Access To My Own Files Refused

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill Martin
  • Start date Start date
B

Bill Martin

Various programs create data files out in
c:\Users\Admin\ApplicationData\*

However Vista won't let me touch them, or even look at them. And yes,
I am logged on as the Admin (it's a single user machine). I get an
error message "Access is denied".

I've tried turning off the accursed UAC, but that makes no difference.

How do I get my hands on those files to recover from software problems
or to backup/restore them?

Bill
 
Vista uses a different file structure than XP does/did. Those familiar
folder names you may be used to, like "My Documents", "Documents &
Settings", etc.
are not folders in Vista. They are junction points, and are used for legacy
programs which were written to utilize the XP file structure. They will
redirect the programs to use the equivalent Vista folders.
If you keep the protected operating system files hidden, you won't see them.

In Vista......
Documents & Settings -> \Users
My Documents -> \Users\youraccount\Documents
My Music -> \Users\youraccount\Music
Application Data -> \Users\youraccount\AppData
etc.
 
Bill Martin said:
Various programs create data files out in
c:\Users\Admin\ApplicationData\*

However Vista won't let me touch them, or even look at them. And yes,
I am logged on as the Admin (it's a single user machine). I get an
error message "Access is denied".

I've tried turning off the accursed UAC, but that makes no difference.

How do I get my hands on those files to recover from software problems
or to backup/restore them?

Bill
Click to expand...


Is "Admin" the account you log on with?
 
Dave is correct. Usually if you enabled "show all hidden files and folders",
you will
see them. If you want. Try to take the ownership of the folder.
 
Ok, this is all moot I guess, but thanks for the information.

After 6 months of trying to come to terms with Vista I've had all
sorts of problems that I've been trying to resolve. My wife however
has hit end of all patience with all the UAC issues, egregious chages
in the OS that were done for no apparent reason beyond making it
"different" from XP, etc.

And her biggest gripe is that I bought her a laptop 5 years newer than
her old bottom of the line unit, and the new Vista multiprocessor
machine runs half as fast with 2GB RAM as the old one with 512MB.

Anyhow, she now demands that I trash the Vista and install XP for her.
If I can't get the right drivers for her laptop, I'll just either go
to Linux or trash the whole computer and start over rather than using
Vista.

My time involved in this has been far more than the value of the
machine I bought for her. And her unhappiness over all this isn't
worth all the hassle.

Frankly if I weren't locked into Excel VBA files, I'd just go to Linux
or Apple with all our machines at this point -- even the XP ones.

I'll also mention in passing that I'm an EE with 30 years experience
with PCs, both using and designing them. Everything from MTS
machines, Radio Shack, Apple, Unix workstations, various mainframe
OSes, probably 12 computer languages. In all my life I've never seen
such an abysmal product as Vista.

<end of rant>

At this point I'll quietly fade into the night.

Bill

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