part solved
I have a project folder with lots of examples I have downloaded and over time I have 2 copies of the same folder with (1) added to the top level folder name. This example is one of them. I tried copying this folder as is with the (1) appended to another drive it still threw the error, then I changed the top level folder name (removed the (1)) and it worked. I had another example with the same problem and did the same thing and it worked as well. Still not sure what it is though.