"All users" desktop and start menu?

G

Guest

Where is the All users\desktop, start menu etc for Vista. Neither the
C:\documents and settings\All users seems to work (access denied) nor the All
users folder in the C:\Users folder.

I'd like to be able to define a start menu and desktop icons for all users
of the Vista machine we have but can't find where? The "Explore all users"
option when right clicking the start button has gone
 
J

Jimmy Brush

Hello,
Where is the All users\desktop
Click to expand...

The all users desktop has been moved to:

c:\users\Public\Public Desktop\

In order to add items to it, you will need to be running an "administrator"
explorer.

- Click start
- Type: explorer
- Right-click Windows Explorer
- Click Run As Administrator

This explorer window will now have full administrator privledges, and will
allow you to modify the Public Desktop folder.

You will find many other "all user" folders in the Public folder.
start menu
Click to expand...

The all user start menu is in:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\

Also, same rules apply for the "administrator" explorer window.

- JB
 
G

Guest

Jimmy,

Thanks thats perfect

Karl

Jimmy Brush said:
Hello,


The all users desktop has been moved to:

c:\users\Public\Public Desktop\

In order to add items to it, you will need to be running an "administrator"
explorer.

- Click start
- Type: explorer
- Right-click Windows Explorer
- Click Run As Administrator

This explorer window will now have full administrator privledges, and will
allow you to modify the Public Desktop folder.

You will find many other "all user" folders in the Public folder.


The all user start menu is in:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\

Also, same rules apply for the "administrator" explorer window.

- JB
Click to expand...
 
G

Guest

Ooops, spoke too soon!

I still can't get into the \programdata\start menu folder. It tells me
access denied even though I'm logged in as an administrator. If i right
click and choose the "run as administrator" option on Explorer i get the wait
cursor briefly like it's about to open explorer... then nothing happens! Bug?

Thanks for your help
 
J

Jimmy Brush

Humm yep that is a bug .. I have heard of other people with this problem
too. There should be no problem running Windows Explorer as administrator.

You can also disable the User Account Protection, which is what make
Administrators run programs with limited permissions by default. This will
reset Admin behavior back to the way it was in XP. However, Microsoft highly
recommends that you do not do this.

The option is located in Control Panel -> User Accounts and Family Safety ->
User Accounts -> Change Security Settings

- JB
 
M

_Mark

I have already tried that. Definately is a bug since I cannot access those
areas..
 
J

Jimmy Brush

Ah I just noticed you are running build 5456 ...

There's a bug in 5456 that prevents you from running explorer.exe as admin
....

However, you should be able to access those folders after you disable UAC.

- JB
 
G

Guest

This is still happening in the final release for me, anyone else managed to
add items to the all users start menu?
 
J

Jimmy Brush

Hello,

Sorry I no longer have this thread...

You are attempting to add data to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start
Menu, correct?


--
- JB
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Windows Vista Support Faq
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/
 
G

Guest

Hi

yep thats right, whenever I try to add anything I get "cannot add shortcuts
to here do you wish to add to your desktop". It will let me add new folders
though.

just experimenting with our student lab image as we rearrange the menu to
group applications.

thanks Matt
 
J

Jimmy Brush

Yeah, I'm getting that behavior as well.

That stinks.

As a workaround, you can create the shortcuts in a temporary folder and then
move them into the start menu folder.


--
- JB
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Windows Vista Support Faq
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/
 
G

Guest

good idea, I'll do that for the moment until i can find out why it does this

can't see anything documented on it at all
 
J

Jimmy Brush

My guess is that it was technically infeasable to request for "elevation"
during the creation of a shortcut, so they decided to just not allow
creation of shortcuts in folders that the user needs to elevate to gain
write access to.


--
- JB
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Windows Vista Support Faq
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/
 
R

Ronnie Vernon MVP

Matt

You can Copy a shortcut, in another location and then Paste a shortcut to
that All Users Start Menu folder, but you need to right click the folder
itself (in the folder tree) and not inside the folder.

--


Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User
 
G

Guest

Ok thanks

Ronnie Vernon MVP said:
Matt

You can Copy a shortcut, in another location and then Paste a shortcut to
that All Users Start Menu folder, but you need to right click the folder
itself (in the folder tree) and not inside the folder.

--


Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User
Click to expand...
 
G

Guest

He,

I've got my own access denied issue. I recently downloaded a file for work
from a consultant's FTP site. Upon initiating the DL i was prompted as to
whether or not i wanted to save the file in the desktop folder. I figured
this would be fine and accepted. Unfortunately, the file ended up in the
c:\users\all users\desktop folder. All attempts to gain access to this
folder have failed, i've tried taking ownership, logging in as the Built-in
Admin, safe mode, trying to change permissions via the security tab while
logged in as the buil-in etc. nothing seems to work. Am i going to have to
live with keeping this data (about 1/2gb) until the next format, whenever
that may be? Is there any way to gain access to this folder, script etc.
Thanks in advance.
 
G

Guest

Thanks for the reply, but unfortunately while i can access the public\desktop
the file ended up downloaded to the all users\desktop which i can't seem to
access at all.
 
G

Guest

The inability to access the all users start menu is a major flaw in Vista. I
have purchased three machines for my household, all running Vista, and this
lack of functionality makes me long for XP, only they came with Vista.

Case in point, I have an 87 year old father, beggining stages of Alzhiemers,
that I cannot teach new ways of doing things to. I loaded his new machine
with the software, and then attempted to arrange the start menu into his
familiar groups. No matter how much I try gaining permissions, taking
ownership, etc. I always get an error message that access is denied.

The paste technique will not work for me as it still leaves the install
menus in the All Users start menu. Without deleting those, I am still left
with a setup he will not recognize.

As my old friend Starbuck used to say, This is a bunch of feldercarb. Why
would there need to be such strict protection around the start menu. In XP
Pro, XP Home, and NT, this would take me about 15 minutes to resolve. I have
already spent several hours on it, and now have an expensive paper weight my
father cannot use. Further, I cannot simply load my old XP and then upgrade
to Vista Home Premium, as you cannot upgrade that way.

If anybody has a solution, please post it.
 

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