Locked out of folders

[Richard]

Sole user on Vista Business and in Explorer I am locked out of
My Music
My Pictures
My Video
I tried Sharing these folders and no help.
Have pictures brought across with the Windows Easy Transfer in the My
Pictures folder and cannot access these folders.

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[Richard]

Forgot to post error message:
C:\Users\Richard\Documents\My Pictures is not accessible
Access is denied.

Fast loosing my patience with this Vista. I cannot believe how bad it is in
so many areas. Incredibly over complex for no reason, disgustingly designed
in structure, disgusting to the eye as the icons are so wishy-washy in lack
of colour and so difficult to distinguish. Overall I think Vista is going
to be MS's nemesis and is broken and stuffed like the rest of the country.
Why not bring out XP3 with good stuff like Windows Mail. Could not even get
the spell checkers right in Windows Mail, but otherwise is good and only
reason I am still stuck on Vista.

 

[Guest]

Are you using the Administrator account? By default this account is hidden.
To make it visible and logon (maybe to change the rights on the folder)
check out this manual:
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_administrator_activate.htm
Look under Local Security Method to Enable the Administrator Account, that
is the most easy way.

Good luck!

Greetz,
X-ecutioner

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

C:\Users\Richard\Documents\My Pictures is not accessible
Access is denied.

That's because they, the "My <anything>" icons, are not really folders or
files. They are junction points that are used for compatibility with older
software that expect the "My..." folders to be there. They exist simply to
redirect it to the \Users\Richard\Documents or \Music or \Pictures folder as
appropriate. You can't access the "My..." junctions as there is nothing in
them to get to.

Incredibly over complex for no reason,

The complexity is due to the exponential increase in security concerns.
Something as simple as a Win95/98 interface could be infected within seconds
of being exposed to the internet. Nowadays, firewalls and av solutions must
be in place, and - sad as it is - users need to be protected from themselves
and their own actions. A large number of infections are still caused by
users opening files from unknown sources.

disgustingly designed in structure, disgusting to the eye as the icons are
so wishy-washy in lack of colour and so difficult to distinguish.

You are aware, I'm sure, that you can still use the classic interface should
you not like the Vista theme, yes? I do think it's sort of comical that so
many bashed XP for its change in icons (termed as gaudy or childlike by
some) with the XP theme, yet so many now want that option back.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Michael Walraven]

Richard,

Turn off the show hidden files and folders.
Turn on Hide protected operating system files (recommended).

You will no longer be bothered by the My xxxxx items.

Note that in Vista the name is
'Pictures' not 'My Pictures'

Michael

 

[Guest]

If you can't access files and folders that don't start with My, it is likely
an Ownership and Permissions issue. There are several ways to address this.

Take Ownership/Permissions
Even running as Administrator may leave you without permissions to modify
some files or folders, even ones that you have downloaded and installed. To
access or modify (copy, delete, rename) files or folders you can take
Ownership of (in your Username) and grant yourself Full Control permissions
of the files or folders in question described in the following tutorial.

To avoid having to do this individually for hundreds of files, Take
Ownership of large branches like Program Files folder or Users folder, and
grant yourself Full Control of the folder, all subfolders and files contained
in the folder. In the case of Program Files, you would have full access to
all your programs. In the case of Users folder, you would have full access
to your Music, Pictures, Videos, Documents, etc.

Windows Explorer Run As Administrator
Another way to gain access to modify files and folders includes going to the
Start button, typing in Windows Explorer, right-clicking on this and
selecting Run As Administrator. You should then have "elevated privileges"
to do whatever you wish to files in Windows Explorer.

Unlocker Program
There is also a program called Unlocker that you can use to gain access to
modify files and folders.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67717-take-ownership-file.html

http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

 

[Guest]

Forgot to post error message:
C:\Users\Richard\Documents\My Pictures is not accessible
Access is denied.

Fast loosing my patience with this Vista. I cannot believe how bad it is
in so many areas. Incredibly over complex for no reason, disgustingly
designed in structure, disgusting to the eye as the icons are so
wishy-washy in lack of colour and so difficult to distinguish. Overall I
think Vista is going to be MS's nemesis and is broken and stuffed like the
rest of the country.
Why not bring out XP3 with good stuff like Windows Mail. Could not even
get the spell checkers right in Windows Mail, but otherwise is good and
only reason I am still stuck on Vista.

[snip]
In Windows Mail, the default language for spelling checks is not fully set
to English. You need to set it to another language, click Apply, set it
back to English, and click Apply again.