How to Fix uTorrent Access is Denied

Are you getting an “Access is Denied” error whenever you try to download files using the uTorrent client? 

uTorrent is a fantastic tool for downloading torrent files on the internet. However, there have been reports from several users that they are encountering an “Access is Denied” error message whenever they try to download files using uTorrent. 

Now, there are a couple of possible reasons why this error occurs. The reasons can vary from temporary bugs, lack of privileges with the uTorrent program, corrupted software updates, and even a failing hard drive. 

Lucky for you, we are here to help. Today, we are going to show you a few effective solutions that you can follow to try and fix the “Access is Denied” issue with the uTorrent client. 

Let’s get started. 

 

 

1. Restart uTorrent. 

The first thing that you can do if you encounter an “Access is Denied” error on uTorrent is to restart the program. 

The uTorrent program may have encountered a temporary glitch with its files which causes the error message to appear on your computer. 

To rule out this kind of scenario, you can try restarting the uTorrent client to allow the program to reload its resources. 

The steps below will show you step-by-step on how you can restart uTorrent safely:

  1. On your computer, press on CTRL + ALT + DEL and click on Task Manager from the selection menu.
  2. After that, find the uTorrent client from the applications running on your computer.
  3. Lastly, click the uTorrent client and hit the End Task button to close the program. 

 

After that, go back to your Desktop and run the uTorrent client normally to see if the uTorrent “Access is Denied” error would still occur. 

 

 

2. Run uTorrent as an Administrator. 

Another common reason for uTorrent to throw the “Access is Denied” error is that if it can’t access the set download folder on your computer due to lack of privileges. 

To bypass this permission issue on your operating system, you can try running uTorrent as an administrator to grant it full access to your system. 

Follow the steps below to guide you through the process:

  1. On your computer, go to the Desktop and find uTorrent from the list of programs installed on your system. 
  2. After that, right-click on the uTorrent and select Run as Admin. 

 

  1. Lastly, click on the Yes button when the confirmation pop-up appears. 

Now, try to download the file that you are having issues downloading to see if the “Access is Denied” error is already fixed. 

On the other hand, if the issue still occurs on your computer, you can try checking the permission settings of the Downloads folder. 

 

 

3. Make Sure Downloads Folder Is Not Set to ‘Read-only’. 

If the ‘Downloads’ folder used by uTorrent is set as ‘Read-only’, then the program would not be able to download files on that folder since the write function is disabled. 

To fix this, you can check the folder’s settings and make sure that the ‘Read-only’ option is disabled. 

You can check the steps below to walk you through the procedure:

  1. On your computer, press on the Windows Key + S and search for File Explorer
  2. Next, click on Open to launch the File Explorer.

 

  1. After that, on the side menu, you will find the Downloads folder right-click on it and select Properties.
  2. Lastly, make sure that the Read-only option is disabled and not marked.

 

Again, after doing the steps above, go back to the uTorrent client and download files to check if the issue with uTorrent is already resolved. 

 

 

4. Re-download the File. 

After checking the permissions of the download folder on your computer, what you can do next is to redownload the actual file that you are having problems with. 

It is possible that the current copy of the file that you are downloading got corrupted due to the interruptions caused by the “Access is Denied” error. 

To redownload files on uTorrent, follow the steps below:

  1. On your computer, press on the Windows Key + S and search for File Explorer. Then, click on Open to launch it.
  2. After that, go to the Downloads folder located at the side menu. 
  3. Next, find the torrent file that you are downloading and delete it. 
  4. Lastly, go back to the uTorrent app, right-click on the torrent you are downloading and click on Start to begin redownloading the file. 

uTorrent Access is Denied Error

 

Now, wait and observe if the uTorrent “Access is Denied” error on your computer would still occur. 

However, if the error message still appears while downloading files on uTorrent, you can try doing the next method below. 

 

 

5. Disable Third-Party Antivirus Software. 

Antivirus software is a great way to protect your computer from malware and viruses. 

However, such software is known to flag torrent activities on your computer as a threat and block any access from the uTorrent client. This can cause the “Access is Denied” error on your computer as the uTorrent client cannot access the folders on your computer to download the files. 

