Managing Files on the C Drive in XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roger Stenson
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R

Roger Stenson

Hi all
I have initiated a Program Files Folder which is to receive the builds of a
DOT net system I am building. It also contain the main database. Although I
was initially able to put early file versions in there, the whole folder now
seems completely locked against all change and no matter how many times I
indicate it is sharable and writable it always reverts to Read Only. I need
to update the Access Database formats

I have looked through the Local Security Policies and can see nothing about
Locking CDrive Changes if Used by the OS which is the sort of message that
crops up in intellisense when messing with the Program Files Folder. What
can I do to get round this



Thanks in anticipation

Roger Stenson
 
All folders on XP are read only but it's a system attribute and not the
source of the issue.

You might need to take ownership, see below:
Note, file ownership and permissions supersede administrator rights. How
you resolve it depends upon which version of XP you are running.

XP-Home

Unfortunately, XP Home using NTFS is essentially hard wired for "Simple File
Sharing" at system level.

However, you can set XP Home permissions in Safe Mode. Reboot, and start
hitting F8, a menu should eventually appear and one of the
options is Safe Mode. Select it. Note, it will ask for the administrator's
password. This is not your administrator account, rather it is the
machine's administrator account for which users are asked to create a
password during setup.

If you created no such password, when requested, leave blank and press
enter.

Open Explorer, go to Tools and Folder Options, on the view tab, scroll to
the bottom of the list, if it shows "Enable Simple File Sharing" deselect it
and click apply and ok. If it shows nothing or won't let you make a change,
move on to the next step.

Navigate to the files, right click, select properties, go to the Security
tab, click advanced, go to the Owner tab and select the user that was logged
on when you were refused permission to access the files. Click apply and
ok. Close the properties box, reopen it, click add and type in the name of
the user you just enabled. If you wish to set ownership for everything in
the folder, at the bottom of the Owner tab is the following selection:
"Replace owner on subcontainers and objects," select it as well.

Once complete, you should be able to do what you wish with these files when
you log back on as that user.

XP-Pro

If you have XP Pro, temporarily change the limited account to
administrative. First, go to Windows Explorer, go to Tools, select Folder
Options, go to the View tab and be sure "Use Simple File Sharing" is not
selected. If it is, deselect it and click apply and ok.

If you wish everything in a specific folder to be accessible to a user,
right click the folder, select properties, go to the Security tab, click
Advanced, go to the Owner tab,
select the user you wish to have access, at the bottom of the box, you
should see a check box for "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects,"
place a check in the box and click apply and ok.

The user should now be able to perform necessary functions on files in the
folder even as a limited account. If not, make it an admin account again,
right click the folder, select Properties, go to the Security tab and be
sure the user is listed in the user list. If not, click add and type the
user name in the appropriate box, be sure the user has all the necessary
permissions checked in the permission list below the user list, click apply
and ok.

That should do it and allow whatever access you desire for that folder even
in a limited account.
 
Thanks for your help Michael
I have done everying you advise for XP Professional security set up. (The
system is part of a simple XP user network without a Server.) I am clearly
identiried as the owner of the relevant folder. I and the System seem to
have all 'full control' we need. Having gained this access I createda new
user database by copying one of the others in the folder. The dateabse
persists and holds all the data changes I make.

Then as soon as my system attempts to open it it disappears and is reported
not to exist
We are talking about a completely unsecured Access database in this
development phase of the system, opened by logon section of a .Net VB system

Only a week ago I had no trouble with this procedure and have only made
security backups of the whole system in the interval.

Roger Stenson
 
The next step would be to take this to microsoft.public.access as they are
more likely to have run into this issue and know the cause and how to deal
with it.
 
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