Brett said:
I'm an admin on my box. When I click the Documents and Settings folder, I
get a message that it is not accessible and access is denied. Has anyone
gotten this and knows a fix?
The quick answer is because you don't need access to it. It is not used in
Vista. That folder and others that were used in XP are retained in Vista
for compatibility for legacy apps but they are not folders that contain
data. They are actually junctions; all it contains is a link to the actual
folder in Vista where that data resides. For Documents and Settings the
actual folder is C:\Users. Do not try to change the permissions on these
folders. It could cause problems for legacy apps, and there is no need to
access them anyway.
Any folder that is dimmed, has a shortcut arrow and gives access denied is
one of these junction points. To see where that folder points open an
elevated command prompt. From the Start orb type in cmd, right click on it
at the top when it appears, and choose Run as Administrator. At the command
line navigate to the folder that contains the junction point, and give the
command
dir /al
Junction points are designated by <Junction> and the folder they point to is
at the end of the line in brackets. From a previous post by MVP Jimmy
Brush, here is a list of these legacy folders that are junctions in Vista
and the actual folders to which they point.
"Windows XP Location Windows Vista Location
\Documents and Settings \Users
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents \Users\$USER$\Documents
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Music \Users\$USER$\Music
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Pictures
\Users\$USER$\Pictures
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\My Documents\My Videos
\Users\$USER$\Videos
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Application Data
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Cookies
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\NetHood
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\PrintHood
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Recent
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\SendTo
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Start Menu
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Templates
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Application Data
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\History
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History
\Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
\Users\$USER$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files
\Documents and Settings\All Users \ProgramData
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data \ProgramData
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop \Users\Public\Desktop
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents \Users\Public\Documents
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Favorites \Users\Public\Favorites
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Templates
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
\Documents and Settings\Default User \Users\Default "
