New PC headaches

[Jeff]

OK, I got a new i7 laptop and am having the usual expected headaches
setting it up. One that I cannot fix seems to be getting access to
certain folders.
I changed the folder options so they show file endings and show hidden
files and folders. But even though I am running (temporarily) as
administrator when I try to open folders like "Documents and Settings" I
am refused permission and have not way to enter them.

How do I get access to such folders? I checked the folders permissions
and it seems to indicate (I think) that I have permission. How do I get
permission to everything?

Thanks. Jeff

 

[Wolf K]

OK, I got a new i7 laptop and am having the usual expected headaches
setting it up. One that I cannot fix seems to be getting access to
certain folders.
I changed the folder options so they show file endings and show hidden
files and folders. But even though I am running (temporarily) as
administrator when I try to open folders like "Documents and Settings" I
am refused permission and have not way to enter them.

How do I get access to such folders? I checked the folders permissions
and it seems to indicate (I think) that I have permission. How do I get
permission to everything?

Thanks. Jeff

Have you created a user? If not, do so. Give it admin rights. That's
should do the trick. I set up a user when I first booted the machine,
then did all the other stuff. I've never had a problem getting access to
system/hidden files and folders.

You really don't need to run as administrator once you've set up a user
with admin rights. You can set up as many users as you like, with varied
mixes of permissions.

HTH

 

[Seth]

OK, I got a new i7 laptop and am having the usual expected headaches
setting it up. One that I cannot fix seems to be getting access to certain
folders.
I changed the folder options so they show file endings and show hidden
files and folders. But even though I am running (temporarily) as
administrator when I try to open folders like "Documents and Settings" I
am refused permission and have not way to enter them.

Well seeing as how on Windows 7 "Documents and Settings" isn't a folder,
what are you actually trying to accomplish? Poking around for the sake of it
or is there an actual goal in mind? Is something actually wrong or are you
just creating your own headaches?

How do I get access to such folders? I checked the folders permissions and
it seems to indicate (I think) that I have permission. How do I get
permission to everything?

Start by looking where you really need to look and knowing what you are
looking at. "Documents and Settings" isn't a folder, it is a junction point.
It is there for backward compatibility with older\improperly written
software to redirect file access to the correct place.

 

[Char Jackson]

OK, I got a new i7 laptop and am having the usual expected headaches
setting it up. One that I cannot fix seems to be getting access to
certain folders.
I changed the folder options so they show file endings and show hidden
files and folders. But even though I am running (temporarily) as
administrator when I try to open folders like "Documents and Settings" I
am refused permission and have not way to enter them.

There's no longer such a folder as "Documents and Settings". What
you're seeing is a Junction Point that allows older software to find
the new location, which is in C:\Users\.

 

[Nil]

OK, I got a new i7 laptop and am having the usual expected
headaches setting it up. One that I cannot fix seems to be getting
access to certain folders.
I changed the folder options so they show file endings and show
hidden files and folders. But even though I am running
(temporarily) as administrator when I try to open folders like
"Documents and Settings" I am refused permission and have not way
to enter them.

In Vista and newer Windows, there no longer is a folder called
"Documents and Settings". The equivalent new folder is "Users". What
you see that appears to be "Documents and Settings" is actually a
pointer to Users, and it's only there for backward compatibility for
some old programs. It's not a real folder, so you can't enter it. The
bogus "folder" is hidden by default, but you've revealed it by showing
hidden and system files.

 

[SC Tom]

OK, I got a new i7 laptop and am having the usual expected headaches
setting it up. One that I cannot fix seems to be getting access to certain
folders.
I changed the folder options so they show file endings and show hidden
files and folders. But even though I am running (temporarily) as
administrator when I try to open folders like "Documents and Settings" I
am refused permission and have not way to enter them.

How do I get access to such folders? I checked the folders permissions and
it seems to indicate (I think) that I have permission. How do I get
permission to everything?

Thanks. Jeff

I used this link (which was reposted a couple of days ago) to Take Ownership
of any folder:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...ership-to-explorer-right-click-menu-in-vista/

Works on Documents and Settings and any of the others that have locks on
them.

 

[Jeff]

Have you created a user? If not, do so. Give it admin rights. That's
should do the trick. I set up a user when I first booted the machine,
then did all the other stuff. I've never had a problem getting access to
system/hidden files and folders.

You really don't need to run as administrator once you've set up a user
with admin rights. You can set up as many users as you like, with varied
mixes of permissions.

HTH

I am running as the only user created by the pre-installed system and it
is setup as "administrator".

Jeff

 

[Jeff]

In Vista and newer Windows, there no longer is a folder called
"Documents and Settings". The equivalent new folder is "Users". What
you see that appears to be "Documents and Settings" is actually a
pointer to Users, and it's only there for backward compatibility for
some old programs. It's not a real folder, so you can't enter it. The
bogus "folder" is hidden by default, but you've revealed it by showing
hidden and system files.

I see. I am trying to access some application profile folders. Will
look into C:\users. Thanks for the explanation.
Jeff

 

[Jeff]

I see. I am trying to access some application profile folders. Will
look into C:\users. Thanks for the explanation.
Jeff

I am running as "Jeff" a user with administrative rights. I went to
"C:\Users\Jeff\Application Data"
and got a popup saying it is not accessible.
What now?
I am not really new to Windows.

Actually I found what I wanted under "C:\Users\Jeff\AppData" so I am OK
but the above is still strange.

 

[Nil]

I am running as "Jeff" a user with administrative rights. I went
to "C:\Users\Jeff\Application Data"
and got a popup saying it is not accessible.
What now?
I am not really new to Windows.

Actually I found what I wanted under "C:\Users\Jeff\AppData" so I
am OK but the above is still strange.

You should be playing the lottery - you keep hitting the "winning"
entries. "\Users\<username>\Application Data" is yet another fake
folder, which redirects programs to ..\AppData. These are called
Junction Points and are similar to Unix symbolic links. For some
obscure reason, Windows won't let users follow those links.

There are several of these in the new file structure. There's probably
a list of them somewhere on the net. It's too bad that Windows Explorer
doesn't redirect you to the new target, rather than giving you that
confusing and misleading error message.

 

[Gordon]

I see. I am trying to access some application profile folders. Will
look into C:\users. Thanks for the explanation.
Jeff

List of Junction Points and the folders they point to in Vista/7:


C:\Documents and Settings - C:\Users\{user name}\Documents
Application Data - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming
Cookies - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
History - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History
Local Settings - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Local
NetHood - C:\Users\{user
name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
PrintHood - C:\Users\{user
name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
Recent - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
SendTo - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
Start Menu - C:\Users\{user
name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Templates - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming
Temporary Internet Files - C:\Users\{user
name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

Windows Vista Junction Points:

http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/jpoints.htm

 

[Jeff]

List of Junction Points and the folders they point to in Vista/7:


C:\Documents and Settings - C:\Users\{user name}\Documents
Application Data - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming
Cookies - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
History - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History
Local Settings - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Local
NetHood - C:\Users\{user
name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
PrintHood - C:\Users\{user
name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
Recent - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
SendTo - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
Start Menu - C:\Users\{user
name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Templates - C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming
Temporary Internet Files - C:\Users\{user
name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

Windows Vista Junction Points:

http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/jpoints.htm

Thank you. Very useful to know.
Jeff