Luis said:
I am completely lost on trying to understand the process of accessing my
folders and files on vista.
I am the only user and have only one administrator account with my name.
There are also some other folders such as:
all users, default, default user and public in my users folder in the c
drive.
What I want to do is simply have access to all of the folders and files
on my computer.
How does one go about this?
Where do you start?
Do I begin with my own named folder, the c drive, the users folder on
the c drive???
What do I do?
When choosing whether to select ownership, should I be selecting the
administrator option or the users option from the list? Both include my
named account.
I am so incredibly confused with this. XP was never like this.
I realize that this is probably too complicated to explain in a
response, so is there anywhere that I can read that explains it clearly?
The vista help files are so fragmented and confusing that they are
useless. I don't even know what to look for in the index.
Is there some web site or book that will help me to understand this
bizarre feature in vista?
Is it too much to ask that I can access files on my own computer without
being denied?
Thanks a lot for any advice.
You do have access to everything on your computer. Some items are in
protected space and require elevation. You *don't* want to blindly take
ownership of everything and if your Vista install is healthy, you never
need to do this. You would need to tell me why you feel you need to take
ownership in order for me to give you more focused advice.
In the meantime, below is an explanation of what you see when you examine
your computer's file hierarchy. Also, if you are a book person, you might
like "Windows Vista - The Missing Manual" by David Pogue. There are two
versions; one is shorter than the other. Mr. Pogue writes intelligently and
with humor so his books aren't the typical dry-as-dust technical manuals
that would put anyone off.
*****
Vista, like 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,
Vista, 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. In Vista, Mac OS X, and
some Linux distros, the built-in Administrator is disabled by default. In
Vista, even though you may be logged into an account with administrative
privileges, you still need to elevate to "superuser" in order to accomplish
some tasks. This is a security feature. Also in Vista, while you can work
from a user account with administrative privileges, it is safer not to. You
should be working from a Standard User account instead. Because the
built-in Administrator account is disabled, it is wise to create one or two
extra user accounts with administrative privileges. With luck, you'll never
need to log into them.
My Computer (XP) and Computer (Vista) - represents your entire computer,
showing drives and directories on hard drives. Shared Folders (XP) and the
Public directory (Vista) 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!
Documents and Settings (XP only) - The "container" for all user settings.
Each user will have [username] My Documents, My Music, My Videos, My
Pictures.
In Vista, the Documents and Settings directory has been replaced with the
Users directory - just like in the rest of the grownup operating systems
(Unix, Linux, Mac OS X). You will still see Documents and Settings in
Vista, but it is a virtual directory only, there just to be
backwards-compatible with older software that expects it to exist. So if
you click on it, you will get "access denied". You can't "take ownership"
of a virtual directory nor would you ever want/need to. Under Vista's Users
directory you will see home directories (with subdirectories like
Documents, Pictures, Music, etc.) for all the users in the system.
Administrator - Built-in account - Leave alone! Do not use! Do not worry
about it! You won't see this in Vista (see explanation above). In XP, the
built-in Administrator account is only visible in Documents and Settings if
you have XP Pro/Media Center. In XP Home, it can only be accessed in Safe
Mode.
All Users - Section where items common to all users go. You have to "Show
Hidden Files and Folders" (not recommended) in order to see the All Users
directory in Vista, but it is a virtual directory and therefore not
accessible.
Default User (XP) and Default (Vista) - 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/Default" is
used. Leave it alone! As with All Users, you need to "Show Hidden Files and
Folders" in Vista to see Default. You will also see Default User, but like
All Users it is virtual only and therefore not accessible.
Your user account and other user accounts that *you've* created are in the
Users directory. Sometimes there will be an Owner account, or something
like "HP Administrator". This is the generic user created by the OEM
("Original Equipment Manufacturer; i.e., Dell, HP, Sony, etc.) 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. It is not the
same account as "Administrator".
You will also see the Windows directory and the Program Files directory. If
you "Show Hidden Files and Folders" and also uncheck "Hide protected
operating system files" in Vista, you'll see a lot of other directories,
too. The ones with the "shortcut arrows" are virtual directories. Again,
the virtualization is there for backwards-compatibility with older
software.
*****
I hope the above explanation has helped you understand the file structure of
Vista a little better.
Malke
