Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file

[jerrypope]

Posted elsewhere, but no responses. Hoping to get a response here …

On Win 10, when I start the FLO executable manually, I get the error “Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item”. I even tried running FLO as “administrator”…same error.

Oddly, after downloading and installing, FLO autolaunches without a problem–no errors at all. It’s only when I start the app manually that Windows refuses to let the app start and returns the above error.

I tried reinstalling but continue to get the same error.

Solution?

[jerrypope]

Very disappointed and let down that Support hasn’t responded. I want to buy in, but am not willing to do that if Flo Support won’t provide help. Sad.

[metacoin]

Hi @jerrypope,
Sorry for the late response. I saw this thread the other day and was unable to reproduce this issue on my Windows 10 machine.
I did raise the question with the community at the time by sharing this thread in both the dev channel and the main FLO channel (Telegram), but no one was able to provide any help. I’ve done the same thing again, but I’m unsure how to proceed, given this seems like an issue that is difficult to reproduce given the resources at hand.

Microsoft support provides a 6-step checklist for this issue, have you tried that?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2669244/windows-cannot-access-the-specified-device-path-or-file-error-when-you

There is a related question about this happening to a NEO wallet, in that case, the user’s anti-virus was the root cause of the issue: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/59480/i-cant-get-into-my-neo-wallet

Please let us know if any of these solutions work in your case.

[jerrypope]

Voila!
Thank you for pointing me to the Microsoft Support article. Method 1 led me to the solution. Here’s what I did that solved this issue:
In the properties dialog for the executable, I clicked
"Advanced". I then set myself as the owner, applied the change, and closed the Properties window. I then re-opened the Properties window for the executable, added myself as a user with the following permissions: Read & execute and Read (defaults).

Those changes allowed me to launch FLO successfully.

In the end, I believe the installer didn’t set up the environment correctly. The FLO installer created a shortcut in
C:\Users\jerry\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\FLO Core and placed that shortcut in the Start menu and on my task bar. The permissions attached to the shortcut give me full control. But unfortunately, those permissions don’t carry over to the executable, which is what Windows was complaining about.