RE: Cannot Access "Program Files"

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Hi,

Log on as the administrator, open explorer, right click "Program Files",
click the tab "security", click "advanced", click the "Owner" tab, select
administrators, select the "Replace owner on subcontainers and object" box,
click aply. Might take a while depending on the number of files located in
program files.

If you don't see the security tab, click "Tools" -> "Folder options" -> tab
"View" -> deselect the simple file sharing (recommended) tab.

In the same security tab, although it's not a recommended method, you can
deny members of the "users" group access to the program files folder. A
better method is to create a local group, deny it permissions, add just the
users that you want to deny acces to.

For more info search support.microsoft.com for NTFS.

Hope it helped, good luck!

Rutger H.

"kenwood" wrote:


Recently I was asked to look at a Windows XP PC that had locked all
users but one out of the “Program Files” directory so they could not
run any programs. If you try to look at the directory contents with
“Windows Explorer” as one of those locked out users, you receive an
“Access Denied” message. All the accounts have administrative
privileges.

The one exception is the first user account that was created on the PC.
It can see the contents of the “Program Files” directory, and it can
also run programs located there. That account also has administrative
rights, but if you use that account to create a new user account with
administrative rights, that new user account also cannot access the
“Program Files”. An examination of the new account after the fact
confirms that administrative rights were granted during the creation
process.

In safe mode two accounts appear as possible logins. The user account
that works correctly and the “Administrator” account. If you login
under “Administrator” you find that it also cannot access the “Program
Files” directory. Only that one user can access the “Program Files”
directory for both safe and normal modes.

Scanning software that was run while the PC was in safe mode showed no
indication of any malware.

Any ideas short of a complete reinstall? Would the “Repair” option on
the XP install CD be of any use?



.

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