Unable to control my permissions

[river251]

Thanks, my first post here. I could sure use some help, and hope this is the right place for this question.

Somehow I got my permissions all messed up. I can't access some folders. I have worked a lot trying to use properties-security tab and playing around, and I can sometimes change permissions so I can use a folder. But I am trying to open "Documents and Settings" and it will not let me change permissions on it and I can't get into it. I think I could before this mess started.


When I start up, instead of one account (jim) which had administrative privileges, now I have two, Administrators and jim. I always had all permissions with jim, but somehow it's messed up now.
Why can't I have complete control over my own computer as jim? Nobody else will ever use it, it's in my office. But Windows keeps stopping me over permissions, or the message "Access denied."

Anyway, so I logged out as administrator jim and logged in as Administrator. Now I don't even see the folder Documents and Settings.

How can I once and for all get complete control over my computer so I can open or delete any folder or file?

Thanks so much for any help, it's making me pull my hair out.

Jim

 

[TrainableMan]

I can sympathize because I felt the same way when I migrated from XP, but W7 is not designed that way and once you understand how and why it is designed as it is it makes sense.

First, there are folders that are needed by the system. To keep people from messing things up, those folders are assigned to the a system account, not normal Administrators. It helps keep the average user from damaging their OS.

Second, W7 allows for multiple users on a single computer so when one user logs on, they see their libraries and when another user logs on they see different libraries, which is why you don't see Jim's documents when logged in as Administrator and visa versa. The actual folders are locked away under C:\Users\Jim & C:\Users\Admin. Even on a computer with one visible account there is a hidden Administrator account and apparently you took administrator rights away from your Jim admin account so it automatically displayed the hidden administrator account (or you changed the setting to make Admin visible).

Permissions are extremely complex and easily set incorrectly; the best option is to restore to a restore point prior to when you started making changes. If that is not possible then I would recommend a complete reinstall.

Once things are back to normal, there is a utility in our Freeware DB you can install called Take Ownership which runs a script to take ownership of folders, though personally I suggest you use it sparingly, for example don't Take Ownership of C:\Windows. This tool helps by setting permissions to the user currently logged on but they must be an administrator. This tool won't really help you clean up an existing mess but by using it only as absolutely necessary, once things are restored, it may help prevent another mess in the future.

 

[wildchild1954]

I installed and used your Freeware Take Ownership and after taking ownership of a folder on a DVD I moved it to a folder on my desktop. Now my folder is in limbo somewhere and has not shown up where it's supposed to be. Neither is it on the DVD anymore. I did a search for the last word of the file title but nothing shows up on either the hard drive, the external drive, or the DVD. How can I find where my folder went to when I can't remember the entire title of the folder? All I can remember is 2011-??-?? Flooding.

 

[TrainableMan]

First off, you should never need to Take Ownership of a DVD. Second, unless it is RW DVD (or an unfinished DVD that you write a new starter track to start over (very uncommon any more)) you can't delete anything from it. Most likely the files are still on the DVD.

Go to Windows Explorer and expand "Computer", then expand the drive that says "DVD", and all the DVD folders would be under there.

 

[wildchild1954]

Yes, it is a DVD-RW but it was finalized when I created it. The files on it are pictures I have taken over a couple of years that I cleared from my computer to free up memory. However, when trying to move a file all I get is that I have no permission to do anything with the file. I get that error message for every single file on the DVD. I can (and did) copy all of the other files onto my laptop. If I put the DVD back in the drive, go to Computer and expand the DVD drive the missing file still isn't there.

 

[TrainableMan]

You would not normally Move files from a DVD, you should Copy. Since it is a RW drive then it IS possible you actually deleted them. If they were deleted from the DVD then your only hope is that they were moved to the hard drive, so you will want to search for them on the drive where you moved them. In Windows Explorer try searching your hard drive(s) for 2011*Flooding*.* or even just 2011*.* or *Flooding*.*

 

[wildchild1954]

Searching the hard drive for even just Flooding brings up nothing. So I am going to assume that they have been permanently deleted.

 

[TrainableMan]

You said you moved it to a Folder on your desktop, correct? Is THAT folder still on your desktop? If so then right-click on the folder and choose Properties. In the General Tab what is the "Location"? That is where you would search for the files you moved into this folder.

 

[wildchild1954]

I already did that search when the file first disappeared. I have searched the location it originated from, the location it was moved to, and the entire hard drive. It simply seems to have disappeared. I'm not going to worry about it anymore. It's gone and that's that.

 

[TrainableMan]

ok, sorry i couldn't help you find it

 

[wildchild1954]

Not your fault! Thanks for trying at least. I'm thinking now that it might have been one of our little 1 second power outages that go on out here that occurred just as it was moving. We get a lot of those going on that cause blinks in the computer but not enough to cause it to shut down.