Vista - Permissions issue?

I'm using Vista Ultimate and I'm unable to save files to the root drive. I
can create folders on the root drive and save within them, however I cannot
save a file to that drive.

I am the administrator of the computer and it appears I have full control.
What else could be causing this?

> I'm using Vista Ultimate and I'm unable to save files to the root drive. I
> can create folders on the root drive and save within them, however I cannot
> save a file to that drive.

That is by design and is a function of User Account Control (UAC) and the
ACL on the root of the drive. The ACL permits only Administrators and System
from writing files to the root of the drive. UAC means that even if you are a
member of the Administrator's group you do not run as an administrator unless
you elevate.

If you really want to, you can launch whatever process you use to write the
files with as an administrator and then you can write there. If you try to
drag and drop a file there you get an elevation prompt. The recommended
solution is to not store data there though.

Then how do I elevate the rights so this can be done at any time without
having extra steps to go through.

"Jesper" wrote:

> > I'm using Vista Ultimate and I'm unable to save files to the root drive. I
> > can create folders on the root drive and save within them, however I cannot
> > save a file to that drive.
>
> That is by design and is a function of User Account Control (UAC) and the
> ACL on the root of the drive. The ACL permits only Administrators and System
> from writing files to the root of the drive. UAC means that even if you are a
> member of the Administrator's group you do not run as an administrator unless
> you elevate.
>
> If you really want to, you can launch whatever process you use to write the
> files with as an administrator and then you can write there. If you try to
> drag and drop a file there you get an elevation prompt. The recommended
> solution is to not store data there though.

> Then how do I elevate the rights so this can be done at any time without
> having extra steps to go through.

If you really are adamant about storing files in the root of the C: (did I
mention that it is generally a really bad idea?) and you do not want to
elevate each time, you can resolve the situation by adding an access control
list entry for your account to the root of the drive, as follows:
1. Click the Window button:All Programs:Accessories
2. Right-click on Command Prompt
3. Select Run as administrator and accept the prompt
4. Run this command: icacls c:\ /grant fooOI)(CI)(M)

That will grant the user foo modify permissions on c:\. All objects (OI) and
containers (CI) will inherit those permissions. You would need to replace foo
with the name of your user account.

Once you do that any application you run as user foo will be able to store
data in the root of the C: drive. You will also have losened a default
security setting, with all the caveats that entails.

Yes, you mentioned this was a bad idea, however, I paid good money for my new
laptop and I want to save some of my information on my C: drive. I'm not
trying to hack Microsoft's software. I want the computer to do what I say to
do.

As far as that command prompt, it did not work. I typed exactly what you
wrote, however I still get this message, "An unexpected error is preventing
the operation. Make note of this error code, which might be useful if you get
additional help to resolve this problem: Error 0x80070522: A required
privilege is not held by the client."

"Jesper" wrote:

> > Then how do I elevate the rights so this can be done at any time without
> > having extra steps to go through.
>
> If you really are adamant about storing files in the root of the C: (did I
> mention that it is generally a really bad idea?) and you do not want to
> elevate each time, you can resolve the situation by adding an access control
> list entry for your account to the root of the drive, as follows:
> 1. Click the Window button:All Programs:Accessories
> 2. Right-click on Command Prompt
> 3. Select Run as administrator and accept the prompt
> 4. Run this command: icacls c:\ /grant fooOI)(CI)(M)
>
> That will grant the user foo modify permissions on c:\. All objects (OI) and
> containers (CI) will inherit those permissions. You would need to replace foo
> with the name of your user account.
>
> Once you do that any application you run as user foo will be able to store
> data in the root of the C: drive. You will also have losened a default
> security setting, with all the caveats that entails.

