How to fix error 0x80070037 when copying files in Windows?

Error 0x80070037, "The specified network resource or device is no longer available", means the drive or share you were copying to or from disappeared in the middle of the copy. It is almost always a connection or power problem, not damaged Windows files. Plug the drive straight into a rear port with another cable first.

Facts checked on 15 October 2026. Steps written for Windows 11 (25H2 and 26H2) and Windows 10 22H2.

What error 0x80070037 "The specified network resource or device is no longer available" means

The window is titled 1 Interrupted Action. It says: "An unexpected error is keeping you from copying the file." The next sentence suggests searching for the error code. Under that is the line that matters: "Error 0x80070037: The specified network resource or device is no longer available." The buttons are Try Again, Skip and Cancel.

The code decodes in one step. 0x8007 marks a plain Windows error, and 0x37 is 55 in decimal. Microsoft's list of system error codes names error 55 ERROR_DEV_NOT_EXIST, with the same text you see in the dialog. In plain words: the device was there when the copy started and was gone when Windows tried to write or read the next block.

Why the device disappears while copying: causes in order

Most often the connection breaks for a split second: a worn cable, a loose port, a front panel port or an unpowered hub. Less often the drive does not get enough power, or Windows puts the USB port to sleep to save energy. Rarely the drive itself is failing, overheating, or its file system is damaged.

How to fix error 0x80070037 when copying files

Fixes 1 and 2 take a few minutes and test the connection, which is the cause for most readers. Fix 3 stops Windows from putting the port to sleep. Fixes 4 and 5 check the drive and its drivers, Fix 6 is for network copies, and Fix 7 is for a drive that is failing.

Fix 1. Connect the drive directly to a rear USB port with a different cable

5 minutesNo riskEveryone copying to or from a USB drive, external disk or memory card reader.

Error 55 means the device was lost during the copy. A worn cable, a front panel port or an unpowered hub breaks the link for a moment, and a bus powered disk can drop off when it draws too much power.

1. Select Cancel in the error dialog, then right-click the drive in File Explorer and select Eject. Wait until Windows says it is safe to remove it.
2. Unplug any USB hub, dock or extension cable. Connect the drive with a different cable, ideally the short one that came with it.
3. On a desktop PC, use a port on the back, which sits on the motherboard. Front ports go through an internal cable and often deliver less.
4. If the drive has its own power adapter, plug it in. For a 2.5-inch disk on a laptop, use a powered hub or a Y cable if the maker offers one.
5. Copy a few folders at a time instead of everything at once, and do not move or bump the drive during the copy.

• A sound of a device being disconnected and connected again during the copy confirms a connection or power drop.
• A USB-C drive on a phone charger cable can fail because some cables are made for charging and are poor at data.
• SD cards in cheap card readers drop off often. Try another reader or the PC's built-in slot.

Fix 2. Try a USB 2.0 port, another port or another computer

5 to 10 minutesNo riskThe copy fails on one port, or you need to know whether the PC or the drive is at fault.

Some drives with weak or old internals do not run reliably on a fast USB 3 port, and a USB 2.0 port asks less of them. Testing on another computer tells you at once whether to look at this PC or at the drive.

1. Eject the drive and plug it into a USB 2.0 port. On many PCs these ports are black inside, while USB 3 ports are blue or marked SS.
2. Copy the same files again. The copy is slower, but a stable USB 2.0 copy points to the port or controller, not to the files.
3. If you have no USB 2.0 port, try every other port on the PC, one at a time.
4. Connect the drive to another computer and copy the same files there.

Fix 3. Turn off USB selective suspend and USB port power saving

5 minutesLow riskA laptop, a PC on battery, or copies that fail after the drive was idle for a few minutes.

Windows can cut power to idle USB ports to save energy. Some drives and hubs do not wake up in time, so the copy finds the device gone and reports error 55.

1. Press Win + R, type powercfg.cpl and select OK.
2. Next to your active plan, select Change plan settings, then Change advanced power settings.
3. Expand USB settings > USB selective suspend setting and set it to Disabled, for both On battery and Plugged in if both are shown. Select OK.
4. Right-click Start and open Device Manager. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
5. Double-click each USB Root Hub entry, open the Power Management tab and clear Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power. Select OK.
6. Restart the PC and copy again.

Fix 4. Check the external drive for errors with chkdsk

5 minutes to several hoursRead the warningWindows asked to scan and fix the drive, or files on it will not open.

