Trying to add favorite in Internet Explorer 11 gets me "Unable to create ... Access is denied"

I'm unable to add favorites to my IE 11. I have tried all troubleshooting but seems not to be working. I'm getting this error:

Unable to create "favorite's shortcut name" Access is denied.

2 Answers

Try this first:

1. Press Windows key + X
2. Select “Command Prompt (Admin) option.
3. Type cd\ and hit Enter.
4. Type cd users\”the user name in which you have logged in”\ and hit Enter.
5. Type ATTRIB favorites –r and hit Enter.
6. Now Read only attribute for Favorites folder should be removed.
7. Close the Command Prompt, then Open Internet Explorer and then check if you are able to add Favorites.

If that doesn't work, try these next:

1. Follow steps 1-3 above.
2. Type CD %userprofile% and press Enter.
3. Type icacls Favorites /setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)low and press Enter.

After the same endless frustration and what seemed like a lifetime of Google, I found this simple answer, and at least for me, it works like a charm. Just clear your cookies and caches.

The below procedure applies to my system: IE 11, Windows 8.1. Some variation of it should work for yours, if different.

1. Open the little gear symbol at the very top right of your screen.
2. Left click on Safety option, then left click on Delete Browsing History.
3. Make sure only the first two boxes are checked, the Temporary Internet Files and Website Files, and Cookies and Website Data.
4. Go to bottom of the dialogue box, left click on Delete.

You don't have to wait for full delete operation before trying again, give it about 20 seconds and you're good to go. Hope this helps, it was a lifesaver for me.