LouLou said:
Hi, I'm running Windows XP Home and have only one user account, set as
computer administrator. However when I try to install programs and access the
'documents' folder in 'my computer', I am blocked. The error message that
appears when trying to install is:
Error 1303: The installer has insufficient privelidges to access this
directory: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Deliveries. The
installation cannot continue. Log on as an administrator or contact your
system administrator.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated, thanks.
This particular folder looks like it belongs to some program that wants
to save things in the Shared Documents folder. "My Deliveries" isn't a
standard Windows system folder. When you install programs, you should be
installing them to C:\Program Files (assuming that your Windows is
installed on C:\). Your own My Documents folder is located at
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Username\My Documents.
It sounds like you are a bit confused about how XP user accounts are set
up. Here is a brief explanation that may help you get a better picture
of the structure:
XP is a multi-user operating system, no matter if only one person is
using it. In all multi-user operating systems - NT, Win2k, XP, Unix,
Linux, Mac OSX - there is the one built-in account that is "god" on the
system. In Windows terminology, that is "Administrator". In the *nix
world, it is "root". This is a necessary account and is not normally
used in everyday work. You cannot delete the built-in Administrator
account nor would you ever want to.
Here is the explanation of what you have:
My Computer - represents your entire computer, showing drives and shared
folders. Shared Folders are folders where you can put files you wish to
share with other users on the system. You don't need to use these
folders if you don't want to, but leave them alone!
[some name] C:\ - your first hard drive, usually the system drive.
Document and Settings - The "container" for all user settings. Each user
will have [username] Documents, Music, Videos, My Pictures.
Administrator - Built-in account - Leave alone! Do not use! Do not worry
about it!
All Users - Section where items common to all users go. In a multi-user
operating system, users have separate accounts. This is the place where
if you want to share files with all the other users on the system you
would put those files. You don't ever have to use those folders but they
need to be there. This is where programs you install that are meant to
be installed for all users put settings. All the "Shared Documents" type
of folders you see at the root of C:\ are shortcuts to the shared
folders in here. Leave them alone!
Default Users - This is the template from which new user accounts are
made. You will never put anything in any of those folders but they are
needed to create new users. In Linux we use "skel" ("skeleton" - get
it?). In Windows, the less-colorful term "Default User" is used. Leave
it alone!
[OEM] Administrator or Owner - This is the generic user created by the
OEM when installing the operating system. After all, the OEM doesn't
know who is going to buy the computer. If you aren't using this OEM user
account, you can delete it from the User Accounts applet in Control
Panel. If you don't have an OEM computer (HP, Dell, etc.) but installed
the operating system yourself, you won't have this OEM user account. It
is not the same account as "Administrator".
Hope this helped,
Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
