Have you experienced a VLC error opening file for writing while installing the VLC player? Have you tried restarting your computer but the issue still persists? Well, you can find a lot of troubleshooting methods in this guide that can be used to fix the problem.
VLC is a free and open-source media player software that supports audio and video compression as well. It plays most media files and has various streaming protocols. However, many users are facing VLC installation errors on their desktop devices.
It can be quite frustrating to face certain issues when you haven’t even installed or updated the VLC application. Let us take a look at why this error happens and explore some fixes for it.
What Is VLC Error Opening File For Writing?
A lot of users reported that when they try to install or update their VLC media player, they receive the following error:
“Error opening file for writing”
The error is followed by the path to the VLC directory in which the error happened. Also, you are given three options:
- Abort the installation
- Skip the file
- Retry
What Are The Reasons For VLC Error Opening File For Writing?
VLC can pop up the error due to a lot of reasons such as:
- VLC installation files do not have the necessary permissions
- Your computer’s Antivirus is treating VLC as a threat and stopping its files from writing
- VLC has compatibility issues with your computer system
- You are installing VLC through a corrupted installation file
- You are trying to launch a second VLC install setup while the first setup is already running in the background
- Excessive junk files on your computer
- Registry problems
How To Fix VLC Error Opening File For Writing?
You now know that there could be different causes for this error. It is time to take a look at the fixes, one by one.
Close Background Installations and VLC Instances
If you are installing software on your computer that uses LibVLC parallel to the installation or update of the VLC media player, you can get the error quite often. To fix these VLC instances:
- Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to open Task Manager
- Click on Processes
- Press End Task on all the processes that are using LibVLC
- Retry VLC installation and verify the fix
Secondly, you can also close all background installations of other programs that are not running LibVLC while installing VLC Player. Additionally, check to see if you have executed two VLC installations at the same time. If so, delete all VLC installation applications from Task Manager and start a new VLC setup.
Run The Installer As An Administrator
A lot of times, running the VLC installer with administrative rights can fix the writing error. To do this:
- Download VLC installer
- Locate VLC Installer right-click on it
- Choose “Run as administrator”
- Perform the install and confirm that the error is fixed
If the error is fixed by this method, you can give permanent administrative rights to the VLC application to let it always open and run as an administrator. You can do this by:
- Locate the VLC app on your computer
- Right-click on it and select Properties and then click the Compatibility tab
- Select “Run this program as an administrator”
Try Compatibility Troubleshooter
Sometimes, if the VLC installer is not compatible with your Windows version, it can trigger the opening file for writing error. You can check and fix the VLC installer compatibility issue with the help of the Windows in-built Compatibility checker tool. To do this:
- Locate the VLC installer file on your computer
- Right-click on it, go to Properties–>Compatibility
- Select “Run Compatibility troubleshooter”
- Click on “Try Recommended Settings”
- Let the wizard complete its course
- Try to install the VLC player again and verify the fix
- Save the new VLC settings after the Compatibility check is completed
Change User Account Control Settings
You can try to lower the notification level in the user account control settings to see if it fixes the error.
- Type User in the Run Command
- Click on Change user account control settings
- Pull down the bar to “Never notify”
- Restart the computer and reinstall the VLC player
Conclusion
We hope that this guide helped you fix the VLC error opening for the writing error. However, if none of the above-mentioned fixes worked for you, you can deactivate your Antivirus, clear out all the junk files in your system and repeat the steps again. Hopefully, you’ll be able to resolve the error.
