Accessing your external drives on a Windows PC is generally a hassle-free experience. Insert your hard drive, flash drive or SD Card and you are ready. What if Windows returns ‘Parameter incorrect’ or ‘Location does not exist’? You can fix that error.
The reasons behind this type of issue range from corrupt data to outdated drivers. We have prepared a list of solutions to fix this problem. So let’s get started.
1. Use Check Disk Utility
Corrupt data is one of the most obvious reasons why you might encounter the ‘wrong parameter’ error. Therefore, you can start by using the Check Disk utility in Windows. It will repair your external drive for any corrupt data and bad sectors, which may fix the problem.
Stage 1: Press Windows key + E to launch File Explorer.
Step 2: Select the problematic driver and press Alt + Enter to open its Properties.
Stage 3: Switch to the Tools tab in the Properties windows. Under the Error Checking section, click the Check button.
Note: You must be logged on as an administrator to run the Error Checking tool.
Step 4: Finally, select the Repair driver option to start the check disk process.
Depending on the size of the external drive in question, this may take some time. Once done, 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 the system files on your PC with an SFC (or System File Checker) scan. It automatically detects missing or corrupt system files and replaces them with their cached versions.
Stage 1: Right-click on the start menu icon and select Windows Terminal (administrator) from the menu that appears.
Step 2: Type the command given below and hit Enter.
sfc /scannow
Wait for the scan to complete. If the scan can detect and fix the files, you will see the message ‘Windows Resource Protection found corrupt 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 fix the problem. It will not only scan the system files on your computer, but also download internal system files from Microsoft’s server if necessary. Of course, your computer must be connected to the internet for this.
Stage 1: Press Windows key + X and select Windows Terminal (administrator).
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. Malware Scan
Another reason why you might encounter the ‘Parameter Incorrect’ error is if the external drive connected to your computer is infected with malware. To rule this possibility out, you can try scanning the external drive using Microsoft Defender.
Stage 1: Open File Explorer on your computer, right-click the external drive and select Show more options.
Step 2: Select Scan with Microsoft Defender.
This will initiate a thorough scan of the external drive and report threats if found.
We recommend trying the free version of Malwarebytes to run a scan and check for any malware.
Get Malwarebytes
5. Update Disk Driver
If the driver has no errors, the problem may be caused by outdated or corrupt disk drivers on your computer. In this case, updating these drivers should fix the problem. Here’s how to do it.
Stage 1: Open the start menu, type Device Managerand press Enter.
Step 2: In the Device Manager window, expand Disk drives. Right-click on the problematic driver and select Update driver.
Once updated, restart your computer and see if the error has been resolved.
6. Format the Drive
If every method above fails and you are facing the same error when connecting your drive to another computer, you should format the drive as a last option. Note that formatting the drive will delete all the content on your drive, so we recommend backing up important files before formatting the drive.
Stage 1: In the File Explorer window, right-click the problem drive and choose Format.
Step 2: In the following window, press Start to begin formatting the drive.
After formatting you will no longer see the error.
Easy access
While such errors can effectively prevent you from accessing files inside the drive, I hope the solutions above are good enough to fix the problem. As always, if you find another solution that works, share it in the comments below.
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