- System Partition Error
- Error Finding Your Systems Active Partition Windows Loader
- Make Partition Active
On most systems, the manufacturer creates dedicates a section of the hard drive as a recovery partition, which contains an image of your system as it was when it was shipped from the factory. The intent is that if your system needs to be reset, you can use the recovery partition to do it. Only change the active partition if there is an operating system residing on that partition, otherwise you will have a non-working computer. Also, there are a few things to note about marking a partition as active: A logical drive or extended partition cannot be marked as active, only primary partitions can be changed to active.
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.
![Error Error](https://www.acronis.com/sites/default/files/inline_images/image022-min.jpg)
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.
Contents
- 1 How To Solve ‘The System Cannot Find The File Specified’ Error On Windows 10?
- 1.5 Solution 5: Run System Checking Scans
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.
- Open the WinX menu by pressing the Win + X and choose Disk Management from the menu.
- Disk Management will now start.
- 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.
- If you can’t select this option, it means that your system drive is already set to active.
- 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.
- Open File Explorer. You can use the keyboard shortcut Win + E.
- In the left pane, right-click any empty space and choose the Show libraries option from the context menu.
- 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:
- Install WinRAR from the official website for the application.
- Navigate to the problematic file in File Explorer and right-click it to reveal the context menu.
- Choose Add to archive option from the context menu.
- Make sure that the checkbox next to Delete files after archiving is checked.
- Click the OK button to create a new archive with the problematic file. WinRAR will delete the original file from your system.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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:
- Open an elevated command prompt. Search cmd in search and select Run as Administrator from the right-click menu.
- Type the following command and press Enter:
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
- 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:<RepairSourceWindows>/LimitAccess
Note: you have to replace C:RepairSourceWindows 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.
- Open a Run dialog by pressing Win + R.
- Type regedit and press Enter to launch Registry Editor. Click on Yes in the User Account Control prompt.
- Navigate to the following location by pasting the path in the address bar of the Registry Editor:
ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion
- 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.
- Next, navigate to the following location:
ComputerHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion
- Here, locate the RunOnce key as well. If it does not exist, create a key and name it as such.
- Reboot your PC.
Check if your error is resolved. If it is not, continue with the following steps.
- Open Registry Editor again.
- Navigate to the following location by pasting the path in the address bar of the Registry Editor:
ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileList
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Navigate to the following location by pasting the path in the address bar of the Registry Editor:
ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlNetworkConfig
If you can’t find this key in your registry, we advise you to skip this solution. - Right-click the Config key and choose Delete from the context menu.
- 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.
- Open a Run window by pressing Win + R.
- Type devmgmt.msc and press Enter to launch the Device Manager window.
- Expand the Disk Drives section by clicking on the arrow next to the section.
- 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.
The 'missing operating system' or 'operating system not found' error message usually appears on a black window when you start your Windows computers. This error is very common for Dell, Acer, Lenovo, HP and Sony desktops and laptops. When your Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista operating system not found on its boot drive, it's impossible to start the computer until the operating system is restored. You can read on to get error details or directly jump to comprehensive solutions.
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Fix 1. Check BIOS | Press and hold 'F12/F10' to enter BIOS..Full steps |
Fix 2. Reboot from a bootable disk | Press and hold 'F10' and press 'Power'..Full steps |
Fix 3. Set BIOS to default settings | Find BIOS and enable the default setup option..Full steps |
Fix 4. Rebuild MBR using cmd | Insert the Windows installation CD/DVD..Full steps |
Fix 5. Rebuild MBR using software | Boot PC from EaseUS Partition Master ..Full steps |
Fix 6. Rebuild MBR for HP | Boor from Windows Operating System Disc..Full steps |
Fix 7. Set correct partition active | Boot from EaseUS WinPE bootable disk..Full steps |
Causes of 'Missing Operating System' or 'Operating System Not Found'
When you pressed the power button to boot a PC, in the first place, BIOS tries to find an operating system on a hard drive to boot from, later wakes your PC up. However, if the BIOS fails to detect the operating system where it should be, you will receive one of the following error messages, which tells the same problem on different operating system versions.
Error message 1.
Haynes flute serial number list. Missing Operating System
Error message 2.
Operating system not found
For professionals, they'll soon notice that something goes wrong with the BIOS configuration, hard drive health, or the Master Boot Record. To be specific, the causes of the error are as follows.
- The basic input/output system (BIOS) does not detect the hard disk
- The hard disk drive is damaged
- Improper/incorrect BIOS settings
- Windows Master Boot Record (MBR) is corrupt/damaged
- An incompatible partition is set as active
Solutions to Operating System Not Found or Missing in Windows 10/8/7
After knowing the causes for an operating system not found or missing in Windows, now it's time to apply effective solutions to restore the missing operating system.
Solution 1. Check if the hard drive is detected by BIOS
Step 1: Press and hold 'F12/F10' while pressing the 'Power' button to turn on the PC.
Step 2: Release F12/F10 when the BIOS Setup Utility is displayed.
