Folders with Access Denied

  • Thread starter Thread starter ferport6
  • Start date Start date
F

ferport6

Have Windows Vista Premium.- When trying to see files in certain
folders of my USER folder (C:Users/Fred........), specifically folders
with an arrow on them , a pop-up comes in front , saying ACCESS is
DENIED....Please Help with a workaround !
 
Turn off "Show hidden files and folders", Turn on "Hide protected OS files"
and things will look a little
cleaner ;-)

OK. With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you did on XP. It is now
found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents and Settings'. It has
subfolders named AppData (normally hidden),
Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Pictures, Saved
Games, Searches and Videos.


Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.


You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are seeing.
Their names correspond to the the old XP user folder structure. They
"point'
to the corresponding new user folder in Vista. They are created so that
software that was coded with the XP folder structure in mind would be less
likely to 'break' :)


So, if a program goes looking for:


"C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Music"


The 'Documents and Settings' junction found under 'C:\' points to:
'C:\Users'


The 'My Documents' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Documents'


The 'My Music' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Music'


So a program that went looking for the Music folder assuming the XP location
still ends up in the proper folder.


If you really want to browse these, remove the Deny Everyone List
Folder/Read Data permission via the Security tab in the folders properties
dialog.
 
Leave them alone... they are not actual folders, they are junction points,
used by older software which was coded to install into/use as data
locations. They are the ones used in XP (Application data, Local Settings,
My Documents, My Pictures, Documents & Settings, etc.).
 
Back
Top