Games missing from Vista Home Premium

[Richard Winters]

I recently purchased a laptop from Gateway, and although the Games folder is
in the start menu...that folder has the icons for the games, but all the
icons are the generic type, and if i click on ANY of them, i get an error
message that says:

"Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have
the appropriate permissions to access the item."

ok, BUT I have only the one account on this computer, and of course its an
Admin account.

Next, i went to Control Panel/Programs and Feature/Turn Windows features on
or off...The box for GAMES is checked, and when i open up to see the
subfeatures...ALL games are checked...

Next, i went to C:/program files/microsoft games

lo and behold, the folders for all the games are there, and the .exe/.dll/
and subfolder with the .mui is ALL THERE...when i try to dubclick on the .exe
directly, i get the same message that i did when clicking the shortcut in
Startbar (see above)

just what the heck can i do to restore those .exe files back into proper
working order? I find it hard to believe that only the games files are
corrupted...but is there some solution that you could provide me...i have
exhausted my attempts to try and find them via the internet (for
download)...but since the files ARE on my system..there "should" be a way to
fix this weird problem...

thank you in advance for your time and attention...

 

[Richard Winters]

Well, my security info is exactly like yours for the games FOLDER (admin and
users)

BUT i found out something really interesting by getting the properties of
each individual .exe...in the security tab it shows:

SYSTEM: full allows
Administrator: full allows
Account Unknown(S-1-5-21-37263439913....etc)

ACCOUNT UNKNOWN....but no USERS in the security tab...what the heck?

 

[Richard Winters]

I've just checked the settings on the individual .exe's on mine and
they're exactly the same as the main games folder (i.e. it doesn't show
an 'account unknown' anywhere).
So it looks like you've found the cause of the problem - though I've no
idea why/how it's happened in the first place.

Two other suggestions.....

If you create a second user account, maybe it'll let you access the
games on that account? If so, and you haven't spent too much time
setting up the original account, it might be simplest just to start
again and get rid of the original once you've got things set up as you want.

Yeah, i thought of that, so i created a new account with full Admin
access...no effect

or

In the 'add or remove features of windows' section you mentioned
earlier. If you untick the games option to remove the files, then go
back in and tick it to put them back on, I wonder if it'll correct
itself? (warning - I've not tried this myself but there's a possibility
it might ask for a vista installation disc to put the files on back on).

Tried that as well...it didn't ask for a disk when i re-checked them..

If neither of those work, it sounds like it's an issue with the way that
Gateway have set up the laptop and a call to their support may be
required.

Ya, seems strange that their OEM has this little "feature" ..lol...how much
to you want to bet they are going to make me do a full wipe and reinstall
Vista....? It didn't notice anyone else with this problem, so i guess i
happened to get a bad install

grrr.....thanks for your imput