program completely, quit the program from the task Manager (access by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc) by pressing the End task button. Then you can use a third party power-uninstalling program like IObit uninstaller, to remove the residential files as well.

Wrapping Up

So there you have it. Now you know how to solve the ‘the system cannot find the file specified’ error on your Windows 10 device using one or a combination of the solutions provided above. Tell us in the comments how you solved this problem.