Accessing external drives on a Windows PC is generally a hassle-free experience. Plug in your hard drive, USB flash drive, or SD card, and you're ready to go. What happens if Windows displays an "incorrect settings" or "location unavailable" error? You can easily fix the "incorrect settings" error on Windows 11.
While the underlying causes of this issue range from corrupted data to Old driversWe've put together a list of solutions to fix this issue. So let's get started.
1. Use the Check Disk tool.
Corrupted data is one of the most common reasons you might encounter the "Incorrect Settings" error. Therefore, you can start by using the Check Disk utility on Windows. It will repair your external drive for any corrupted data and bad sectors, which may resolve the issue.
Step 1: press the . key Windows + E to turn on File Explorer.
Step 2: Locate The drive that has it Problem and press Alt + Enter To open Its properties.
Step 3: In windows Characteristics , switch to tab tools. within the section Error checking , click the . button to examine.
Note: You must be logged in as an administrator to run the error checking tool.
Step 4: Finally, select the option. Drive Repair To start the disk check process.
Depending on the size of the external drive in question, this process may take some time. Once completed, restart your computer and see if you can access the drive.
2. Run an SFC scan
If system files are causing the error, you can try scanning your computer's system files with an SFC (or System File Checker) scan. It will automatically detect any missing or corrupted system files and replace them with their cached versions.
Step 1: Right click on the menu icon START YOUR and select an option Windows Terminal (admin) from the resulting list.
Step 2: Type the command shown below and press Enter.
sfc / scannow
Wait for the scan to complete. If the scan is able to detect and repair the files, you will see a message, “Windows Resource Protection found corrupted files and successfully repaired them.”If not, move on to the next solution.
3. Run a DISM scan
You can run a DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) scan to troubleshoot and repair the issue. It will not only scan the system files on your computer but also download internal system files from a Microsoft server, if necessary. Of course, your computer must be connected to the Internet for this.
Step 1: press the . key Windows + X and select Windows Terminal (admin).
Step 2: Enter the following commands one by one and press Enter after each command.
DISM / Online / Cleanup Image / CheckHealth
DISM / Online / Cleanup Image / ScanHealth
DISM / Online / Cleanup Image / RestoreHealth
4. Scan for malware
Another reason you might encounter the “Incorrect Settings” error is if the external drive connected to your computer is infected with malware. To rule out this possibility, you can try scanning the external drive using Microsoft Defender.
Step 1: Open File Explorer On your computer, right-click on external drive , and select Show more options.
Step 2: Locate Scan with Microsoft Defender.
This will start a comprehensive scan of the external drive and report any threats if found.
We recommend trying the free version of Malwarebytes To scan and check for any malware.
5. Update the disk driver
If the drive is error-free, the problem may be related to outdated or corrupted disk drivers on your computer. If so, this should Update these drivers To solve the problem. Here's how.
Step 1: Open menu START YOUR , And type device Manager , And press Enter.
Step 2: in window Device Manager , expand Drives. Right click on Problem driver and select an option Update the driver.
Once updated, restart your computer and see if the error is resolved.
6. Drive shape
If all the above methods fail and if you are facing the same error when connecting the drive to another computer, you will have to Format the drive As a last resort, note that formatting your drive will erase all content on your drive, so we recommend backing up important files before formatting your drive.
Step 1: in window File Explorer Right-click on the problematic drive and select Format.
Step 2: In the next window, click on Start To start formatting the drive.
Once configured, you will not see the error again.
Easy access
While such errors can effectively prevent you from accessing files within the drive, we hope the above solutions are good enough to fix the “Incorrect Settings” error on Windows 11. As always, if you find any other solutions that work, share them in the comments below.
