Files cannot be written/modified everywhere??

[Guest]

I was using an aplication, that actually downloads files from another system.
I can download that file only onto --> C:/Users/Administrator/My Documents/
if I login as an administrator.
When i try to download a file into any other place or C drive as such, i get
an error saying "Error Writing File"...
Does anyone know anythign about it??
Also, the files i download are not been seeen in the Windows
Explorer.............
is there anythign tat i need to enable or disable or any of the stuff??
Please do reply..
Its an urgent issue....

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

It's a design thing. You should only be writing to folders within your user
profile, everything else is read and execute (well, not everything, but this
a simple way of looking at it). This happens regardless of the account group
you use, and is part of the UAC security scheme. Why aren't they seen? Have
you set the system to see hidden and system files?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Thank u Roger for ur immediate response.
yes, I've set the system to show hidden files.

Is there any other thing tat i need to look into???
or is it a limitation??
I'm a bit baffled regarding this.

 

[Jimmy Brush]

Hello,

Your application is probably running up against "virtualization".

When Windows detects that an application is attempting to write files to
certain restricted areas, Windows silently copies the modified files to the
user's profile folder, while making the application believe that the data
was saved to the original location.

The result is that when working inside of a "virtualized" program, you will
see the files where you expect them. But, when looking for those files from
any other program, the files are not there.

The files are most likely in this location:

c:\users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\

You may also be able to see the "hidden" files by clicking "Show
compatability files" in explorer while viewing the folder that the files are
supposed to be in.

To solve this problem, you could do a few different things:

1) (best) Start saving data inside your user profile folder.

2) Change permissions on the folder where you are wanting to save data so
that your username explicitly has write access.

3) Run the program with administrator rights by right-clicking it and
clicking Run As Administrator. This will allow it to write to restricted
areas, and will disable virtualization for that program.

 

[Guest]

Hello!!!
Thanks for ur answers..
But, i understand that it is the Vista design as such that prohibits writing
to other locations other than the user profile or so...I am aware of the
concept of Virtual Store.
I tried writing those files into my user profiel itself, it does GET
DOWNLOADED, but while i search for them thru the Windows Explorer, am not
able to find them in my profiles folder itself. Also, my system is set to
SHOW HIDDEN and SYSTEM files also.....

one more question is that I've many partitions on my hard drive, i can
understand that i need to write files to my profile only(best option), but I
am not able to understand as to
WHY I'm cannot write to another drive as such...like D:/ or E:/ or so.......
and C;/ is the place where my Vista OS is installed...

Is there any Vista documentation or tweaks or something like tat where it
says abt all these issues......This'd be grateful...
Please can u provide some more help regarding this...

Thanks a lott for ur help.....

 

[Jan Ilacqua [MVP]]

Hi prasad

I am somewhat confused as to what you are trying to do. So if I may ask for
a bit of clarification:

1. Are you dual booting? I mean, do you have XP installed on another drive?
2. Was your Vista install clean or an upgrade over XP?
3. What type of files are you downloading? .jpg, .doc, .pdf, etc.
4. Are you trying to download and save files to another drive other than the
Vista drive?
5. What folder on which drive are you trying to save the download to?
6. Have you done a Search of the hard drive to see exactly where the
downloaded files are being saved? If you can find out where the files are
being saved, then perhaps you can find out why, change the download default
location, and may explain why you aren't seeing them. They may not be where
you thihk they are being saved. I have had that problem as well, more than
once. <g>
7. Have you tried Sharing the folders or drives you are unable to access?
Which may or may not be an option.
8. Have you tried turning on the UAC again and see if you can use the
elevated admin to access them?

Also remember that, when you are in Vista it will always show that it is on
the C:\ drive, and any other OS or other drives will also show different
drive letters than they may have been originally. Such as, if you also have
XP installed on another drive, Vista will perhaps show it as being on H or G
drive, but, when you boot into XP, it will also show that it is on the C:\
drive, and Vista is then on some other drive letter. Windows OS's insist on
being on the C:\ drive no matter what actual drive they are installed on.
Just make sure you *DO NOT* change the Vista drive letter from C:\ to
anything else *when you are in Vista*, or you may not be able to boot into
it again.

Vista tends to see other drives in a rather odd manner. If you are single
booting on a single drive
this is not so much a problem, but, if you are dual, multi-booting or have
other drives, it can be very
confusing trying to remember which OS or files are on which drive,
especially, if you can not get access to see what is on them.

In order to eliminate confusion of what partition or dive contains what data
or OS when dual, multi-booting, or using multiple drives, I would advise you
to use drive labels. The drive labels migrate to all installed OS's so for
example XP32(d in Vista will be XP32(c when you are in XP 32bit, as
XP32(e in when you are in XP 64bit. Changing the label in any OS will
change the label in all OS's.

Hope this helps.

Jan
MS MVP - Windows IE