Matthew Fowler wrote:
> Yes, you mentioned this was a bad idea, however, I paid good money for my new
> laptop and I want to save some of my information on my C: drive. I'm not
> trying to hack Microsoft's software. I want the computer to do what I say to
> do.
>
> As far as that command prompt, it did not work. I typed exactly what you
> wrote, however I still get this message, "An unexpected error is preventing
> the operation. Make note of this error code, which might be useful if you get
> additional help to resolve this problem: Error 0x80070522: A required
> privilege is not held by the client."
>
> "Jesper" wrote:
>
>>> Then how do I elevate the rights so this can be done at any time without
>>> having extra steps to go through.
>> If you really are adamant about storing files in the root of the C: (did I
>> mention that it is generally a really bad idea?) and you do not want to
>> elevate each time, you can resolve the situation by adding an access control
>> list entry for your account to the root of the drive, as follows:
>> 1. Click the Window button:All Programs:Accessories
>> 2. Right-click on Command Prompt
>> 3. Select Run as administrator and accept the prompt
>> 4. Run this command: icacls c:\ /grant fooOI)(CI)(M)
>>
>> That will grant the user foo modify permissions on c:\. All objects (OI) and
>> containers (CI) will inherit those permissions. You would need to replace foo
>> with the name of your user account.
>>
>> Once you do that any application you run as user foo will be able to store
>> data in the root of the C: drive. You will also have losened a default
>> security setting, with all the caveats that entails.

excuse me, but what's the relation between the money you paid for your
PC, or laptop, what we all did (did anyone get a pc for free down here,
let me know...), and the fact that you wanna store data at the root of
your C drive, which does not make sens, unless your HDD is not
partitioned. Or is it that you don't know how to partition a hard disk?
So the real question would be to ask for help on that topic.
I think Jesper was really kind to spend his time explaining how you
could bypass Vista security, although he was quite aware, like I am,
that storing data on C is an extremely bad idea.

hermes wrote:
> Matthew Fowler wrote:
>> Yes, you mentioned this was a bad idea, however, I paid good money for
>> my new laptop and I want to save some of my information on my C:
>> drive. I'm not trying to hack Microsoft's software. I want the
>> computer to do what I say to do.
>>
>> As far as that command prompt, it did not work. I typed exactly what
>> you wrote, however I still get this message, "An unexpected error is
>> preventing the operation. Make note of this error code, which might be
>> useful if you get additional help to resolve this problem: Error
>> 0x80070522: A required privilege is not held by the client."
>>
>> "Jesper" wrote:
>>
>>>> Then how do I elevate the rights so this can be done at any time
>>>> without having extra steps to go through.
>>> If you really are adamant about storing files in the root of the C:
>>> (did I mention that it is generally a really bad idea?) and you do
>>> not want to elevate each time, you can resolve the situation by
>>> adding an access control list entry for your account to the root of
>>> the drive, as follows:
>>> 1. Click the Window button:All Programs:Accessories
>>> 2. Right-click on Command Prompt
>>> 3. Select Run as administrator and accept the prompt
>>> 4. Run this command: icacls c:\ /grant fooOI)(CI)(M)
>>>
>>> That will grant the user foo modify permissions on c:\. All objects
>>> (OI) and containers (CI) will inherit those permissions. You would
>>> need to replace foo with the name of your user account.
>>>
>>> Once you do that any application you run as user foo will be able to
>>> store data in the root of the C: drive. You will also have losened a
>>> default security setting, with all the caveats that entails.
>
> excuse me, but what's the relation between the money you paid for your
> PC, or laptop, what we all did (did anyone get a pc for free down here,
> let me know...), and the fact that you wanna store data at the root of
> your C drive, which does not make sens, unless your HDD is not
> partitioned. Or is it that you don't know how to partition a hard disk?
> So the real question would be to ask for help on that topic.
> I think Jesper was really kind to spend his time explaining how you
> could bypass Vista security, although he was quite aware, like I am,
> that storing data on C is an extremely bad idea.

one last thing, if you really want to do that, just turn UAC off. And
reboot, it's free!

In article <OFLLBiaXHHA.3996@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl>, in the
microsoft.public.windows.vista.security news group, hermes
<pls.hermes@gmail.com> says...

> excuse me, but what's the relation between the money you paid for your
> PC, or laptop, what we all did (did anyone get a pc for free down here,
> let me know...), and the fact that you wanna store data at the root of
> your C drive, which does not make sens, unless your HDD is not
> partitioned. Or is it that you don't know how to partition a hard disk?
> So the real question would be to ask for help on that topic.
> I think Jesper was really kind to spend his time explaining how you
> could bypass Vista security, although he was quite aware, like I am,
> that storing data on C is an extremely bad idea.

This has nothing at all to do with partitioning a drive, nor did
Jesper assert that storing data _on_ the C drive is an extremely
bad idea. The problem here is the desire to store individual
files at the root of the C drive, as opposed to simply creating
folders off of the root of C (or elsewhere on the C drive.

