Need to Access Folder

  • Thread starter Thread starter JamesJ
  • Start date Start date
J

JamesJ

I'm having problems some third party software and need to access
c:\Users\<user>\Application Data\
to remove a folder that is there.
I am the administrator and the only person, using this computer. (This must
get old)
According to the Security settings in the properties of the folder
All permissions are allowed (checked but disabled) for me (the user) and the
Administrator but I'm
still not able to access the folder's contents.
Any help will be appreciated.
One more question about Vista.
I spent $150.00 for Vista Home Premium but I don't have access to certain
folders??? WHY??
I bought this computer and I should have access to any and all aspects of
this computer including
any and all aspects of the operating system

James
 
JamesJ said:
I'm having problems some third party software and need to access
c:\Users\<user>\Application Data\
to remove a folder that is there.
I am the administrator and the only person, using this computer. (This
must get old)
According to the Security settings in the properties of the folder
All permissions are allowed (checked but disabled) for me (the user) and
the Administrator but I'm
still not able to access the folder's contents.
Any help will be appreciated.
One more question about Vista.
I spent $150.00 for Vista Home Premium but I don't have access to certain
folders??? WHY??
I bought this computer and I should have access to any and all aspects of
this computer including
any and all aspects of the operating system
Click to expand...

Relax. That folder doesn't need to be accessed. It's there only for
compatibility with legacy apps. It's actually a junction point and contains
nothing but a pointer to the actual folder in Vista were the data is now
kept. There are other folders such as this that were in XP and are in Vista
for compatibility but are only junction points. You need to learn the new
folders to use in Vista. If display hidden folders is checked these
junction points are shown dimmed with the shortcut arrow and give the access
denied message when trying to open it. Don't change the permissions on
these folders. It can mess things up for legacy apps.

To see that it is a junction and the folder to which it refers, open an
elevated command prompt. Click the Start orb, type cmd, and right click on
cmd.exe when it pops up at the top. Choose run as administrator. From the
command line navigate to the folder that has the folder in question and give
the command:
dir /al

Junctions are designated by <Junction> and the folder it redirects to is
shown at the right of the line in brackets.

For the C:\Users\<Username>\Application Data folder the actual folder is
C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming

From a post by Jimmy Brush:

Here is a list of all of the folders that have been moved in Windows
Vista, along with their new location:
Windows XP Location Windows Vista Location
\Documents and Settings \Users
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents \Users\$USER$\Documents
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Music \Users\$USER$\Music
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Pictures
\Users\$USER$\Pictures
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Videos
\Users\$USER$\Videos
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Application Data
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Cookies
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\NetHood
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\PrintHood
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Recent
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\SendTo
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Start Menu
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Templates
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Application Data
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\History
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files
\Documents and Settings\All Users \ProgramData
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data \ProgramData
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop \Users\Public\Desktop
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents \Users\Public\Documents
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Favorites \Users\Public\Favorites
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Templates
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
\Documents and Settings\Default User \Users\Default "
 
You're welcome. I can certainly understand the frustration part. There is
a learning curve with Vista, and it does things differently so there's a
paradigm shift. Some things are the same/similar to XP, some are not. Use
the XP knowledge you have to help with things, but don't assume things are
the same as in XP. After you get past the curve it's a nice OS.
 
It is a nice OS. I've had it on my system for a month or so now.
I'm just used to knowing what I have on my system. I'm very
particular about keeping my HD clean of unneeded files, folders
and the like. I don't need Vista to do any work for me.
If the folder(s) in question are only pointers why waste the disk space??

James

Rock said:
You're welcome. I can certainly understand the frustration part. There
is a learning curve with Vista, and it does things differently so there's
a paradigm shift. Some things are the same/similar to XP, some are not.
Use the XP knowledge you have to help with things, but don't assume things
are the same as in XP. After you get past the curve it's a nice OS.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

JamesJ said:
Just get a bit frustrated.
Thanks much. I'll look into it.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
JamesJ said:
It is a nice OS. I've had it on my system for a month or so now.
I'm just used to knowing what I have on my system. I'm very
particular about keeping my HD clean of unneeded files, folders
and the like. I don't need Vista to do any work for me.
If the folder(s) in question are only pointers why waste the disk space??
Click to expand...
Rock said:
You're welcome. I can certainly understand the frustration part. There
is a learning curve with Vista, and it does things differently so there's
a paradigm shift. Some things are the same/similar to XP, some are not.
Use the XP knowledge you have to help with things, but don't assume
things are the same as in XP. After you get past the curve it's a nice
OS.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

JamesJ said:
Just get a bit frustrated.
Thanks much. I'll look into it.
Click to expand...
I'm having problems some third party software and need to access
c:\Users\<user>\Application Data\
to remove a folder that is there.
I am the administrator and the only person, using this computer. (This
must get old)
According to the Security settings in the properties of the folder
All permissions are allowed (checked but disabled) for me (the user)
and the Administrator but I'm
still not able to access the folder's contents.
Any help will be appreciated.
One more question about Vista.
I spent $150.00 for Vista Home Premium but I don't have access to
certain folders??? WHY??
I bought this computer and I should have access to any and all aspects
of this computer including
any and all aspects of the operating system

Relax. That folder doesn't need to be accessed. It's there only for
compatibility with legacy apps. It's actually a junction point and
contains nothing but a pointer to the actual folder in Vista were the
data is now kept. There are other folders such as this that were in XP
and are in Vista for compatibility but are only junction points. You
need to learn the new folders to use in Vista. If display hidden
folders is checked these junction points are shown dimmed with the
shortcut arrow and give the access denied message when trying to open
it. Don't change the permissions on these folders. It can mess things
up for legacy apps.

To see that it is a junction and the folder to which it refers, open an
elevated command prompt. Click the Start orb, type cmd, and right
click on cmd.exe when it pops up at the top. Choose run as
administrator. From the command line navigate to the folder that has
the folder in question and give the command:
dir /al

Junctions are designated by <Junction> and the folder it redirects to
is shown at the right of the line in brackets.

For the C:\Users\<Username>\Application Data folder the actual folder
is
C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming

From a post by Jimmy Brush:

Here is a list of all of the folders that have been moved in Windows
Vista, along with their new location:
Windows XP Location Windows Vista Location
\Documents and Settings \Users
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents \Users\$USER$\Documents
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Music
\Users\$USER$\Music
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Pictures
\Users\$USER$\Pictures
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Videos
\Users\$USER$\Videos
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Application Data
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Cookies
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\NetHood
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\PrintHood
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Recent
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\SendTo
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Start Menu
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Templates
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Application Data
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\History
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet
Files
\Documents and Settings\All Users \ProgramData
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data \ProgramData
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop \Users\Public\Desktop
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents \Users\Public\Documents
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Favorites \Users\Public\Favorites
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Templates
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
\Documents and Settings\Default User \Users\Default "
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...


They hardly take any space whatsoever so that's not really an issue. I
indicated in my original reply they are there for compatiblity for older
apps which expect to see these folders, but Vista then points to the new
locations. MS bends over backwards, sometimes too far, for compatibility.
 
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