How to Fix Error 0x800701E3 on Windows 10/8.1/7 [5 Solutions]

About Error 0x800701E3

There are two cases many users reported when error 0x800701E3 occurs.

Case One

Error 0x800701E3 often occurs when performing a hard disk or SD card operation that involves copying or moving documents or files from a hard disk or SD card. In most scenarios, users will receive an error message saying that “Error 0x800701E3: The requested failed due to a fatal device hardware error.”

Here is what a user described his problem with error 0x800701E3 on the WD community.>

Every time I attempt to copy or move documents or files from ‘My Documents’, ‘My Pictures’ or flash drives to my WD hard drive I am shown the following message: “_ Error 0x800701E3: the request failed due to a fatal device hardware error _”. This does not occur when moving such documents to any other area of my set-up. Can this be rectified or is the WD hard drive in need of replacement?https://community.wd.com/t/error-code-0x800701e3/12939

Case Two

In addition, some others also reported that they encountered error 0x800701E3 and failed to upgrade Windows. To solve this problem, some users tried to format their hard drive, but still received an error:” Windows cannot install required files. Make sure all files required for installation are available, and restart the installation. Error code: 0x800701E3“.

A user posted his issue on Tenforums:

I have Aspire V5-573G, which has all hardware requirements for Windows 10. The problem is when I tried to upgrade from windows 7 to 10 after 30%, the installation stops and rollbacks to windows 8.1, I tried this 3 times and fed up. It gave me error “The installation failed in the FIRST_BOOT phrase with an error during BEGIN_FIRST_BOOT operation”. So I tried to do a clean install, I have booted to USB key, formatted hard drive, but it gave me error “Windows cannot install required files. Make sure all files required for installation are available, and restart the installation. Error code: 0x800701E3”https://www.tenforums.com/installation-upgrade/27696-unable-upgrade-install-windows-10-acer-aspire-v5-573g.html

Possible Causes for the Error 0x800701E3

According to the reports we gathered from major forums and communities, there are several possible causes for this particular error 0x800701E3:

• The error code 0x800701E3 may be an indicator that there are bad sectors or errors on your hard drive.
• Besides, the error 0x800701E3 in Windows 10 might be caused by a failing peripheral like a SATA cable or an SD card adapter. You may encounter this error when trying to clean install a Windows version from Windows 10 media creation tool via unauthorized channels.
• A number of conflicting components including Network, CPU, Disk and even more make the process of Windows 10 installation intensive. So, you may end up seeing error 0x800701E3.

What You Need to Do Before Fixing the Error 0x800701E3

As we mentioned above, this particular error 0x800701E3 is associated with a serious hardware problem that may not be fixed. In other words, the first step you should do is to back up your hard drive as soon as possible to protect your data before it’s not too late.

Here it is highly recommended that you back up your hard drive with MiniTool Partition Wizard. This is a marvelous tool that boasts many powerful features like rebuild MBR, extend partition and so forth. Let’s start from coping disk to back up your hard drive.

There are also users reported that they lost some part of data when they failed to copy or remove files for the error 0x800701E3. As for this problem, you can read this article to find your lost data back.

Even though the 0x800701E3 error code gives you an obvious sign that the hard drive is going to fail, there are still some accessible methods we have explored that can help you to circumvent the error and complete the file transfer.

Let’s begin!

Solution 1. Run CHKDSK Scan and SFC Scan to Fix Error 0x800701E3

If you encounter 0x800701E3 when attempting to clean a Windows installation, it may because your hard drive contains many bad sectors or errors. There are a couple of Windows built-in utilities that enable you to fix bad sectors and errors to some extent.

The first built-in utility is to run the CHKDSK scan. This method helped some users to troubleshoot error 0x800701E3. Here is how to do this:

Step 1. Power down your computer and reboot your computer from your Windows 10 installation USB drive/DVD disc.

Step 2. When the Install Now prompt screen appears, click on Repair your computer.

Step 3. In the pop-up window, navigate to the Advanced Options menu and go to the Troubleshoot menu. Then click on Command Prompt inside Advanced options.

