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General discussion

Silly Question on File Access...

Oct 20, 2007 2:10PM PDT

On the Vista desktop is a folder with my name on it which I assume is my profile's personal folder settings and such. When I open this folder in Explorer, I can see folders like My Documents, My Videos, etc., as well as Application Data folders, etc. My question is, when I try to open some of these folders Vista shouts rudely at me "Access Denied". Why am I denied access to my own profile files and folders when I am the Administrator of the machine? I am even denied access to the Documents and Settings folder. What's up with that?

Discussion is locked

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Documents and Settings folder?
Oct 20, 2007 2:33PM PDT

That was a Windows XP folder no longer present under Vista, instead relying on simpler C:\Users. Likewise for My Documents, My Videos, etc where "My" was dropped off, as well as "Application Data," which was renamed to "AppData." Some files/folders are blocked by UAC, which can be extremely irritating, because they are currently in use, or because they contain protected system files, depending on the individual file/folder. In the case of the ones you listed, though, it sounds like they are legacy XP folders. Did you upgrade from XP to Vista, or are you browsing another partition where XP is installed?

John

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Actually...
Oct 21, 2007 5:06AM PDT

...this is a new machine that came with Windows Vista pre-installed. Why would these legacy XP folders even be there then?

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Very good question...
Oct 21, 2007 8:16AM PDT

XP: C:\Documents and Settings
Vista: C:\Users

XP Folders: My Documents, My Music, My Videos, Application Data
Vista Folders: Documents, Music, Videos, AppData

I wonder, do you have some combination of the XP and Vista folders listed above, or just XP's set? It is possible for someone to rename and even move those folders to resemble the old XP system, so perhaps someone else may have used the computer and performed the changes? Also, tell us about the make/model and purchase of the computer...it could have originally been an XP system improperly upgraded to Vista before you bought it. It could be nothing, but it just doesn't sound right.

John

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1. Even the administrator must...
Oct 20, 2007 2:35PM PDT

Obey file and folder permissions. It does not mean you have free access to any and all things. The permissions and rules must work for this.

This area confuses many at first but after awhile you learn how to TAKE OWNERSHIP of files, directories and more.

Bob