Can not open folders

I am using Vista Ultimate on my home stand-alone computer. No network other
than my internet connection and I am the only user.

When I try to open some folders I get a notice "Access Denied" "Not
accessible". An example of these folders are:

Local Disk C:\Documents and Settings
Start Menu
Favorites
Cookies
Application Data

They appear to be Not Shared for some reason. I did set the system to show
Hidden Files and Folders using the Control Panel Folder Options.

How does one set these Access Denied Folders so that I can open and read
them?

Bquinn

Add "Take Ownership" to right-click menu in Vista

http://www.petri.co.il/add-take-own...-menu-vista.htm



"Bquinn" <wquinn1@tampabay.rr.com> wrote in message
news:O7gHNo4fIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>I am using Vista Ultimate on my home stand-alone computer. No network
>other than my internet connection and I am the only user.
>
> When I try to open some folders I get a notice "Access Denied" "Not
> accessible". An example of these folders are:
>
> Local Disk C:\Documents and Settings
> Start Menu
> Favorites
> Cookies
> Application Data
>
> They appear to be Not Shared for some reason. I did set the system to
> show Hidden Files and Folders using the Control Panel Folder Options.
>
> How does one set these Access Denied Folders so that I can open and read
> them?
>
> Bquinn
>

Bob wrote:

> Add "Take Ownership" to right-click menu in Vista
>
> http://www.petri.co.il/add-take-own...-menu-vista.htm
>
>
>
> "Bquinn" <wquinn1@tampabay.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:O7gHNo4fIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>I am using Vista Ultimate on my home stand-alone computer. No network
>>other than my internet connection and I am the only user.
>>
>> When I try to open some folders I get a notice "Access Denied" "Not
>> accessible". An example of these folders are:
>>
>> Local Disk C:\Documents and Settings
>> Start Menu
>> Favorites
>> Cookies
>> Application Data
>>
>> They appear to be Not Shared for some reason. I did set the system to
>> show Hidden Files and Folders using the Control Panel Folder Options.
>>
>> How does one set these Access Denied Folders so that I can open and read
>> them?
>>
>> Bquinn
>>

Bob - In this case the Take Ownership right-click context menu addition you
like will not help the OP at all.

BQuinn - The reason you are getting "access denied" errors is that the
folders you are trying to access don't really exist. They are virtual
folders only (called "junctions"), there for backwards compatibility with
older software that expects "Documents and Settings" to exist.

Documents and Settings and the folders found under them in XP and older
NT-based operating systems have been replaced in Vista by:

%systemdrive%\Users\Your-User-Account\[Documents] [Favorites] [Music]
[Pictures] etc.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

Funny that I can access folders that don't really exist.

"Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:OVHNfV5fIHA.5624@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Bob wrote:
>
>> Add "Take Ownership" to right-click menu in Vista
>>
>> http://www.petri.co.il/add-take-own...-menu-vista.htm
>>
>>
>>
>> "Bquinn" <wquinn1@tampabay.rr.com> wrote in message
>> news:O7gHNo4fIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>I am using Vista Ultimate on my home stand-alone computer. No network
>>>other than my internet connection and I am the only user.
>>>
>>> When I try to open some folders I get a notice "Access Denied" "Not
>>> accessible". An example of these folders are:
>>>
>>> Local Disk C:\Documents and Settings
>>> Start Menu
>>> Favorites
>>> Cookies
>>> Application Data
>>>
>>> They appear to be Not Shared for some reason. I did set the system to
>>> show Hidden Files and Folders using the Control Panel Folder Options.
>>>
>>> How does one set these Access Denied Folders so that I can open and read
>>> them?
>>>
>>> Bquinn
>>>
>
> Bob - In this case the Take Ownership right-click context menu addition
> you
> like will not help the OP at all.
>
> BQuinn - The reason you are getting "access denied" errors is that the
> folders you are trying to access don't really exist. They are virtual
> folders only (called "junctions"), there for backwards compatibility with
> older software that expects "Documents and Settings" to exist.
>
> Documents and Settings and the folders found under them in XP and older
> NT-based operating systems have been replaced in Vista by:
>
> %systemdrive%\Users\Your-User-Account\[Documents] [Favorites] [Music]
> [Pictures] etc.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> Don't Panic!

Bob and Malke thank you. I guess I don't understand why these virtual
folders would appear since this Vista 64 bit software was installed on a
clean hard drive with no older software. If I install some other older
software will these folders then become accessible?

