Vista - Locked Documents and Settings file

This problem could be either Vista or Windows Live One Care based, or be a
combination of them both.
I upgraded to Vista from XP having first done a full backup using Live One
Care.
Having restored my back-up again using Live one Care I found that it had not
done a verbatim restoration and I now having to claw back as much as I can.
RECOMENDATION: Do not use Live One Care Backup and Restore without first
finding out how very limited it is (that's a subject for another day).
MY PROBLEM: My Documents and Settings folder is now locked. The icon
indicating a folder has a blue arrow pointing to the top right hand corner.
The explorer indicates that the folder has a zero bytes size.
I have looked to see if there is a 'Windows/Application Data' folder but it
does not exist.
Since I have an urgent need to find the 'Message Store' in order that I can
recover important email files for my business, can anyone please help me out
of this sticky situation? PLEASE !!!

Documents and settings is not a real folder in VISTA. It is a junction that
is set up to interface with legacy programs.
--
Paul


"Yoyosteve" wrote:

> This problem could be either Vista or Windows Live One Care based, or be a
> combination of them both.
> I upgraded to Vista from XP having first done a full backup using Live One
> Care.
> Having restored my back-up again using Live one Care I found that it had not
> done a verbatim restoration and I now having to claw back as much as I can.
> RECOMENDATION: Do not use Live One Care Backup and Restore without first
> finding out how very limited it is (that's a subject for another day).
> MY PROBLEM: My Documents and Settings folder is now locked. The icon
> indicating a folder has a blue arrow pointing to the top right hand corner.
> The explorer indicates that the folder has a zero bytes size.
> I have looked to see if there is a 'Windows/Application Data' folder but it
> does not exist.
> Since I have an urgent need to find the 'Message Store' in order that I can
> recover important email files for my business, can anyone please help me out
> of this sticky situation? PLEASE !!!

Steve

I'm not familiar with the Live One Care backup program. Does it let you
restore individual files and folders? If it does, you may be better off just
restoring the files and folders you need.

Since you have already completed the restore process with this application,
you need to learn about the new folder structure in Vista. It may be that
all of your files and folders were restored to the new locations in Vista.

First, there is no more Documents and Settings folder in Vista. The folder
that you are seeing that has that name is is not an actual folder, it is
called a Junction and is only there to redirect older programs to the new
location in Vista, which is the C:\Users folder.

In C:\Users, you will see all of the individual accounts on the system and
their individual sub-folders.

Just like the Documents and Settings folder, the Application Data folder is
also a Junction. The new name and location of this folder is C:\Users\your
username\AppData\Roaming folder.

These Junctions do not contain any useful data or files and cannot be
accessed. You will always receive an Access Denied message when try to open
one of these Junctions.

You can see a more detailed explanation of this subject as well as a
complete list of the old folder locations with the new Vista location at the
following website.

Windows Vista Junction Points:
http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/jpoints.htm

Post back here if you need more help.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


"Yoyosteve" <Yoyosteve@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:53643D2C-B90F-49FC-9E56-35320C6ED020@microsoft.com...
> This problem could be either Vista or Windows Live One Care based, or be a
> combination of them both.
> I upgraded to Vista from XP having first done a full backup using Live One
> Care.
> Having restored my back-up again using Live one Care I found that it had
> not
> done a verbatim restoration and I now having to claw back as much as I
> can.
> RECOMENDATION: Do not use Live One Care Backup and Restore without first
> finding out how very limited it is (that's a subject for another day).
> MY PROBLEM: My Documents and Settings folder is now locked. The icon
> indicating a folder has a blue arrow pointing to the top right hand
> corner.
> The explorer indicates that the folder has a zero bytes size.
> I have looked to see if there is a 'Windows/Application Data' folder but
> it
> does not exist.
> Since I have an urgent need to find the 'Message Store' in order that I
> can
> recover important email files for my business, can anyone please help me
> out
> of this sticky situation? PLEASE !!!

Thanks a lot - now I can get somewhere.

As for Live One Care, at least you would expect a half decent backup
programme to at least have a tree view so that you can see just what has been
backed up, but also to allow you to restore single files or at least specific
folders but neither are provided by this very poorly designed software.
To add weight to my criticism, I have been involved in computers since 1964
having been trained by five major computer companies in system design and
implementation, software design and implementation, programming in seven
languages. This is said, not to blow my own trumpet, but to show that I am
qualified to make this sort of comment.
RECOMMENDATION: User beware.

Many thanks for your kind help.

