How to fix
“System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied”
on Windows

I tried to run Net View command in Command Prompt, but the commands were not executed successfully. I got an error  “System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied.” What does it mean, and what should I do to work around it? I’m using Windows 10.

If you run commands via Command Prompt utility on your computer, a system error like "System error 5 has occurred" should initially not occur. Unfortunately, practice shows that it does show up from time to time to users while executing commands without administrative privileges. Initially, it simply means that you cannot execute the command because you don't have admin rights.

“System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied” is a relatively old problem that has been around since Windows 7 release. However, users' reports on the official Microsoft[ref en-5] website indicate the fact that the problem hasn’t been resolved and resettled into Windows 8, 8.1, and 10.

In general, as long as you run commands via Command Prompt, regardless of which operating system version, you might receive the error. It is also important to mention that another error of a similar nature (Error 5: Access is denied), although it occurs under different circumstances.

The error can be related to many different commands (for example, Net View or Net Time). In general, system error 5 in Command Prompt[ref en-2] appears when the user attempts to execute more advanced commands. There are particular occasions when such error occurs, and some of them can be related to incorrect settings of the PC configuration:

1. Time Synchronization issues. If the time on your device is set up wrongly, issues like that may appear. To resolve this particular problem, you need to enable the time sync feature on the PC and make sure that the correct time zone for your region is used in the first place.
2. The account is disabled. It is possible that you try to use a disabled account or one that doesn't exist on the domain. In this situation, you can try to ensure that the account is enabled on the domain and exist if you try to use it. You can use Netdom command-line utility on the PC for that.
3. Missing permission to access the remote computer. Before trying to access the remote computer, you should make sure that you have all the required permissions. If any of those are missing, an error of any sort may appear. System error 5 is one of them. It is simply fixable, you need to get all the required permissions from the remote computer.

However, in the majority of cases, “System error 5 has occurred’ emerges due to the lack of administrative privileges. Even if the PC user is logged into the system as an administrator, Command Prompt may deny access if it is not run as administrator.

How to fix “System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied”

As soon as you fix the “System error 5 has occurred,” you should optimize your PC. However, particular programs can also help you immediately if particular files got corrupted or malware affected the machine and caused an issue with the Command Prompt.

To check the registry, system files, malware,[ref en-1] missing files, cache,[ref en-3], and other problems, we would recommend running a scan with [d1]. This tool[ref en-4] can find rogue components in the computer system, taking care of outdated registry entries, which also might increase the speed of your computing work.

Open Command Prompt and run it as an administrator

Therefore, to fix “System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied” on Windows 7, 8, 10 or another version, you should open an elevated Command Prompt with administrative privileges. For this purpose, you should:

Windows 7:

1. Open Start menu, type cmd, and press Enter.
2. Right-click on the search results, and select Run as administrator.
3. If a UAC opens, click OK to confirm.

Windows 8, 8.1 or 10:

1. Press Windows key + X to open a drop-down menu.
2. Select Command Prompt (Admin).
3. Alternatively, you can click Windows key and type cmd.
4. Right-click on the search results,
5. Select Run as administrator.
6. If a UAC opens, click OK to confirm.

   

Modify Windows Registry Editor entries

If running Command Prompt with administrative privileges did not bring any good results, please try to perform the following steps, and the error might be taken care of:

1. Open Start and type regedit, and press Enter.
2. Use the left pane to navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\LanmanServer\\Parameters key.
3. Click on Edit menu and select Add Value.
4. Name the new value as MinFreeConnections.
5. Then select Add -> New -> REG_DWORD.
6. Set the value of the new key to 5 and close Registry Editor.
7. After that, right-click on Windows key and select Control Panel.
8. Select Network and locate Installed Network Software.
9. Under Installed Network Software, highlight Server and select Configure.
10. Locate Optimization and select Maximize Throughput for File Sharing under it.
11. Click OK.
12. After that, open Start,
13. Next type cmd, right-click it, and select Run as Administrator.
14. Type net stop server and net start server.
15. Press Enter after each of them.

• Head to the following path:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Office\\FrontPage\\Addins\\
• Remove FPE.com.AddIn entry name by right-clicking the key and selecting Delete.
• As soon as that is removed, Restart the machine and check if the error is occurring still.