To fix this, you can temporarily disable any third-party antivirus software that you have installed on your computer whenever you are downloading files using the uTorrent client. After you’ve disabled the third-party antivirus software, try to re-download the file (Method 4) and see if this fixes the problem.

On the other hand, you can also permanently uninstall the third-party antivirus software on your computer and instead opt for the built-in Windows Defender which also works well in preventing malware and other viruses from infecting your computer. It’s worth mentioning that, if you do have Windows Defender running in the background, then try to disable it temporarily and then restart uTorrent to see if the issue gets resolved. 

 

 

6. Delete Update Files.

If the uTorrent app does not function normally, it is possible that some of its files got corrupted during an update or the actual update was not installed properly on your computer. 

In this case, you can try manually deleting the update files on your hard drive to revert back to the previous working version of uTorrent. 

Follow the steps below to guide you through the process:

  1. On your computer, press on the Windows Key + R to launch the Run Command Box.
  2. After that, type %appdata% and hit Enter to open the AppData Folder. 

uTorrent Access is Denied Error

 

  1. Next, open the uTorrent folder and scroll down to find the Updates.DAT file.
  2. Lastly, delete the Updates.DAT file on your hard drive and restart the uTorrent client.

uTorrent Access is Denied Error

 

Again, try to download a couple of files using the uTorrent client to see if you still get the “Access is Denied” error message. 

 

 

7. Reinstall uTorrent on Your Computer. 

If, however, rolling back the updates on the uTorrent client did not work to fix the issue, then you can try to reinstall the uTorrent program instead. A few users have reported that by doing so, they have managed to fix the “Access is Denied” issue. 

The reasoning behind this is that it is possible that some of the uTorrent application files got corrupted during use which could be due to a faulty uTorrent update, malware, or even bugs within Windows. 

In any case, it is best that you just reinstall a fresh copy of the software to rule out this kind of scenario. 

To reinstall uTorrent on your computer, follow the guide below:

  1. On your computer, press on the Windows Key + S and search for the Control Panel
  2. After that, click on Open to launch it. 

uTorrent Access is Denied Error

 

  1. Next, click on Uninstall a Program from the main menu.

uTorrent Access is Denied Error

 

  1. Lastly, find the uTorrent app from the list and right-click on it then select Uninstall. Follow the on-screen prompts to uninstall the program on your computer.

uTorrent Access is Denied Error

 

After that, go to uTorrent’s official website and download the latest version of the program on your computer.

 

 

8. Run Windows CHKDSK Command. 

For the last method, it is also worth considering that the issue with the uTorrent client is related to a hardware failure, particularly your hard drive. 

If the program is having problems accessing folders on your system, it is possible that your hard drive has a problem or it is showing signs that it is about to fail. 

To verify this, you can try performing an error checking on your hard drive using the Windows ‘CHKDSK’ command. 

The steps below will guide you on how to do so:

  1. On your computer press on Windows Key + R to launch the Run Command Box
  2. After that, type cmd and hit Enter to open the Command Prompt
  3. Lastly, inside Command Prompt, type chkdsk and hit Enter to start running the scan on your hard drive.

uTorrent Access is Denied Error

 

Now, wait for the scan to finish and Windows will automatically attempt to repair the errors on your hard drive. After the scan, go back to the uTorrent app and try downloading files to check if it fixed the “Access is Denied” issue on your computer. 

This ends our guide on how to fix the uTorrent “Access is Denied” error on your computer. If you know alternative ways on how to fix this kind of issue on uTorrent, kindly share it in the comment section below, and we would give you credit for the solution once this article got updated. 

 

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂 

Author

  • John Sixto

    John is a staff writer at Saint and comes from a SAP ABAP development background. He has a Bachelors in IT and has been writing since 2018, with over 500 posts published. He loves to build PCs and has a deep curiosity in understanding how different components and configurations work. John spends hundreds of hours at a time, researching and testing the software and apps, before he proceeds to write about it. LinkedIn X (Twitter)

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