Vista - Documents and Settings

After finally managing to enable the Administrator account, I still
apparently don't have permission to access the Documents and Settings folder.
Neither can I access the Application Data in my User folder.

So far, Vista is being extremely resrictive... I don't suppose there is a
'Let me in' tick box anywhere? Alternatively, how can I actually gain access
to these folders? Vista advises me to use the Security tab, but one cannot
'Apply' any changes you make.

Sounds like UAC to me, try disabling it and try accessing the folder again:
Click Start > All Programs > Run > type in MSCONFIG > Tools (tab) > scroll
down select Disable UAC > click Launch, restart your system for the changes
to take effect.
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta

"Ben Griffiths" <BenGriffiths@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
newsA74CD82-A997-46B5-B1A4-519513059EC3@microsoft.com...
> After finally managing to enable the Administrator account, I still
> apparently don't have permission to access the Documents and Settings
> folder.
> Neither can I access the Application Data in my User folder.
>
> So far, Vista is being extremely resrictive... I don't suppose there is a
> 'Let me in' tick box anywhere? Alternatively, how can I actually gain
> access
> to these folders? Vista advises me to use the Security tab, but one cannot
> 'Apply' any changes you make.

Not sure why you needed to enable the administrator account.

When I browse into c:\users\administrator I get an UAC prompt, which I okay
and then I can continue browsing.

And obivously browsing into my own account, c:\users\sean there is no UAC
prompt and I have no problems browsing that sub-folder.

You say "Documents and Settings" folder. Is this from an XP upgrade? In
clean installs of Vista they've changed that to \users.

Cheers

"Ben Griffiths" <BenGriffiths@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
newsA74CD82-A997-46B5-B1A4-519513059EC3@microsoft.com...
> After finally managing to enable the Administrator account, I still
> apparently don't have permission to access the Documents and Settings
> folder.
> Neither can I access the Application Data in my User folder.
>
> So far, Vista is being extremely resrictive... I don't suppose there is a
> 'Let me in' tick box anywhere? Alternatively, how can I actually gain
> access
> to these folders? Vista advises me to use the Security tab, but one cannot
> 'Apply' any changes you make.

As mentioned in my reply to the original posting I get a UAC prompt when
accessing other folders like administrator and then I can browse them with
no problems.

If he's not getting a UAC prompt then it's probably a different set of
permissions that administrator doesn't have access to without taking
ownership.

In general it's a bad idea to go round disabling UAC, rather run a command
prompt, or explorer as administrator when you need to if you want to avoid
the UAC prompt.

Cheers

"Andre Da Costa [Extended64]" <andred25@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23iBtJmFjGHA.3780@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Sounds like UAC to me, try disabling it and try accessing the folder
> again:
> Click Start > All Programs > Run > type in MSCONFIG > Tools (tab) > scroll
> down select Disable UAC > click Launch, restart your system for the
> changes to take effect.
> --
> --
> Andre
> Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
> Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
> Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
> http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
>
> "Ben Griffiths" <BenGriffiths@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> newsA74CD82-A997-46B5-B1A4-519513059EC3@microsoft.com...
>> After finally managing to enable the Administrator account, I still
>> apparently don't have permission to access the Documents and Settings
>> folder.
>> Neither can I access the Application Data in my User folder.
>>
>> So far, Vista is being extremely resrictive... I don't suppose there is a
>> 'Let me in' tick box anywhere? Alternatively, how can I actually gain
>> access
>> to these folders? Vista advises me to use the Security tab, but one
>> cannot
>> 'Apply' any changes you make.
>
>

I've got exactly the same fault after doing what I thought was a "clean"
install of Vista. It actually left most of drive C intact and renamed the
original Windows directory to Windows.old. I think he problem is that
Documents and Settings is still owned by my XP persona.....still working on
that one.

"Sean McLeod" wrote:

> Not sure why you needed to enable the administrator account.
>
> When I browse into c:\users\administrator I get an UAC prompt, which I okay
> and then I can continue browsing.
>
> And obivously browsing into my own account, c:\users\sean there is no UAC
> prompt and I have no problems browsing that sub-folder.
>
> You say "Documents and Settings" folder. Is this from an XP upgrade? In
> clean installs of Vista they've changed that to \users.
>
> Cheers
>
> "Ben Griffiths" <BenGriffiths@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> newsA74CD82-A997-46B5-B1A4-519513059EC3@microsoft.com...
> > After finally managing to enable the Administrator account, I still
> > apparently don't have permission to access the Documents and Settings
> > folder.
> > Neither can I access the Application Data in my User folder.
> >
> > So far, Vista is being extremely resrictive... I don't suppose there is a
> > 'Let me in' tick box anywhere? Alternatively, how can I actually gain
> > access
> > to these folders? Vista advises me to use the Security tab, but one cannot
> > 'Apply' any changes you make.
>

So do you have a \Documents and Settings and a \users tree now?

