Re: How do you access denied folders?


"Luis Ortega" <lortega@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:e0aHk.2161$zB7.1828@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ringmaster wrote:
On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:15:44 +0100, Luis Ortega <lortega@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

I am pulling my hair out with this OS. I just got a new Dell laptop with Vista Home Premium.
Since Dell doesn't provide drivers for win xp for it I am stuck with this OS.
I am trying to organize it and set things up like I want but there are lots of folders in Windows Explorer that keep denying me access, even though I am the administrator.
How the hell do I gain access to all the folders on my computer?
This situation is completely unacceptable.
I have already tried all the usual things that one could do in XP to allow access to system or hidden folders and files, but these denied folders aren't even important in many cases.
Thanks a lot for any advice.

This topic comes up nearly every day. Scan older posts for more
details and opinions. If you're using Vista forget all you knew about
administrator. Things are radically different in Vista.

Enter the much hated UAC (User Account Control). The good news is you
can disable it from Control Panel. If you want to try to tame the
beast that is preventing your from accessing your files you need to
learn a bit about file ownership and related permissions.

Go to Windows Explorer, right click on some folders and files, then
Properties, then Security tab. The top section lists groups and users
the bottom what "rights" are given. To fully access all your files you
have to be accepted as that file's owner or at least have rights to
operate on the contents. You do that by adding yourself to the
group/user list if you don't already see the name you logged in on
already listed there. Next click Edit and for most situations give
yourself full permissions by checking all the entries under the allow
column. Sadly there is no central location to do this from that effects
everything at once. You need to do it on a folder by folder basis. So
for example if you have a E drive taking ownership of that should
normally give you control over all folders on that drive.

Thanks a lot for the info. I will try this out now. I had already turned off UAC because it was so intrusive but that made no difference.

Yes, you are correct that it makes no difference even with UAC disabled, because your user/admin account on Vista the one out of the box that Vista gave you is NOT an account that has full admin rights.

There is only one account that gives you those full admin rights on Vista, and it's the hidden built-in Administrator account on Vista. It is the same built-in Administrator account on XP, and you have to active it on Vista in order to use that account. Your user/admin account out of the box that Vista gives you or any new user/admin accounts that you may create on Vista do not inherit full admin rights from the built-in Administrator account, like XP.

Hey, you can go to the Program Files or C:\Windows folders to the Security tab and see if you can add a new user account, update the permissions of an existing user account or delete a user account off the folders. You can't do it with UAC disabled either, and you cannot even do it with the built-in Administrator account, which has more power than your out of the box user/admin account that Vista gives.

Those folders are protected and some folders within those folders are protected from even an admin.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Need to understand permissions and ownership
    ... I am the only user and have only one administrator account with my name. ... There are also some other folders such as: ... The vista help files are so fragmented and confusing that they are ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general)
  • Re: Need to understand permissions and ownership
    ... I am the only user and have only one administrator account with my name. ... There are also some other folders such as: ... The vista help files are so fragmented and confusing that they are ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general)
  • Re: How do you access denied folders?
    ... I am trying to organize it and set things up like I want but there are lots of folders in Windows Explorer that keep denying me access, even though I am the administrator. ... If you're using Vista forget all you knew about ... Yes, you are correct that it makes no difference even with UAC disabled, because your user/admin account on Vista the one out of the box that Vista gave you is NOT an account that has full admin rights. ... There is only one account that gives you those full admin rights on Vista, and it's the hidden built-in Administrator account on Vista. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general)
  • Re: Update Error Code 800B0100
    ... When attempting to download Vista Updates, most of them are not successful, with an error code 800B0100 appearing on the screen. ... The problem may be due to UAC on Vista is interfering with the registration, and that also, your user/admin account doesn't have full admin rights to do the registration. ... It's also talking about using the hidden built-in Administrator account, yes, that same built-in Administrator account on XP. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general)
  • Re: Update Error Code 800B0100
    ... I have an update error which seems to be common in Vista, ... rights to do the registration. ... It's also talking about using the hidden built-in Administrator account, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general)