An interrupted copy can leave the drive's file system marked dirty, and damaged areas make Windows wait until the device times out. Chkdsk first reports, then repairs, the file system on that drive only.

1. Note the drive letter of the external drive in File Explorer, for example E:.
2. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run chkdsk E: /scan with your letter. It reports problems without changing anything.
3. If it reports errors, run chkdsk E: /f to repair the file system. Add /r only if you also want it to look for bad sectors, which takes much longer on a hard disk.
4. When it finishes, eject the drive, plug it in again and copy again.

1. Scan the drive without changing anything. Type the command below and press Enter. Replace C: with another drive letter to check that drive. This scan only reports; it does not fix anything.

   chkdsk C:

   

2. If errors were found, run the repair. Run chkdsk with /f to fix file system errors. On the Windows drive (C:) chkdsk cannot lock the drive while Windows is running, so it offers to check it at the next restart.

   chkdsk C: /f

   

These steps were written for Windows 11 and Windows 10 (the steps are the same). The full page with the other versions and what each result means: Check a disk for errors (chkdsk)

Fix 5. Read the System log, then update USB and storage drivers and the drive firmware

15 minutesLow riskThe copy fails on one PC only, or you want proof of what dropped.

Microsoft's storage guidance names three System log events for exactly this kind of drop, and its first advice is up to date storage drivers and firmware from the hardware vendor. The log tells you whether the disk was removed or timed out.

1. Right-click Start, open Event Viewer and go to Windows Logs > System.
2. Select Filter Current Log and type 129,153,157 in the event ID box.
3. Look for events at the time of the failed copy and note which disk they name.
4. Update the chipset and USB drivers from Windows Update optional updates or the PC maker's support page, as shown below.
5. On the drive maker's website, look up your model and install any firmware update its tool offers.

1. Open Device Manager. Right-click Start and select Device Manager.

   

2. Open the device's Driver tab. Expand the category (for example Display adapters), right-click the device, select Properties and open the Driver tab. Driver Date and Driver Version show what is installed now.

   

These steps were written for Windows 11 24H2 and later. The full page with the other versions and what each result means: Update, roll back or reinstall a driver

Fix 6. Network share or NAS: copy over a cable with robocopy restartable mode

10 minutesNo riskYou copy to or from a NAS, another PC or a shared folder, often large files.

Over the network the same error means the share stopped answering for a moment. Robocopy retries and, with /Z, continues a large file from where it stopped instead of failing the whole copy.

1. Connect the PC with an Ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi for the copy, if you can.
2. Make sure the NAS or the other PC does not go to sleep or spin down its disks during the copy.
3. Open Command Prompt and run the robocopy command below with your own folders.
4. Read the summary at the end. FAILED must be 0; if not, run the same command again and it copies only what is missing.

Copy a folder with retries and restartable mode (Command Prompt)

robocopy "\\NAS\Photos" "D:\Photos" /E /Z /R:5 /W:10

The same command works for a USB drive that keeps dropping: use its letter as the source, for example "E:\Photos". Users on Reddit report this error with Synology NAS units on Windows 10 during SMB copies. For a share that does not open at all, see our guide on error 0x80070043.

Fix 7. Back up what you can and replace a failing drive

30 minutes or moreNo riskThe error appears on every PC, port and cable, or chkdsk finds bad sectors.

When the drive drops off everywhere, the fault is inside it: a worn controller, bad sectors or overheating. No Windows setting fixes that, and each new attempt puts more strain on it.

1. Copy the most important files first, a few at a time, with robocopy from Fix 6.
2. Let a hot drive cool down between copies, and keep a portable SSD out of direct sun or a closed bag.
3. Check whether the drive is still under warranty on the maker's website, and contact its support with the event IDs from Fix 5.
4. Replace the drive and copy your files to the new one.

1. Sign in with a Microsoft account. Folder backup needs one. If you use a local account, select Start > Settings > Accounts > Your info and select Sign in with a Microsoft account instead.
2. Open Windows Backup. Select Start, type backup and select Windows Backup.
3. Choose the folders. Expand Folders and turn on the folders you want to back up: Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music.
4. Choose apps and settings. Expand Apps, Settings and Credentials and turn on what you want Windows to remember. Items that are already backed up show as backed up.
5. Start the backup. Select Back up (on the first-run screen, Continue).
6. Check the backup status. Select Start > Settings > Accounts > Windows backup. The top of the page shows the state of OneDrive, the app list and preferences; OneDrive folder syncing changes which folders are backed up.