Step 4. In the Command Prompt, type the following command and press Enter to start running CHKDSK scan on the affected hard drive: chkdsk /f D: (Note: D: is the drive letter of the affected hard drive). This command will scan and repair missing or corrupted system files.

Step 5. Once the chkdsk command is finished, type the following command and hit Enter to run an SFC (System File Checker) scan: sfc /scannow. This process will take some time to complete.

Step 6. After the SFC scan is completed, you can retry to clean the Windows installation and check if error 0x800701E3 still persists in this process.

If this solution fails to get rid of the error 0x800701E3 in Windows 10, move on to the next solution.

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Solution 2. Run DISM Command to Fix Error 0x800701E3

DISM is a built-in command-line that helps you install and update Windows features, drivers and so forth. Here are detailed steps about this solution:

Step 1. Press Win + R keys to call out the Run dialog box. Then type cmd in the box and hit Shift + Ctrl + Enter to open an elevated command prompt that grants you an administrator privilege.

Step 2. Inside the elevated command prompt, type the following three commands sequentially and hit Enter one by one.

• Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
• Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
• Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

These DISM commands will take some time to complete.

Step 3. Once these commands finish running, restart your computer and check if 0x800701E3 error code still appears.

The first three methods can help you deal with the bad sectors of the affected hard drive. If these methods all failed to get rid of this error, you can try the next method.

Solution 3. Change the Connectivity Cable/SD Card Adapter

As we mentioned above, error 0x800701E3 may be caused by electronic problems inside hard disk or SD card enclosure, which result from the failing peripheral like a SATA cable or an SD card adapter.

So, you can change the connectivity cable/SD card to check whether there are electronic problems if possible.

Well, if this method is not agreeable for your current scenario, you can move on to the next method.

Solution 4. Disable Secure Boot to Fix Error 0x800701E3

It is reported that many Windows users troubleshoot the error 0x800701E3 with a clean installation of Windows after disabling the Secure Boot.

The Secure Boot was designed to ensure that your PC is using the software exclusively from Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). But this exclusive security feature also brings new problems with installation media created outside the official channels.

To solve this problem, you can follow this full tutorial on disabling Secure Boot.

Step 1. The first step you need to do is to Enter BIOS. You can press the Boot keys repeatedly during the initial boot sequence.

Step 2. Once you enter into the BIOS window, navigate to a security feature named Secure Boot by pressing the left-right and up-down keys. Then set Secure Boot to Disabled.

Note: The extract name and location may vary among different manufacturers. Usually, you can find it inside the Security tab. Well, there are also many Windows users find it inside the Boot or Authentication tab.

Step 3. Save the changes and exit the BIOS settings window. Then you can try to install Windows 10 and check if this error still persists.

This method may be helpful for you. But please bear in mind that it may be difficult to re-active Secure Boot without restoring your PC to the factory state after disabling Secure Boot. Thus, it is highly recommended that you back up your Windows timely and be careful when changing BIOS settings.

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Solution 5. Restore Your Windows to an Earlier Time to Fix Error 0x800701E3

As a user described his problem on TensForums, he encountered this error message after failing to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. So, there is an alternative to get rid of the error 0x800701E3 by restoring your Windows to an earlier time.

Here are detailed steps you can follow.

Step 1. You need to start your computer and log on as an administrator.

Step 2. Click the Start menu at the bottom left. Then click on All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click System Restore one by one.

Step 3. In the pop-up window, select “Restore my computer to an earlier time” option and click Next.

Step 4. Inside the new window, you can select the recommended restore point or other different restore point and click on Next. Here it is recommended that you choose the most recent store point.

Step 5. Restart your computer when the restoration is finished.

I encountered an error message 0x800701E3 while trying to clean a Windows installation. This post helped me fix this problem. Perhaps these methods can also help you Click to tweet

Final Words

Right now, I believe you have already known how to fix error 0x800701E3 and some useful tips. Hope this post can really solve your problem.

Welcome to leave your good ideas in the following comment area. Or if you have any questions, you can send an email to [email protected]. Much appreciated!