Vista - Permissions Documents and Settings Folder

How do I gain access to this folder?

I have taken ownership, am in the administrators group but still get Access
Denied popups when trying to view the files.

"John" <me@myhome.net> wrote in message
news:%236V$8LAlHHA.1388@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> How do I gain access to this folder?
>
> I have taken ownership, am in the administrators group but still get
> Access Denied popups when trying to view the files.

Answer copied from my previous answer to an almost identical question in
administration_accounts_password group

"...
A number of the folders you are concerned about are not actually real
folders - but links (reparse points) to provide backward compatibility for
older applications now that the locations of certain folders have been moved
such as Users is the new replacement for Documents and Settings and so on.
They are hidden so you do not need to see them and confuse yourself about
them (as you have done so).
As they are links to the real locations ,AV software, backup software etc
will use them if it is legacy software that is not aware of the new
locations or knows how to make the appropriate calls to find them.

Go into your Documents (C:\Users\<username>\Documents) folder in an
administrative command prompt and run dir /a and you will see the ones
that are real folders and the ones that are other things and what they point
to
...."

Please check this and the other newsgroups for answers prior to posting.


--

Mike Brannigan

"John" wrote
> How do I gain access to this folder?
>
> I have taken ownership, am in the administrators group but still get
> Access Denied popups when trying to view the files.

To elaborate on Mike's post, that folder is a Junction point. All it
contains is a pointer to the actual folde where the files are kept. You
would have never seen that folder had you not told changed the settings show
hidden files/folders and not hide protected operating system files/folders.
Why are they hidden? Because you don't need acess to it, and changing the
permissions on that and other junction points created for compatibility with
legacy apps can actually cause problems for those apps.

From a post by MVP Jimmy Brush here is a list of these junction points for
legacy folders from XP and the new locations in Vista were the files are
kept.

Windows XP Location Windows Vista Location
\Documents and Settings \Users
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents \Users\$USER$\Documents
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Music \Users\$USER$\Music
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Pictures
\Users\$USER$\Pictures
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Videos
\Users\$USER$\Videos
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Application Data
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Cookies
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\NetHood
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\PrintHood
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Recent
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\SendTo
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Start Menu
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Templates
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Application Data
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\History
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files
\Documents and Settings\All Users \ProgramData
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data \ProgramData
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop \Users\Public\Desktop
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents \Users\Public\Documents
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Favorites \Users\Public\Favorites
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Templates
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
\Documents and Settings\Default User \Users\Default "

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

Thank you, thank you, thankyou.

"Rock" <Rock@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:uZIYmcBlHHA.596@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> "John" wrote
> > How do I gain access to this folder?
> >
> > I have taken ownership, am in the administrators group but still get
> > Access Denied popups when trying to view the files.
>
> To elaborate on Mike's post, that folder is a Junction point. All it
> contains is a pointer to the actual folde where the files are kept. You
> would have never seen that folder had you not told changed the settings
show
> hidden files/folders and not hide protected operating system
files/folders.
> Why are they hidden? Because you don't need acess to it, and changing the
> permissions on that and other junction points created for compatibility
with
> legacy apps can actually cause problems for those apps.
>
> From a post by MVP Jimmy Brush here is a list of these junction points for
> legacy folders from XP and the new locations in Vista were the files are
> kept.
>
> Windows XP Location Windows Vista Location
> \Documents and Settings \Users
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents \Users\$USER$\Documents
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Music
\Users\$USER$\Music
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Pictures
> \Users\$USER$\Pictures
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Videos
> \Users\$USER$\Videos
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\Application Data
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\Cookies
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Local
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\NetHood
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\PrintHood
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\Recent
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\SendTo
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\Start Menu
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\Templates
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Application Data
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Local
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\History
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History
> \Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
> \Users\$USER$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files
> \Documents and Settings\All Users \ProgramData
> \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data \ProgramData
> \Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop \Users\Public\Desktop
> \Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents \Users\Public\Documents
> \Documents and Settings\All Users\Favorites \Users\Public\Favorites
> \Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu
> \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
> \Documents and Settings\All Users\Templates
> \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
> \Documents and Settings\Default User \Users\Default "
>
> --
> Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
>

"John" wrote
> Thank you, thank you, thankyou.

<snip>

You're welcome.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]