The Error 0x80070079, commonly known as “Semaphore Timeout Period Has Expired,” is associated with storage devices. These storage devices can include your local hard drive, network drive, Google Drive, or other cloud storage services. When you encounter the error 0x80070079, it indicates that there is an issue with copying or moving a file between your PC and the storage media.
In this article, I will explain how you can fix the Semaphore Timeout Error (0x80070079) specifically on Google Drive, as well as provide general solutions for other storage media.
An unexpected error is keeping you from copying the file. If you continue to receive this error, you can use the error code to search for help with this problem.Error 0x80070079: The semaphore timeout period has expired.
If you are encountering the above error when attempting to sync with Google Drive, you can apply the following solutions on your computer.
Solution 1: Sign-out and Sign-in
If you are facing this problem during working with Google drive, Sign-out and sign-in again. Here’s how to do it.
Solution 2: Avoid large files.
The “Semaphore Timeout Period Has Expired” error most commonly occurs when encountering a large file during uploading or downloading. If there are any large files within a group, it is advisable to avoid them.
Solution 3: Repair bad sector on your HDD/SSD.
There might be bad sector in your HDD/SSD, thus you are encountering the Semaphore Timeout error. You can check drive for errors and optimise them as follows.
Repair your computer using SFC.exe, DISM, and CHKDSK commands.
sfc /scannow
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
chkdsk /f c:
Solution 4: Run Hardware and Device Troubleshooter.
It is also very useful to run Hardware and Device troubleshooter to fix the above error. You can run this troubleshooter as follows:
[image]
msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic
You can also try some other fixing methods as turning off antivirus/firewall, performing clean boot mode, updating windows and drivers, etc.
Summary
To fix 0x80070079: Semaphore Timeout Period Has Expired error on Google drive or another storage media, you can try signing again, avoid large files to upload/download, run hardware diagnostic tools etc.