Article ID: kb00140Last Modified: 09-Oct-2026

The File Cannot Be Accessed By The System

Situation

A backup plan terminates with the following error message: The file cannot be accessed by the system

Cause

The cause is the WindowsApps folder. This folder is a location for installed Windows desktop applications. It was introduced with Windows 8 and is used as a location for installed Windows Store apps. Read/Write permissions are limited by the operating system.

Solution

Exclude Folders Manually

The only way to solve the issue is to exclude these folders from the backup plan.

  1. Open the Management Console, then navigate to the required backup plan.
  2. Click Edit.

  1. Expand the "Backup Source" section and click "Show Plain Text" link. Insert the following folders in the "Exclude Paths" field.
  • %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps
  • %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Packages
  • %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp

  1. Save the backup plan changes.
  2. Run the backup plan as usual.

Exclude Folders With The Script

If the backup environment is huge and requires too much manual work, use the script to add exclusions.

  1. Download the script.
  2. Run the script on the required machines using remote management on the Computers page or GPO.

Exclusions will be added automatically to all file-level backup plans.

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