The System Cannot Find The File Specified – Copy (Batch Files)

When trying to copy in batch files or command prompt, you may get this error:

copy the system cannot find the file specified

This can be caused by a number of reasons that are unrelated to the system not being able to find the file specified, but it’s best to rule that out first. To do this, using the same command prompt or batch file (same user context!), try navigating to the file you are copying.

Assuming that you can find the file, the system cannot find the file specified error might be because you are trying to copy a folder instead of a file (use xcopy instead of copy) or because there needs to be quote marks around the file path (in case there are spaces in the file path) or because Microsoft Controlled Folder Access (part of Windows Security) has blocked the file, folder or cmd.exe from copying the file.