These steps were written for Windows 11 (screenshots: 26H2). The full page with the other versions and what each result means: Back up your files (Windows Backup, File History, Time Machine)

If error 0x80070037 is still there

Collect these facts before you ask the drive maker or a technician for help. They show whether the port, the driver or the drive failed.

• The drive's make, model and size, and whether it has its own power adapter.
• Which ports and PCs you tried, and where it worked (Fix 2).
• Your Windows version: press Win + R and type winver.
• Event Viewer, Windows Logs > System: the time and text of events 129, 153 and 157 (Fix 5).
• The output of chkdsk E: /scan for that drive (Fix 4).
• When it is hardware: it fails on every PC, the drive clicks or gets hot, or chkdsk reports bad sectors. No Windows setting fixes those.

How to stop 0x80070037 from coming back

Frequently asked questions

What does error 0x80070037 mean?

It is Windows system error 55, ERROR_DEV_NOT_EXIST, with the text "The specified network resource or device is no longer available." The drive or share you were copying to or from disappeared during the copy. On a USB drive that means it dropped off the USB connection for a moment, most often because of the cable, the port, a hub or a lack of power. On a NAS or a shared folder it means the connection to the share broke. Fix 1 on this page tests the connection in a few minutes.

How do I fix error code 0x80070037 on Windows 11?

The steps are the same as on Windows 10. Connect the drive directly to a rear port with another cable (Fix 1), try another port or PC (Fix 2), and then turn off USB power saving (Fix 3). On some Windows 11 laptops the USB selective suspend setting is hidden in the power plan, so clear the power saving box of each USB Root Hub in Device Manager instead. Windows 11 has no known bug that causes this code.

Is my USB drive or external hard disk broken?

Not necessarily. Most often the drive is fine and the cable, port or power drops it for a moment. Test it on another computer and with another cable first (Fix 2). If it fails on every PC and port, Windows asks to repair it every time, chkdsk reports bad sectors, or the disk clicks, then the drive itself is failing. In that case copy your files off it now (Fix 7) instead of running long repair scans first.

Will SFC, DISM or System Restore fix 0x80070037?

Very unlikely. Those tools repair Windows system files and settings, while this error reports that a device disappeared. Our sources tie it to the connection, power and the drive itself, not to damaged Windows files. Run SFC and DISM only if other things on the PC are broken too. Step by step: Run DISM and SFC to repair Windows system files. System Restore does not change cables, ports or the drive, so it does not help here.

Why does the error mention a network resource when I am copying from a USB drive?

Windows uses one message for system error 55, and that message covers both network shares and local devices. A USB stick, an SD card or an external disk is a "device" in this sense. If you copied from a USB drive, your network, Wi-Fi and router have nothing to do with it. Look at the drive's cable, port and power, as Fixes 1 to 3 describe.

Did I lose the files that failed to copy?

No, not on the source. A failed copy leaves the original files where they were. The file that was being copied when the error appeared may be incomplete on the target, so delete it there and copy it again. Be careful with a move instead of a copy: Windows deletes each source file only after it is copied, but check both sides before you delete anything yourself. With robocopy (Fix 6) you can run the same command again and it copies only what is missing.

Should I select Try Again or Skip?

Select Try Again once, after you have checked that the drive is still visible in File Explorer. If the drive dropped and came back, the copy often continues. If the same dialog returns, select Cancel, eject the drive and follow Fix 1. Skip leaves that file out and continues with the next ones, which helps you get most files across, but you must copy the skipped files later.

Does a BIOS update fix 0x80070037?

Rarely, and it is not where to start. A BIOS or UEFI update changes how the PC starts and handles hardware, and a failed update can leave the PC unable to start. Try the cable, port, power settings, drivers and the drive first. If the PC maker's release notes for a newer version mention USB or storage stability, follow the maker's own instructions for that update.

The error is in Thai or Indonesian search results. Is this the same problem?

Yes. Searches such as "คืออะไร" (what is it) or "ini kenapa ya" (why is this) next to the code point to the same message. This page is in English only, but the code 0x80070037 and the fixes are the same in every Windows language. Look for the same dialog with Try Again, Skip and Cancel, and start with Fix 1.