Peter
"Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:

> Steve
>
> I'm not familiar with the Live One Care backup program. Does it let you
> restore individual files and folders? If it does, you may be better off just
> restoring the files and folders you need.
>
> Since you have already completed the restore process with this application,
> you need to learn about the new folder structure in Vista. It may be that
> all of your files and folders were restored to the new locations in Vista.
>
> First, there is no more Documents and Settings folder in Vista. The folder
> that you are seeing that has that name is is not an actual folder, it is
> called a Junction and is only there to redirect older programs to the new
> location in Vista, which is the C:\Users folder.
>
> In C:\Users, you will see all of the individual accounts on the system and
> their individual sub-folders.
>
> Just like the Documents and Settings folder, the Application Data folder is
> also a Junction. The new name and location of this folder is C:\Users\your
> username\AppData\Roaming folder.
>
> These Junctions do not contain any useful data or files and cannot be
> accessed. You will always receive an Access Denied message when try to open
> one of these Junctions.
>
> You can see a more detailed explanation of this subject as well as a
> complete list of the old folder locations with the new Vista location at the
> following website.
>
> Windows Vista Junction Points:
> http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/jpoints.htm
>
> Post back here if you need more help.
>
> --
>
> Ronnie Vernon
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows Shell/User
>
>
> "Yoyosteve" <Yoyosteve@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:53643D2C-B90F-49FC-9E56-35320C6ED020@microsoft.com...
> > This problem could be either Vista or Windows Live One Care based, or be a
> > combination of them both.
> > I upgraded to Vista from XP having first done a full backup using Live One
> > Care.
> > Having restored my back-up again using Live one Care I found that it had
> > not
> > done a verbatim restoration and I now having to claw back as much as I
> > can.
> > RECOMENDATION: Do not use Live One Care Backup and Restore without first
> > finding out how very limited it is (that's a subject for another day).
> > MY PROBLEM: My Documents and Settings folder is now locked. The icon
> > indicating a folder has a blue arrow pointing to the top right hand
> > corner.
> > The explorer indicates that the folder has a zero bytes size.
> > I have looked to see if there is a 'Windows/Application Data' folder but
> > it
> > does not exist.
> > Since I have an urgent need to find the 'Message Store' in order that I
> > can
> > recover important email files for my business, can anyone please help me
> > out
> > of this sticky situation? PLEASE !!!
>
>

Steve

Your welcome.



--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


"Yoyosteve" <Yoyosteve@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7005F0D3-7672-4348-88E9-724640F05570@microsoft.com...
> Thanks a lot - now I can get somewhere.
>
> As for Live One Care, at least you would expect a half decent backup
> programme to at least have a tree view so that you can see just what has
> been
> backed up, but also to allow you to restore single files or at least
> specific
> folders but neither are provided by this very poorly designed software.
> To add weight to my criticism, I have been involved in computers since
> 1964
> having been trained by five major computer companies in system design and
> implementation, software design and implementation, programming in seven
> languages. This is said, not to blow my own trumpet, but to show that I
> am
> qualified to make this sort of comment.
> RECOMMENDATION: User beware.
>
> Many thanks for your kind help.
>
> Peter
> "Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:
>
>> Steve
>>
>> I'm not familiar with the Live One Care backup program. Does it let you
>> restore individual files and folders? If it does, you may be better off
>> just
>> restoring the files and folders you need.
>>
>> Since you have already completed the restore process with this
>> application,
>> you need to learn about the new folder structure in Vista. It may be that
>> all of your files and folders were restored to the new locations in
>> Vista.
>>
>> First, there is no more Documents and Settings folder in Vista. The
>> folder
>> that you are seeing that has that name is is not an actual folder, it is
>> called a Junction and is only there to redirect older programs to the new
>> location in Vista, which is the C:\Users folder.
>>
>> In C:\Users, you will see all of the individual accounts on the system
>> and
>> their individual sub-folders.
>>
>> Just like the Documents and Settings folder, the Application Data folder
>> is
>> also a Junction. The new name and location of this folder is
>> C:\Users\your
>> username\AppData\Roaming folder.
>>
>> These Junctions do not contain any useful data or files and cannot be
>> accessed. You will always receive an Access Denied message when try to
>> open
>> one of these Junctions.
>>
>> You can see a more detailed explanation of this subject as well as a
>> complete list of the old folder locations with the new Vista location at
>> the
>> following website.
>>
>> Windows Vista Junction Points:
>> http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/jpoints.htm
>>
>> Post back here if you need more help.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Ronnie Vernon
>> Microsoft MVP
>> Windows Shell/User
>>
>>
>> "Yoyosteve" <Yoyosteve@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:53643D2C-B90F-49FC-9E56-35320C6ED020@microsoft.com...
>> > This problem could be either Vista or Windows Live One Care based, or
>> > be a
>> > combination of them both.
>> > I upgraded to Vista from XP having first done a full backup using Live
>> > One
>> > Care.
>> > Having restored my back-up again using Live one Care I found that it
>> > had
>> > not
>> > done a verbatim restoration and I now having to claw back as much as I
>> > can.
>> > RECOMENDATION: Do not use Live One Care Backup and Restore without
>> > first
>> > finding out how very limited it is (that's a subject for another day).
>> > MY PROBLEM: My Documents and Settings folder is now locked. The icon
>> > indicating a folder has a blue arrow pointing to the top right hand
>> > corner.
>> > The explorer indicates that the folder has a zero bytes size.
>> > I have looked to see if there is a 'Windows/Application Data' folder
>> > but
>> > it
>> > does not exist.
>> > Since I have an urgent need to find the 'Message Store' in order that I
>> > can
>> > recover important email files for my business, can anyone please help
>> > me
>> > out
>> > of this sticky situation? PLEASE !!!
>>
>>