If so then run an administrator version of explorer and take/give ownership
to your Vista user account. You probably then want to copy your data from
the \Documents and Settings tree to the \users tree.

Cheers

"Kev Struthers" <Kev Struthers@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5E5CED1E-0E92-4DB8-9F73-A660675E5C02@microsoft.com...
> I've got exactly the same fault after doing what I thought was a "clean"
> install of Vista. It actually left most of drive C intact and renamed the
> original Windows directory to Windows.old. I think he problem is that
> Documents and Settings is still owned by my XP persona.....still working
> on
> that one.
>
> "Sean McLeod" wrote:
>
>> Not sure why you needed to enable the administrator account.
>>
>> When I browse into c:\users\administrator I get an UAC prompt, which I
>> okay
>> and then I can continue browsing.
>>
>> And obivously browsing into my own account, c:\users\sean there is no UAC
>> prompt and I have no problems browsing that sub-folder.
>>
>> You say "Documents and Settings" folder. Is this from an XP upgrade? In
>> clean installs of Vista they've changed that to \users.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> "Ben Griffiths" <BenGriffiths@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> newsA74CD82-A997-46B5-B1A4-519513059EC3@microsoft.com...
>> > After finally managing to enable the Administrator account, I still
>> > apparently don't have permission to access the Documents and Settings
>> > folder.
>> > Neither can I access the Application Data in my User folder.
>> >
>> > So far, Vista is being extremely resrictive... I don't suppose there is
>> > a
>> > 'Let me in' tick box anywhere? Alternatively, how can I actually gain
>> > access
>> > to these folders? Vista advises me to use the Security tab, but one
>> > cannot
>> > 'Apply' any changes you make.
>>

Try AppData instead of Application Data. There are similar new folders for
the others. I think it's part of the new security regime (and probably to
keep programs from hardcoding the paths to these folders instead of using
the APIs and envars).


"Ben Griffiths" <BenGriffiths@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
newsA74CD82-A997-46B5-B1A4-519513059EC3@microsoft.com...
> After finally managing to enable the Administrator account, I still
> apparently don't have permission to access the Documents and Settings
> folder.
> Neither can I access the Application Data in my User folder.
>
> So far, Vista is being extremely resrictive... I don't suppose there is a
> 'Let me in' tick box anywhere? Alternatively, how can I actually gain
> access
> to these folders? Vista advises me to use the Security tab, but one cannot
> 'Apply' any changes you make.

Yes, because I told windows to show hidden system files.

I was, and indeed am, just testing a number of browses. Firefox stores it's
profile data, which I want to import a new one, in the Application Data
folder. Or at least, it did. That's one reason I wanted to have access
anyway, other than that I'm simply explorering Vista!

It's interesting about the UAC. It was really annoying me, so I had simply
disabled it, I hadn't realised then I could simply load explorer in
Administrator mode to stop those infuriating warnings.

The permissions that don't allow me into the Documents and Settings folder
are different though, and it isn't UAC. Currently I'm using XP, so I'll have
to boot Vista up and try some suggestions later. Thanks for your help.

"Sean McLeod" wrote:

> So do you have a \Documents and Settings and a \users tree now?
>
> If so then run an administrator version of explorer and take/give ownership
> to your Vista user account. You probably then want to copy your data from
> the \Documents and Settings tree to the \users tree.
>
> Cheers
>
> "Kev Struthers" <Kev Struthers@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:5E5CED1E-0E92-4DB8-9F73-A660675E5C02@microsoft.com...
> > I've got exactly the same fault after doing what I thought was a "clean"
> > install of Vista. It actually left most of drive C intact and renamed the
> > original Windows directory to Windows.old. I think he problem is that
> > Documents and Settings is still owned by my XP persona.....still working
> > on
> > that one.
> >
> > "Sean McLeod" wrote:
> >
> >> Not sure why you needed to enable the administrator account.
> >>
> >> When I browse into c:\users\administrator I get an UAC prompt, which I
> >> okay
> >> and then I can continue browsing.
> >>
> >> And obivously browsing into my own account, c:\users\sean there is no UAC
> >> prompt and I have no problems browsing that sub-folder.
> >>
> >> You say "Documents and Settings" folder. Is this from an XP upgrade? In
> >> clean installs of Vista they've changed that to \users.
> >>
> >> Cheers
> >>
> >> "Ben Griffiths" <BenGriffiths@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> newsA74CD82-A997-46B5-B1A4-519513059EC3@microsoft.com...
> >> > After finally managing to enable the Administrator account, I still
> >> > apparently don't have permission to access the Documents and Settings
> >> > folder.
> >> > Neither can I access the Application Data in my User folder.
> >> >
> >> > So far, Vista is being extremely resrictive... I don't suppose there is
> >> > a
> >> > 'Let me in' tick box anywhere? Alternatively, how can I actually gain
> >> > access
> >> > to these folders? Vista advises me to use the Security tab, but one
> >> > cannot
> >> > 'Apply' any changes you make.
> >>
>

I belive I tried that at the time and recieved exactly the same permission
warning. Though, I cannot remember.

