Vista - Need administrator access to modify files I created myself

Hi all...

Something has been bugging me about Vista lately.

I'll create a file just from a normal app, i.e. not in "Run as
administrator" mode, and then later decide to rename it, but it says I need
administrator privileges to modify the file.

Security tab for the file and the directory it's in says full control for
SYSTEM, Administrators, and my own username, so I don't see why I should
need to be administrator.

It seems this permissions stuff needs a bit of work before it can really be
usable.

Daniel


--
Daniel Noll
Nuix Pty Ltd
Suite 79, 89 Jones St, Ultimo NSW 2007, Australia Ph: +61 2 9280 0699
Web: http://nuix.com/ Fax: +61 2 9212 6902

Hi Daniel,

It sounds like you may need to "Take Ownership" of that file before you can modify it. This link will show you how to do it.

Take Ownership of file

Shawn

>> Security tab for the file and the directory it's in says full control
>> for SYSTEM, Administrators, and my own username, so I don't see why I
>> should need to be administrator.
>>
>> It seems this permissions stuff needs a bit of work before it can
>> really be usable.
>>
>> Daniel
>>

> It sounds like you may need to "Take Ownership" of that file before you
> can modify it. This link will show you how to do it.
<snip>

I already know how to do it, I'm just sick of having to do it five times a
day just to get work done. How is it that files created by myself aren't
owned by myself?

Daniel

--
Daniel Noll
Nuix Pty Ltd
Suite 79, 89 Jones St, Ultimo NSW 2007, Australia Ph: +61 2 9280 0699
Web: http://nuix.com/ Fax: +61 2 9212 6902

Daniel,

Yeah, Vista is very protective of it's system files. The default administrator account that Vista gives you at setup is basically like a Standard account that you can give permission to run something with administrator privileges. Then it just adds another layer of protection by adding this kind of protection for the system files. Even if you created them. It is all in a effort to protect your system from being taken over by a rogue program.

However, you can enable the real built-in administrator account that has almost full access like in XP. This is the same one that you boot into safe mode with. You can enable this account and do all your work in it and just use you default restricted administrator account that Vista gave you for every day stuff. Here is a link for how to enable the main administrator account.

Administrator Account

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hi Daniel

The key to this behavior is where are you creating / saving / renaming these
files?

The folder structure in Vista has changed from previous Windows versions.
With a different security model, you may need to rethink some ways that you
have always done things in order to maintain the integrity of the new
structure and avoid all of the elevation prompts.

Any user created files should be placed somewhere in that users account
folders under C:\Users\your username or the C:\Users\Public. If you try to
save these files in areas such as, C:\Program Files, C:\Windows, the root of
C:, etc, they will be subject to the elevation prompts and permissions like
you are describing.


--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


"Daniel Noll" <daniel@nuix.com> wrote in message
news:uDM23i53HHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>> Security tab for the file and the directory it's in says full control
>>> for SYSTEM, Administrators, and my own username, so I don't see why I
>>> should need to be administrator.
>>>
>>> It seems this permissions stuff needs a bit of work before it can
>>> really be usable.
>>>
>>> Daniel
>>>
>
>> It sounds like you may need to "Take Ownership" of that file before you
>> can modify it. This link will show you how to do it.
> <snip>
>
> I already know how to do it, I'm just sick of having to do it five times a
> day just to get work done. How is it that files created by myself aren't
> owned by myself?
>
> Daniel
>
> --
> Daniel Noll
> Nuix Pty Ltd
> Suite 79, 89 Jones St, Ultimo NSW 2007, Australia Ph: +61 2 9280 0699
> Web: http://nuix.com/ Fax: +61 2 9212 6902

Ronnie Vernon MVP wrote:
> The key to this behavior is where are you creating / saving / renaming
> these files?
>
> The folder structure in Vista has changed from previous Windows versions.
> With a different security model, you may need to rethink some ways that
> you have always done things in order to maintain the integrity of the new
> structure and avoid all of the elevation prompts.

Well, what you describe is how I have been using Windows forever anyway.
I've always been putting files under %USERPROFILE% since the first time it
existed, mainly because I'm used to this sort of behaviour from UNIX-based
OSes which (usually) also enforce this kind of structuring.

> Any user created files should be placed somewhere in that users account
> folders under C:\Users\your username or the C:\Users\Public. If you try to
> save these files in areas such as, C:\Program Files, C:\Windows, the root
> of C:, etc, they will be subject to the elevation prompts and permissions
> like you are describing.

The files are being created under a subdirectory, C:\Users\Myself\Projects.
I use it to store checkouts of software I'm working on, keeping it out of
the way of ordinary documents and so forth.

Daniel


--
Daniel Noll
Nuix Pty Ltd
Suite 79, 89 Jones St, Ultimo NSW 2007, Australia Ph: +61 2 9280 0699
Web: http://nuix.com/ Fax: +61 2 9212 6902