If you have recently purchased a mouse or any other device, try to connect it to your Windows 11/0/8/7 PC and receive the following error message – ‘The system cannot find the specified file’, check out this tutorial to find the solution. The error can also appear if an operating system file or a software file is missing or corrupt. Cleaning temporary files does not seem to fix this problem. Each time you try to do so, you are directed to the manufacturer’s support page and prompted to download additional software.
The system cannot find the file specified
The cause of this error message may be the following:
- System files are missing or corrupt
- Required driver files are missing
- Files required for the specific software are missing or corrupt.
Here’s how to fix the problem quickly. Please read through the entire post and then see which of the suggestions may apply to you.
- Run System File Checker
- Identify and reinstall the driver software
- Install the driver using the INF file
- Check for driver updates through Optional Windows Updates
- Error while connecting.
1]Run System File Checker
If it is your Windows operating system file that is missing, run the System File Checker to replace the missing or corrupt system files.
2]Identify and reinstall the driver software
If you see The system cannot find the file specifieddo this:
- Go to the C:/Windows/INF folder
- Open the INF folder
- Locate and open the setupapi.dev file.
- Press Ctrl + F and search for “cannot find file”
- Identify and reinstall the missing file.
If it’s a program and device driver that’s generating this error, you can check the system log. The system log, similar to the application log Event Viewer contains errors, warnings and informational events related to the operation of applications. You can use its information to locate the problematic driver file. For that,
Go to the following address C:/Windows/inf.
Then search INF folder and click on it to open the folder.
Now locate the file with name “setupapi.dev”. Double click on it to open the file.
Here press Ctrl+F key in combination to open To find box. Type ‘cannot find the file‘ in the search box, then start the search. After a few seconds, the missing file message will be highlighted.
Now identify the file and see if you can find and replace this file in its designated location.
An easier way to do this would be to identify the program or driver, then simply reinstall this!
3]Install the driver using the INF file
If you tried to download the driver from the manufacturer’s website and encountered this problem, try these steps:
- Find the downloaded driver file and in the extracted folder find the .inf file. If there appears to be more than one .inf file, choose the one with the appropriate description, i.e. “Configuration Information”.
- Right-click on the file and select Install from the context menu.
- It is important to mention here that not all .inf files are self-installing. So if the .inf file does not support this installation method, you will receive a prompt. Here you can go to ‘Device Manager’ to uninstall the driver and reinstall the driver again. Follow these steps
- Go to Device Manager. Expand the category and locate the device you want to uninstall. Right-click on the device name and select Uninstall from the context menu. If prompted, confirm the action (uninstall) by checking the “Delete the driver software for this device” box.
- Finally, click on the “OK” button.
- After uninstalling the driver, reinstall it.
4]Check for driver updates via Optional Windows Updates
Run Windows Updates and see if any driver updates are available through Optional Windows Updates. Install them.
5]Error while connecting
If you see this error message right after logging in, it means that one of your startup programs requires a file and it can’t find it. Try troubleshooting in clean boot state or check error logs in Event Viewer.
Hope something here helps you.
Related reading: Fixed missing DLL file errors.
