Getting Explorer Access to Documents & Settings

While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access to the
Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin and explicitly
start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked from access to this
folder.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with default
settings without knowing more about the architecture here first.

--
W

On 2/12/2014 4:38 PM, W wrote:
While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access to the
Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin and explicitly
start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked from access to this
folder.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with default
settings without knowing more about the architecture here first.

Documents & Settings is a dummy folder. Try looking in "users" under
whichever account's user name.

On 12 Feb 2014, "W" wrote in
alt.windows7.general:

While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access
to the Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin
and explicitly start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked
from access to this folder.

What appears to be a folder called "Documents and Settings" is really
just a dummy entry for backwards compatibility purposes. It has no
practical use for use for you and can be ignored. You're only seeing it
because you've chosen to show hidden files and folders. What used to be
found in Documents and Settings is now found in the folder called
\Users.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with
default settings without knowing more about the architecture here
first.

"BobbyM" wrote in message
...
On 2/12/2014 4:38 PM, W wrote:
While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access to the
Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin and explicitly
start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked from access to this
folder.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with default
settings without knowing more about the architecture here first.

Documents & Settings is a dummy folder. Try looking in "users" under
whichever account's user name.

Ah, thanks!

Curious that they don't just make Documents & Settings a hard link to the
new folder.

--
W

W wrote:
"BobbyM" wrote in message
...
On 2/12/2014 4:38 PM, W wrote:
While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access to the
Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin and explicitly
start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked from access to this
folder.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with default
settings without knowing more about the architecture here first.

Documents & Settings is a dummy folder. Try looking in "users" under
whichever account's user name.

Ah, thanks!

Curious that they don't just make Documents & Settings a hard link to the
new folder.

It's a 'junction' for o/s backward compatibility not user compatibility
- i.e. no reason to access it since it doesn't contain anything

--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

"...winston?" wrote in message
...
W wrote:
"BobbyM" wrote in message
...
On 2/12/2014 4:38 PM, W wrote:
While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access to
the
Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin and
explicitly
start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked from access to this
folder.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with default
settings without knowing more about the architecture here first.

Documents & Settings is a dummy folder. Try looking in "users" under
whichever account's user name.

Ah, thanks!

Curious that they don't just make Documents & Settings a hard link to
the
new folder.

It's a 'junction' for o/s backward compatibility not user compatibility
- i.e. no reason to access it since it doesn't contain anything

Had they made it a hard link to Users, you could have just double clicked it
and entered into the Users folder automatically. Might have been a nicer
user experience.

--
W

"BobbyM" wrote in message
...
On 2/12/2014 4:38 PM, W wrote:
While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access to the
Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin and explicitly
start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked from access to this
folder.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with default
settings without knowing more about the architecture here first.

Documents & Settings is a dummy folder. Try looking in "users" under
whichever account's user name.

I'm having what may be a related issue. Logged into Explorer as the
administrative user, I am unable to access:

c:\users\all users\start menu

I want to change the icon on a program on the start menu for a program that
all users access.

When I go to above location I get an "Access is Denied". Again, I could
hack my way past that, but I want to understand the architecture and do
things the right way.

--
W

On 2/12/2014, W posted:
"BobbyM" wrote in message
...
On 2/12/2014 4:38 PM, W wrote:
While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access
to the Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin
and explicitly start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked
from access to this folder.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with
default settings without knowing more about the architecture here
first.

Documents & Settings is a dummy folder. Try looking in "users"
under whichever account's user name.

I'm having what may be a related issue. Logged into Explorer as the
administrative user, I am unable to access:

c:\users\all users\start menu

I want to change the icon on a program on the start menu for a
program that all users access.

When I go to above location I get an "Access is Denied". Again, I
could hack my way past that, but I want to understand the
architecture and do things the right way.

You are probably logged on as *an* administrator, not *the*
Administrator.

An administrator is a user with administrator privileges, which
actually means *some*, not all, administrator privileges.

Run this command from an elevated command prompt:

net user Administrator /active:yes

Then switch user to the user whose *name* is Administrator. Hopefully
you know the password (or there isn't one, i.e., blank field).

After having your way with the computer, switch back to your regular
account and run the opposite command from an elevated command window,

net user Administrator /active:no

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
...
On 2/12/2014, W posted:
"BobbyM" wrote in message
...
On 2/12/2014 4:38 PM, W wrote:
While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access
to the Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin
and explicitly start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked
from access to this folder.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with
default settings without knowing more about the architecture here
first.

Documents & Settings is a dummy folder. Try looking in "users"
under whichever account's user name.

I'm having what may be a related issue. Logged into Explorer as the
administrative user, I am unable to access:

c:\users\all users\start menu

I want to change the icon on a program on the start menu for a
program that all users access.

When I go to above location I get an "Access is Denied". Again, I
could hack my way past that, but I want to understand the
architecture and do things the right way.

You are probably logged on as *an* administrator, not *the*
Administrator.