"Chris Altmann" wrote:

> Try AppData instead of Application Data. There are similar new folders for
> the others. I think it's part of the new security regime (and probably to
> keep programs from hardcoding the paths to these folders instead of using
> the APIs and envars).
>
>
> "Ben Griffiths" <BenGriffiths@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> newsA74CD82-A997-46B5-B1A4-519513059EC3@microsoft.com...
> > After finally managing to enable the Administrator account, I still
> > apparently don't have permission to access the Documents and Settings
> > folder.
> > Neither can I access the Application Data in my User folder.
> >
> > So far, Vista is being extremely resrictive... I don't suppose there is a
> > 'Let me in' tick box anywhere? Alternatively, how can I actually gain
> > access
> > to these folders? Vista advises me to use the Security tab, but one cannot
> > 'Apply' any changes you make.
>

Vista is more than likely seeing references to a user ID that existed under
XP as the owner etc. of the \documents and settings folders etc. So that's
why I suggested taking ownership with your new vista userID.

Cheers

"Ben Griffiths" <BenGriffiths@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4A5323BC-1BA2-4F48-AB7A-B32F86A0F13D@microsoft.com...
> Yes, because I told windows to show hidden system files.
>
> I was, and indeed am, just testing a number of browses. Firefox stores
> it's
> profile data, which I want to import a new one, in the Application Data
> folder. Or at least, it did. That's one reason I wanted to have access
> anyway, other than that I'm simply explorering Vista!
>
> It's interesting about the UAC. It was really annoying me, so I had simply
> disabled it, I hadn't realised then I could simply load explorer in
> Administrator mode to stop those infuriating warnings.
>
> The permissions that don't allow me into the Documents and Settings folder
> are different though, and it isn't UAC. Currently I'm using XP, so I'll
> have
> to boot Vista up and try some suggestions later. Thanks for your help.
>
> "Sean McLeod" wrote:
>
>> So do you have a \Documents and Settings and a \users tree now?
>>
>> If so then run an administrator version of explorer and take/give
>> ownership
>> to your Vista user account. You probably then want to copy your data from
>> the \Documents and Settings tree to the \users tree.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> "Kev Struthers" <Kev Struthers@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> message
>> news:5E5CED1E-0E92-4DB8-9F73-A660675E5C02@microsoft.com...
>> > I've got exactly the same fault after doing what I thought was a
>> > "clean"
>> > install of Vista. It actually left most of drive C intact and renamed
>> > the
>> > original Windows directory to Windows.old. I think he problem is that
>> > Documents and Settings is still owned by my XP persona.....still
>> > working
>> > on
>> > that one.
>> >
>> > "Sean McLeod" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Not sure why you needed to enable the administrator account.
>> >>
>> >> When I browse into c:\users\administrator I get an UAC prompt, which I
>> >> okay
>> >> and then I can continue browsing.
>> >>
>> >> And obivously browsing into my own account, c:\users\sean there is no
>> >> UAC
>> >> prompt and I have no problems browsing that sub-folder.
>> >>
>> >> You say "Documents and Settings" folder. Is this from an XP upgrade?
>> >> In
>> >> clean installs of Vista they've changed that to \users.
>> >>
>> >> Cheers
>> >>
>> >> "Ben Griffiths" <BenGriffiths@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> >> message
>> >> newsA74CD82-A997-46B5-B1A4-519513059EC3@microsoft.com...
>> >> > After finally managing to enable the Administrator account, I still
>> >> > apparently don't have permission to access the Documents and
>> >> > Settings
>> >> > folder.
>> >> > Neither can I access the Application Data in my User folder.
>> >> >
>> >> > So far, Vista is being extremely resrictive... I don't suppose there
>> >> > is
>> >> > a
>> >> > 'Let me in' tick box anywhere? Alternatively, how can I actually
>> >> > gain
>> >> > access
>> >> > to these folders? Vista advises me to use the Security tab, but one
>> >> > cannot
>> >> > 'Apply' any changes you make.
>> >>
>>