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Question

Help - I'm gradually losing access to folders

Oct 5, 2012 12:59AM PDT

For the past few days, I have been unable to open certain folders in my Documents and Public folders. I get a message "... is not accessible, access is denied". Folders I opened yesterday are denied today. I supposedly have Administrator level authority, and I can apparently execute a share assignment, but Windows Explorer won't open the folder.
I am running up-to-date Vista on a Dell Inspiron laptop.

Help! What's going on?

Thanks for any ideas.

Perry B

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Worth repeating.
Oct 5, 2012 3:41AM PDT

Administrator is not God mode. Even the admin must obey file and folder permissions.

Now that you know that, go grant yourself access by taking ownership.
Bob

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Cute answer, but ...
Oct 5, 2012 6:53AM PDT

I have administrator privileges, and can't make it happen. This may be due to insufficient knowledge of Vista internals. And it does not seem to explain why various folders seem to be progressively becoming closed. Sorry for being a bit thick, but what do you mean by 'take ownership'?

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It's exactly that. Here's a little more about NTFS
Oct 5, 2012 6:58AM PDT

The answer is to clear up a mis-conception. Admin is only that. You are allowed to do almost anything but if a file is marked read only or "not yours" the OS obeys this. This concept is usually learned by an encounter like yours.

Here's a link about NTFS permissions and taking ownership.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=windows+vista+take+ownership+grant+full+access+permission

About your second question. I can't see any clue in your post why this would happen. Also, this is not a Vista Internal. That is, NTFS has been around before Windows XP.
Bob