An administrator is a user with administrator privileges, which
actually means *some*, not all, administrator privileges.

Run this command from an elevated command prompt:

net user Administrator /active:yes

Then switch user to the user whose *name* is Administrator. Hopefully
you know the password (or there isn't one, i.e., blank field).

After having your way with the computer, switch back to your regular
account and run the opposite command from an elevated command window,

net user Administrator /active:no

Which privileges do you think my administrative user (NOT the literal userid
Administrator) might be missing?

I follow your solution path, but wow what a hassle that would be to
constantly have to enable a user, logout and switch to that user, do some
work, exit and log back in as former user, disable Administrator account.
Do that seven times a day and you'll be praying for Microsoft to be washed
into the ocean by a tidal wave.

I'm hoping I can access a list of privileges for the administrative user and
quickly determine which I need to have access to all parts of the file
system, at least on read only basis.

--
W

W wrote:
"...winston?" wrote in message
...
W wrote:
"BobbyM" wrote in message
...
On 2/12/2014 4:38 PM, W wrote:
While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access to
the
Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin and
explicitly
start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked from access to this
folder.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with default
settings without knowing more about the architecture here first.

Documents & Settings is a dummy folder. Try looking in "users" under
whichever account's user name.

Ah, thanks!

Curious that they don't just make Documents & Settings a hard link to
the
new folder.

It's a 'junction' for o/s backward compatibility not user compatibility
- i.e. no reason to access it since it doesn't contain anything

Had they made it a hard link to Users, you could have just double clicked it
and entered into the Users folder automatically. Might have been a nicer
user experience.

It takes more effort to get to that location to click it than it does to
get to the folder it 'junctions' to...not sure how that would be
perceived as a user experience improvement.

--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

On 2/12/2014, W posted:
"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
...
On 2/12/2014, W posted:
"BobbyM" wrote in message
...
On 2/12/2014 4:38 PM, W wrote:
While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access
to the Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin
and explicitly start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked
from access to this folder.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with
default settings without knowing more about the architecture here
first.

Documents & Settings is a dummy folder. Try looking in "users"
under whichever account's user name.
I'm having what may be a related issue. Logged into Explorer as
the administrative user, I am unable to access:
c:\users\all users\start menu

I want to change the icon on a program on the start menu for a
program that all users access.

When I go to above location I get an "Access is Denied". Again,
I could hack my way past that, but I want to understand the
architecture and do things the right way.

You are probably logged on as *an* administrator, not *the*
Administrator.

An administrator is a user with administrator privileges, which
actually means *some*, not all, administrator privileges.

Run this command from an elevated command prompt:

net user Administrator /active:yes

Then switch user to the user whose *name* is Administrator.
Hopefully you know the password (or there isn't one, i.e., blank
field).

After having your way with the computer, switch back to your regular
account and run the opposite command from an elevated command
window,

net user Administrator /active:no

Which privileges do you think my administrative user (NOT the literal
userid Administrator) might be missing?

For instance, the one you're having trouble with :-)

Beyond that, I don't know much.

I follow your solution path, but wow what a hassle that would be to
constantly have to enable a user, logout and switch to that user, do
some work, exit and log back in as former user, disable Administrator
account. Do that seven times a day and you'll be praying for
Microsoft to be washed into the ocean by a tidal wave.

I'm hoping I can access a list of privileges for the administrative
user and quickly determine which I need to have access to all parts
of the file system, at least on read only basis.

If you are switching back and forth a lot, either reschedule your
operations (kidding - or maybe it *is* a good idea?) or don't bother
disabling the Administrator account until you're finished with all.

I so rarely have to log in as root (Unix slang for Administrator) in
Windows that I don't see it as much of a chore; obviously your mileage
does vary.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

"W" wrote in message
...
While logged in as the Administrative user, how do you get access to the
Documents & Settings folder? Even when I log in as admin and explicitly
start up Explorer as the Admin user, I am blocked from access to this
folder.

I could override security settings, but I hate to tamper with default
settings without knowing more about the architecture here first.

So it looks like there is a more general issue here. Whenever a folder in
Explorer is a junction point, you cannot traverse it. You can go to the
command line and do a "dir /a:h" in its parent folder to see the location of
the actual folder and then go there.

It's not clear why Microsoft doesn't want to let us use Explorer to have any
access to a junction point just transport you to the real file system
location. The information is clearly embedded in the junction point, so
why not let Explorer use that information?

--
W

In message , W
writes:
[]
I'm having what may be a related issue. Logged into Explorer as the
administrative user, I am unable to access:

c:\users\all users\start menu

I want to change the icon on a program on the start menu for a program that
all users access.

When I go to above location I get an "Access is Denied". Again, I could
hack my way past that, but I want to understand the architecture and do
things the right way.

What happens if you, from Start, select All Programs, then the Startup
group, and right-click on it (and select Explore [or Open if you must])?
[You might have to go into All Users under it.]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Electricians do it 'till it Hz.