Write acces to data folders in W 7?

[Jeff]

I have set up my HD into 2 partitions, one (C) for the system files and
programs and one (F) for all my data. When accessing some data files on
F, an old XP program (ListPro) would only open its data files as "read
only". Their support wrote to me:
................
Windows 7's new security model means your user account doesn't have
write access to many folders on your PC, but you do have full read and
write access to your user folder and subfolders (like your Documents
folder, Desktop folder, etc.)

If you don't have write access to the file, ListPro will say it has to
open it read-only.
'''''''''''''''''''''
Does this mean that - to have write access - all my data files can only
be under the user/myName/Documents/folder?

I succeeded in having ListPro open the files correctly by modifying the
ListPro executable to "Run this program as Administrator", but do not
know if that is the right way to do things.

Should I move all my data files to be under W 7's Documents folder?

Thanks.

Jeff

 

[Seth]

I have set up my HD into 2 partitions, one (C) for the system files and
programs and one (F) for all my data. When accessing some data files on F,
an old XP program (ListPro) would only open its data files as "read only".
Their support wrote to me:
...............
Windows 7's new security model means your user account doesn't have write
access to many folders on your PC, but you do have full read and write
access to your user folder and subfolders (like your Documents folder,
Desktop folder, etc.)

If you don't have write access to the file, ListPro will say it has to
open it read-only.
'''''''''''''''''''''
Does this mean that - to have write access - all my data files can only be
under the user/myName/Documents/folder?

I succeeded in having ListPro open the files correctly by modifying the
ListPro executable to "Run this program as Administrator", but do not know
if that is the right way to do things.

Should I move all my data files to be under W 7's Documents folder?

The answer you got is probably just a form letter that is correct for the
majority of Windows 7 questions they receive. It has mostly to do probably
with people who store their data under, say the programs folder in \Program
Files.

What are the permissions on the files/folders this program needs to access
on the F: drive? May be as simple as resetting those so that the program has
proper access to them without elevating to running as an Admin.

 

[Jeff]

The answer you got is probably just a form letter that is correct for
the majority of Windows 7 questions they receive. It has mostly to do
probably with people who store their data under, say the programs folder
in \Program Files.

What are the permissions on the files/folders this program needs to
access on the F: drive? May be as simple as resetting those so that the
program has proper access to them without elevating to running as an Admin.

Thank you for replying.

I did elevate the ListPro executable to "run as Admin" and that solved
the problem. I just did not know if that was a "safe" thing to do.

Are there settings I need to know about in my data partition? I do not
think I have had problems with any other applications so far.

Thanks again

Jeff

 

[Seth]

Thank you for replying.

I did elevate the ListPro executable to "run as Admin" and that solved the
problem. I just did not know if that was a "safe" thing to do.

Are there settings I need to know about in my data partition? I do not
think I have had problems with any other applications so far.

Well, as I said, I would be looking at what the file/folder rights access
are and adjusting as necessary. Getting the program to work without
elevation would be the best course of action. Should that program get a
virus attached and you run it as admin, it could do nasty things to your
system. Having it run with the least level of permissions but yet still
able to operate is always the best course of action.

 

[Jeff]

Well, as I said, I would be looking at what the file/folder rights
access are and adjusting as necessary. Getting the program to work
without elevation would be the best course of action. Should that
program get a virus attached and you run it as admin, it could do nasty
things to your system. Having it run with the least level of permissions
but yet still able to operate is always the best course of action.

Thanks again. I guess I should have been clearer. How do I look at what
the file/folder rights access are? What do I do to find that out?
Jeff

 

[Jeff]

Well, as I said, I would be looking at what the file/folder rights
access are and adjusting as necessary. Getting the program to work
without elevation would be the best course of action. Should that
program get a virus attached and you run it as admin, it could do nasty
things to your system. Having it run with the least level of permissions
but yet still able to operate is always the best course of action.

I found out how to find the read only properties of the folder. I
unselected the read only attribute, selected to apply it to the folder
and all the sub folders. It asked me for Administrator permission (even
though I was already running as admin) and I told it to continue. The
progress bar appeared and did its thing. I clicked on OK. However when
I re-opened the properties for that folder, the read only attribute was
still selected. My change did not stick. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks.

 

[Dave-UK]

I have set up my HD into 2 partitions, one (C) for the system files and
programs and one (F) for all my data. When accessing some data files on
F, an old XP program (ListPro) would only open its data files as "read
only". Their support wrote to me:
...............
Windows 7's new security model means your user account doesn't have
write access to many folders on your PC, but you do have full read and
write access to your user folder and subfolders (like your Documents
folder, Desktop folder, etc.)