Step 3: Try to find IDE Primary Master, IDE Primary Slave, IDE Secondary Master and check whether they can be detected or not.
If no disk is shown or displayed as None/Not Detected, it means that the BIOS doesn't detect the drive and you may select None to Auto. This may solve OS not found error.
If the system disk information is displayed, it means that BIOS can detect the hard drive and you need exit BIOS.
Solution 2. Test hard drive problems
Step 1: Press and hold 'F10' and press the 'Power' button to turn on the PC > Release F10 after the PC screen display you with test
Step 2: Use the right arrow to select the 'Tools' menu in the BIOS Setup Utility
Step 3: Then select 'Hard Drive Self Test' > Press 'Enter' to start the test
After the test, you'll get two results:
#1. All tests passed
the hard drive is not damaged. You may jump to Solution 3 to reset BIOS to the default state.
#2. The test failed
![Active partition software Active partition software](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Jn3EwuKUCoo/maxresdefault.jpg)
You should contact your hard disk or computer manufacturer for a replacement as long as these devices are under warranty.
Solution 3. Set BIOS to default settings
Improper settings or incorrect BIOS setting may also cause the issue 'operating system not found' in your PC. You can try to set BIOS to default settings to solve the problem.
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Step 1: Restart PC and enter BIOS.
Step 2: Find BIOS and enable the default setup option, including Load Optimal Defaults, Get Default Values, Load Optimized Defaults, Load Setup Defaults, and so on.
Step 3: Press 'F10' to save changes and quit from BIOS.
If this method doesn't work, the MBR disk could be damaged and you may jump to Solution 4 to find the MBR disk repair method.
Solution 4. Repair MBR with the installation CD/DVD
Both wrong operation and virus infection can damage MBR, which locates in the first sector - usually sector 0 of the hard disk. Thus, Windows will not boot. You can try to repair MBR using the Windows installation disk in Command Prompt.
Insert Windows Operating System Disc to the optical (CD/DVD) drive
Step 1: Press the 'Power' button to turn on the PC > Hit 'Enter' when Boot from CD prompt
Step 2: Press 'R' key in Windows Setup Menu to start the Recovery Console
Step 3: Type: FIXMBR at the C:> prompt and hit 'Enter'
System Partition Error
Step 4: Press 'Y' key > hit 'Enter' when asked if you want to write a new MBR;
Step 5: Restart PC by pressing the 'Power' button when the MBR completes the writing process.
Error Finding Your Systems Active Partition Windows Loader
Solution 5. Rebuild MBR without Windows Installation CD/DVD
If you prefer an easier way to rebuild or repair the MBR disk, you may apply third-party partition magic software - EaseUS Partition Master to perform an automatic repair.
Boot your Windows from the WinPE environment you created and start to repair MBR with a few clicks.
Step 1.Create a WinPE bootable disk.
- Download and launch EaseUS Partition Master on a new PC which runs the same system as yours.
- Click 'WinPE Creator' on the toolbar. And select to create the bootable disk on a USB drive. If your computer has a CD/DVD drive, you can also create the bootable disk to CD/DVD.
- Click 'Proceed' to finish the process.
Step 2.Rebuild MBR.
- Connect the bootable USB or CD/DVD to your PC.
- Press 'Del' when you are restarting the computer. Boot your computer from 'Removable Devices' or 'CD-ROM Drive'. And then EaseUS Partition Master will run automatically.
- Right-click the disk whose MBR is damaged. Choose 'Rebuild MBR' to continue.
- Select the type of MBR with the current operating system. Then, click 'OK'.
- Click the 'Execute 1 Operation' button at the top-left corner and click 'Apply' to build the MBR. After that, your computer can boot normally again.
Solution 6. Repair MBR for HP
Solution 4~5 to corrupted MBR repair is applicable to various computer/laptop brands. On top of that, some brands provide customers with inbuilt tools to deal with MBR issues. For example, the Windows Operating System Disc (OSD) provided with your HP notebook PC can be used to repair the Master Boot Record.
Follow all steps at https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00476274
Solution 7. Set the correct partition active
When Windows is running under Legacy BIOS + MBR mode, the boot partition/system partition should be set as active so that MBR can pass boot right to boot manager and find Windows. If the system partition or boot partition is not set to active, you may encounter the operating system not found issue.
In the same partition tool, create the EaseUS Partition Master bootable USB first, and follow the steps to set the boot partition active:
Step 1. Download and launch EaseUS partition manager software.
Step 2. On the disk map, right-click the desired partition and choose 'Set Active'. The software will automatically execute the operation and create an active partition for you.
Do You Need Specialized Services for System Boot Issues?
EaseUS also provides 1-on-1 remote assistance to fix the boot issue. If the solution above does not work for you, please contact our professionals via Email or LiveChat in this page. To ensure our professional assistance work, you are suggested to connect the unbootable system drive to a healthy computer when getting connected with us.
Conclusion
Make Partition Active
All effective solutions to the 'Missing Operating System' or 'Operating system not found' error are carefully presented on this page. You may try any one of the methods to resolve the issue and get a healthy Windows system back and continue using your computer again.