--
Paul Adare
MVP - Windows - Virtual Machine
http://www.identit.ca
"The English language, complete with irony, satire, and sarcasm,
has survived for centuries without smileys. Only the new crop of
modern computer geeks finds it impossible to detect a joke that
is not clearly labeled as such."
Ray Shea

Paul Adare wrote:
> In article <OFLLBiaXHHA.3996@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl>, in the
> microsoft.public.windows.vista.security news group, hermes
> <pls.hermes@gmail.com> says...
>
>> excuse me, but what's the relation between the money you paid for your
>> PC, or laptop, what we all did (did anyone get a pc for free down here,
>> let me know...), and the fact that you wanna store data at the root of
>> your C drive, which does not make sens, unless your HDD is not
>> partitioned. Or is it that you don't know how to partition a hard disk?
>> So the real question would be to ask for help on that topic.
>> I think Jesper was really kind to spend his time explaining how you
>> could bypass Vista security, although he was quite aware, like I am,
>> that storing data on C is an extremely bad idea.
>
> This has nothing at all to do with partitioning a drive, nor did
> Jesper assert that storing data _on_ the C drive is an extremely
> bad idea. The problem here is the desire to store individual
> files at the root of the C drive, as opposed to simply creating
> folders off of the root of C (or elsewhere on the C drive.
>

> Matthew Fowler wrote:
>> Yes, you mentioned this was a bad idea
> I'm not
> trying to hack Microsoft's software.



from Jesper:
> If you really are adamant about storing files in the root of the C: (did I
> mention that it is generally a really bad idea?)


there are some possible reasons for storing files at the root of C
without creating a folder first, one of them could be: bypassing windows
activation process using a script file,for instance, but that was just
an example. Otherwise most programs that need to write to the root of
the system drive in Vista do that with no problem. Manually using a
batch file for any purpose at the root of C is no problem either. But
the idea of writing data directly at the root of C either comes from
someone who's new to windows, or from someone who's trying to implement
some very personal kinda files in Windows.

The relation is the fact that I bought a PC and I want to use it the way I
want to use it. I can understand why Microsoft doesn't want certain things
done to Windows, however I should not be stopped trying to save files there.
It's not a hard concept seeing how previous Windows versions were able to do
that.

However, the root of the issue is UAC. Now that I know that is stopping me
from saving a file there, I'll be able to continue on with my work.

"hermes" wrote:

> Paul Adare wrote:
> > In article <OFLLBiaXHHA.3996@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl>, in the
> > microsoft.public.windows.vista.security news group, hermes
> > <pls.hermes@gmail.com> says...
> >
> >> excuse me, but what's the relation between the money you paid for your
> >> PC, or laptop, what we all did (did anyone get a pc for free down here,
> >> let me know...), and the fact that you wanna store data at the root of
> >> your C drive, which does not make sens, unless your HDD is not
> >> partitioned. Or is it that you don't know how to partition a hard disk?
> >> So the real question would be to ask for help on that topic.
> >> I think Jesper was really kind to spend his time explaining how you
> >> could bypass Vista security, although he was quite aware, like I am,
> >> that storing data on C is an extremely bad idea.
> >
> > This has nothing at all to do with partitioning a drive, nor did
> > Jesper assert that storing data _on_ the C drive is an extremely
> > bad idea. The problem here is the desire to store individual
> > files at the root of the C drive, as opposed to simply creating
> > folders off of the root of C (or elsewhere on the C drive.
> >
>
> > Matthew Fowler wrote:
> >> Yes, you mentioned this was a bad idea
> > I'm not
> > trying to hack Microsoft's software.
>
>
>
> from Jesper:
> > If you really are adamant about storing files in the root of the C: (did I
> > mention that it is generally a really bad idea?)
>
>
> there are some possible reasons for storing files at the root of C
> without creating a folder first, one of them could be: bypassing windows
> activation process using a script file,for instance, but that was just
> an example. Otherwise most programs that need to write to the root of
> the system drive in Vista do that with no problem. Manually using a
> batch file for any purpose at the root of C is no problem either. But
> the idea of writing data directly at the root of C either comes from
> someone who's new to windows, or from someone who's trying to implement
> some very personal kinda files in Windows.
>