Why can't I access my own "My <xyz>" folders???

[Michael Moser]

Preamble: I am long time (and I daresay: somewhat experienced) XP user.
I just switched to Vista (got it with a new Laptop) and there are a few
things that I simply don't get, yet:

In my own "Documents" directory there are a couple of good old friends,
namely directories like "My Music", "My Pictures", "My Videos"...
Under vista these are now links (where do these point to???) and - and
this is the point I dont get at all - when I double-click on these I get
an "C:\Users\mmo\Documents\My Music is not accessible"-error. ???
%&@!?@!#!
Why, for god's sake, should "My Music" not be accessible TO ME (.i.e.
the owner of this user-ID and system)??

What's the idea behind this? And where/how will I get access to my music
files (and others)?

Michael

 

[Michael Walraven]

Michael,
"My ......" folders do not exist in Vista. You are seeing these 'links'
because you have elected to see hidden and system files.
These 'links' are there for legacy programs that hardwired those locations
in their programs.
The correct folders are Pictures, Documents, etc.

Michael

 

[Michael Moser]

Thanks, Michael! A few question remain though - see at the end.

Michael,
"My ......" folders do not exist in Vista. You are seeing these
'links' because you have elected to see hidden and system files.
These 'links' are there for legacy programs that hardwired those
locations in their programs.
The correct folders are Pictures, Documents, etc.

Michael

1.) If these are links: why can't I click and follow them? I mean:
what's the rationale in denying the user access to these?? And how can
those legacy programs then follow these links?

2.) I looked at the properties of some of those links: some show a
location, where they apparently point to, but others don't. Where do
these point to? Nirwana? Or is this info now "classified"?

Michael

 

[Michael Walraven]

Michael,
They are NOT links. They are Junction Points. You can Google Vista Junction
Points to get way more information than you want on the subject.
(Also called Symbolic Links in Vista)
Do NOT fiddle with them. Changing, moving, deleting WILL have adverse
consequences to your system.

To see where they are pointed at a command prompt type
dir /a:s
while in the directory of interest

Michael

 

[Michael Moser]

Michael,
They are NOT links. They are Junction Points. You can Google Vista
Junction Points to get way more information than you want on the
subject. (Also called Symbolic Links in Vista)
Do NOT fiddle with them. Changing, moving, deleting WILL have adverse
consequences to your system.

Ah - OK. I know junctions and have used them a lot (and without desaster
so far... ;-) )
To me these icons looked like links, XP's junctions looked differently.

To see where they are pointed at a command prompt type
dir /a:s
while in the directory of interest

So, in good old MS tradition, the GUI is trying to "outsmart" the user
again, i.e. displaying only half the info one would like to see (at
least by default), denying access, where it shouldn't, etc.
I see long tweaking and registry editing hours coming towards me.And
tons of little utilities and tweaks to correct things. Sigh...

Michael

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Michael

Go to Start and type: cmd.exe In the Results, right click cmd and
select the Run As Administrator option.

Type CD\ (Press Enter)

At C:\>

Type: dir /aL /s > c:\users\<username>\Desktop\JunctionPoints.txt

(Change <username> with the name of the account you are currently
logged on with)

Press Enter.

This will place a text file on your desktop that contains all of the
Junction Points on the system. This text file will show the name and
name/location of the
old folder in XP and the new name/location of the same folder in Vista will
be shown in brackets.

Just a comment. Vista is not trying to outsmart anyone, especially the user.
These changes were made for very specific reasons, whether it be a result of
users requests or a result of new security standards.

I see long tweaking and registry editing hours coming towards me.And tons
of little utilities and tweaks to correct things. Sigh...

Please do not do this in an attempt to 'fix' Vista and make it work the way
XP worked. It's a completely new OS. Take the time to learn how Vista does
things or you will end up with a non-working system besides the many hours
of frustration.