If you don't have write access to the file, ListPro will say it has to
open it read-only.
'''''''''''''''''''''
Does this mean that - to have write access - all my data files can only
be under the user/myName/Documents/folder?

I succeeded in having ListPro open the files correctly by modifying the
ListPro executable to "Run this program as Administrator", but do not
know if that is the right way to do things.

Should I move all my data files to be under W 7's Documents folder?

Thanks.

Jeff

You probably do not have permission to change any attributes on
the files of your old XP ListPro. I think you have to tell
Win7 that the files are yours and you want to full access to them.

In Explorer right-click the offending folder and select 'Properties'.
Select the Security tab.
Click on the 'Advanced' button.
Click on the 'Owner' tab.
See who the current owner is.
To change the owner to you click on the 'Edit' button.
Select your account and select the box 'Replace owner on subcontainers and objects'.
Ok your way back out.

You may need to give yourself full control.
Select Properties, Security and select your name.
If you have full control no more needs to be done.
If not, select 'Edit', select your name and select 'Full control'.

If ListPro was installed in your account then it should work ok now.
Good luck.

 

[Jeff]

You probably do not have permission to change any attributes on
the files of your old XP ListPro. I think you have to tell Win7 that the
files are yours and you want to full access to them.

In Explorer right-click the offending folder and select 'Properties'.
Select the Security tab.
Click on the 'Advanced' button.
Click on the 'Owner' tab.
See who the current owner is.
To change the owner to you click on the 'Edit' button.
Select your account and select the box 'Replace owner on subcontainers
and objects'.
Ok your way back out.

You may need to give yourself full control.
Select Properties, Security and select your name.
If you have full control no more needs to be done.
If not, select 'Edit', select your name and select 'Full control'.

If ListPro was installed in your account then it should work ok now.
Good luck.

Thank you fro writing back. That is very helpful as I learn my way in W 7.

Turns out I was the owner of the folder but did not have permissions.
So I gave myself full control. (I could not give "Creator owner" full
control, because when I clicked on Apply, the permission options all
became un selected again).

However, after granting me full control, the executable file could still
only open the files as read only. If I select the ListPro exec file to
"Run this program as Administrator", then it opens the data files correctly.

I now learned from you about where to give permissions, thank you. I
appreciate it very much. I am now trying to understand why things are
still not working as they should......

Thanks again.

Jeff

 

[Dave-UK]

Thank you fro writing back. That is very helpful as I learn my way in W 7.

Turns out I was the owner of the folder but did not have permissions.
So I gave myself full control. (I could not give "Creator owner" full
control, because when I clicked on Apply, the permission options all
became un selected again).

However, after granting me full control, the executable file could still
only open the files as read only. If I select the ListPro exec file to
"Run this program as Administrator", then it opens the data files correctly.

I now learned from you about where to give permissions, thank you. I
appreciate it very much. I am now trying to understand why things are
still not working as they should......

Thanks again.

Jeff

Did you install ListPro as an administrator ? If not try uninstalling, then re-installing
by right-clicking the setup.exe and 'Run as administrator'.

A member of the administrator group in Win7 is different from the XP administrator.
In XP when you ran as administrator you had much more control over things.
In Win7 the real Administrator account is disabled by default. When you assign yourself
as an admin in Win7 you are actually running as a standard user with the power to
self-elevate to administrator on demand.

 

[Seth]

I found out how to find the read only properties of the folder. I
unselected the read only attribute, selected to apply it to the folder and
all the sub folders. It asked me for Administrator permission (even though
I was already running as admin) and I told it to continue. The progress
bar appeared and did its thing. I clicked on OK. However when I
re-opened the properties for that folder, the read only attribute was
still selected. My change did not stick. What am I doing wrong?

I'd say follow Dave's instructions on uninstalling and reinstalling next.

But a note...when you have UAC on (by default), even though you are logged
into an account that is a member of the Administrators group, you are NOT
running as an admin. All operations unless otherwise specified run as a
standard user. It's just the Admin accounts have the ability to elevate on
demand when prompted.

 

[Jeff]

Did you install ListPro as an administrator ? If not try uninstalling,
then re-installing by right-clicking the setup.exe and 'Run as
administrator'.

A member of the administrator group in Win7 is different from the XP
administrator.
In XP when you ran as administrator you had much more control over
things. In Win7 the real Administrator account is disabled by default.
When you assign yourself
as an admin in Win7 you are actually running as a standard user with the
power to self-elevate to administrator on demand.

Aha! I keep learning. I assumed - as you rightly surmised - that when
I was running as admin (which I was feeling really guilty about) meant
the same as being an admin. Will do and thanks for taking the time to
explain. I wish I could find a good book to learn about W 7 the way I
know my way about XP.