Bquinn

"Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:OVHNfV5fIHA.5624@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Bob wrote:
>
>> Add "Take Ownership" to right-click menu in Vista
>>
>> http://www.petri.co.il/add-take-own...-menu-vista.htm
>>
>>
>>
>> "Bquinn" <wquinn1@tampabay.rr.com> wrote in message
>> news:O7gHNo4fIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>I am using Vista Ultimate on my home stand-alone computer. No network
>>>other than my internet connection and I am the only user.
>>>
>>> When I try to open some folders I get a notice "Access Denied" "Not
>>> accessible". An example of these folders are:
>>>
>>> Local Disk C:\Documents and Settings
>>> Start Menu
>>> Favorites
>>> Cookies
>>> Application Data
>>>
>>> They appear to be Not Shared for some reason. I did set the system to
>>> show Hidden Files and Folders using the Control Panel Folder Options.
>>>
>>> How does one set these Access Denied Folders so that I can open and read
>>> them?
>>>
>>> Bquinn
>>>
>
> Bob - In this case the Take Ownership right-click context menu addition
> you
> like will not help the OP at all.
>
> BQuinn - The reason you are getting "access denied" errors is that the
> folders you are trying to access don't really exist. They are virtual
> folders only (called "junctions"), there for backwards compatibility with
> older software that expects "Documents and Settings" to exist.
>
> Documents and Settings and the folders found under them in XP and older
> NT-based operating systems have been replaced in Vista by:
>
> %systemdrive%\Users\Your-User-Account\[Documents] [Favorites] [Music]
> [Pictures] etc.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> Don't Panic!

Some of them are not real folders, they are junction points. (the first &
last ones, at least)
They are used by older software, designed for earlier operating systems, and
redirect files to the new Vista locations.
Leave them alone.

--
http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview


"Bquinn" <wquinn1@tampabay.rr.com> wrote in message
news:O7gHNo4fIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> I am using Vista Ultimate on my home stand-alone computer. No network
> other than my internet connection and I am the only user.
>
> When I try to open some folders I get a notice "Access Denied" "Not
> accessible". An example of these folders are:
>
> Local Disk C:\Documents and Settings
> Start Menu
> Favorites
> Cookies
> Application Data
>
> They appear to be Not Shared for some reason. I did set the system to
> show Hidden Files and Folders using the Control Panel Folder Options.
>
> How does one set these Access Denied Folders so that I can open and read
> them?
>
> Bquinn
>

Bquinn wrote:

> Bob and Malke thank you. I guess I don't understand why these virtual
> folders would appear since this Vista 64 bit software was installed on a
> clean hard drive with no older software. If I install some other older
> software will these folders then become accessible?

The virtual folders such as Documents and Settings are there because that's
the way Vista was written. As I already told you, they exist only for
backwards compatibility with older software which was programmed to use
Documents and Settings. It is the same whether you use Vista 32 or 64-bit.
The folders will *never* "appear". They will *always* be virtual and
inaccessible - because they aren't a *real* location.

What are you ultimately trying to do? If you are trying to set up sharing,
either use the Public folder to share data between users on the same system
or share folders in your *real* User directory.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

Thanks again Malke. I have just finished reading Que's book "Using MS
Windows Vista" all about junction points. It finally sunk-in ... grin

Bquinn


"Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:%23y6PfU6fIHA.5280@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Bquinn wrote:
>
>> Bob and Malke thank you. I guess I don't understand why these virtual
>> folders would appear since this Vista 64 bit software was installed on a
>> clean hard drive with no older software. If I install some other older
>> software will these folders then become accessible?
>
> The virtual folders such as Documents and Settings are there because
> that's
> the way Vista was written. As I already told you, they exist only for
> backwards compatibility with older software which was programmed to use
> Documents and Settings. It is the same whether you use Vista 32 or 64-bit.
> The folders will *never* "appear". They will *always* be virtual and
> inaccessible - because they aren't a *real* location.
>
> What are you ultimately trying to do? If you are trying to set up sharing,
> either use the Public folder to share data between users on the same
> system
> or share folders in your *real* User directory.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> Don't Panic!

Bquinn wrote:

> Thanks again Malke. I have just finished reading Que's book "Using MS
> Windows Vista" all about junction points. It finally sunk-in ... grin

No prob and you are most welcome.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!