Access is Denied.
I'm getting these messages for files I'm trying to edit. I'm trying to open the files via Notepad, but getting Access is Denied messages. This is the only account on the computer and I'm the only person to ever use it - I tried to turn off security things, but not luck. I just upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 from Vista 64. I went to the C:\ drive already and made myself administrator manually over the computer, but still not having any luck. It is vital for me to be able to access and edit all files on my computer - do I need to revert back to Vista? Or can this horrible prompt be fixed? I've tried to Google the issue, but alas, no luck. I'm getting pretty frustrated - I edit files for games and this is stopping me from doing my work; can anyone please help?
December 4th, 2009 5:26am

Hi There,where are the files located that you are trying to edit?Do you recieve the error when opening or when saving the file?have you tried to edit a file in say, your Documents folder for example?Let me knowCheersYoni Kirsh
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December 4th, 2009 5:43am

They are in the public section; games, more specifically. I would like to be able to edit files anywhere; if Windows 7 prohibits this, I will resort to Vista/XP or look for alternate options.
December 4th, 2009 6:02am

Hi,You can enable Administrator account and logon it to see if issue still exists.The issue may be caused if the upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 affect the permission of the user account. If Administrator account works fine, you can try to create a new admin account to see if the issue only occur on your current account. Also you can try to add your account to the permission list of the problematic file manuallyto have a test.
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December 4th, 2009 6:03am

if u are trying to open in the system32 subfoldersEG: log files\firewall\pfirewall.log then u ll prolly have to change permissions,in my case intead of doing that i just open command prompt as admin and then type : TYPE then the name of the file but obviousu have to type the path like : CD log files ENTER CD firewall ENTER then TYPE pfirewall.log but thats not something cool to try so id remove or add allow permissions to users in the admin group then access the files and also some files in the c:\program files can give u access deny depending on the permissions settings..Regards,RR
December 4th, 2009 6:03am

My account is currently listed as the administrator.
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December 4th, 2009 6:07am

You will be able to edit the files, no need to do anything drastic like uninstalling Windows 7 :)can you please provide the full file location of the file you are trying to edit, i.e. "C:\program files\game\file.txt", also can you please let me know if you get the error when you open, or when you save the file.some file locations are protected by UAC, if you try to save to that location from notepad UAC doesn't have the chance to present the prompt and you recieve an access denied error. try saving your file on the desktop then copying it back to the original location using windows explorer, you should be presented with a UAC prompt, which you can accept.CheersYoni Kirsh
December 4th, 2009 6:10am

c:\Users\Public\World of Wacraft\WTF\Config.wtf
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December 4th, 2009 6:16am

Hi,First right click on Computer, choose Manage, go to Local Users and Groups --- Users, double click on Administrator account,uncheck Account is disable to enable it.Then reboot the computer, keep press F8 key, choose Safe Mode, logon Administrator account.Test if we can modify the file now.Also you can try to logon your user account, right click on the Config.wtf file,go to Security tab, add your account to the list, give it Full Control permission, click OK and test again.
December 4th, 2009 12:05pm

The latter worked. Am I going to have to do this for every file I wish to edit? Change it manually, I mean? If so, it'll be a terrible pain in the you-know-what. Edit: Also, now I can't delete folders. Lovely. http://i47.tinypic.com/2yyb702.jpg - Safe link.
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December 4th, 2009 7:23pm

Um, I logged in today with an administrator account that was created? WTF?
December 5th, 2009 8:13pm

The easiest way to edit those type of files is by right clicking on the notepad icon and selecting "Run as administrator".
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December 6th, 2009 12:11am

I understand both sides of the Security issue. On the one hand, MS is trying to protect us -- But from WHO? There are hundreds of nicer features in Win7 as compared to XP that I just updated two computers from. However, seemingly, MS in their quest for a tamper resistant user interface have made it EXTREMELY difficult to work with. I work with computers all the time and I know my way around fairly well. But Win7 is missing a few (IMHO) extremely critical features to make it easier to setup. 1) A "SuperAdministrator" Password is needed to allow system builders to access ANY NON WIN 7 SYSTEM FILE without doing anything except logging on as that special user into any computer on his network or domain. 2) Win7 needs an EASY WAY to allow users in a "home" environment to bypass all of the NON WIN 7 SYSTEM PERMISSIONS features if they choose to do so for system setup or other purposes. 3) I also observe that, as of now, the user documentation for PERMISSIONS type work is extremely limited and what IS there is initially difficult to understand. I feel no need for "big brother to be watching to see if I screw up" by telling me "Access not allowed" and then NOT telling me how to GET ACCESS!. This approach has cost me an extra 6 to 8 hours on the two systems I have set up so far. Even after I learned how to access disk drives on XP based machines, the procedure is very tedious, keypunch intensive and easy to make time costly mistakes. Does anyone disagree? Joe
December 7th, 2009 2:23am

Hi Joe,I can fully understand the inconvenience the issue is caused.As you said, sometimes we will encounter permission issue after upgrading to Windows 7 from earlier systems, because the permission settings in previous OS is changed in Windows 7, so the settings cannot be transfered correctly.First you can check if Administrators group is listed in Security tab. If we still cannot access the file, try add your user name to the list and give it a full control permission. Asthe orignial account works improperly, you can try to create a new admin account to test instead of have to use the default Administrator account every time.Meanwhile, you can disable Administrator account later so that it will not be listed in the logon screen.
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December 7th, 2009 11:21am

I disagree...Joe, As a LONG time computer consultant, (ten years in computerretail) I can can tell that not many "home users" will be upgrading an old OS to win 7, they buy it on a new computer.And I know of no real computer tech, andI know plenty as for years I ran a crew of 11 tech's thru out the south east who would do an upgrade from vista to win 7, a real tech would do clean install.Very few users will be messing around editing files (most would have no clue as to know where to look).I have worked thru a few file permisson error but is easy to to do, it takes a half a second longer than double clicking the file.As for the OS, I am sure no one is forcing you to use it, so why would you dis it for helping protecting those clueless home users from malware / spyware / virus infection.and if you set the administrator account to active you have that "superadmin" you want.I have over 150 computers on networks at this time 50 plus are running win 7 pro, on those 150 computers there are almost 200 users..not one has said a word about needingmore access than I allow.
December 7th, 2009 5:39pm

There are plenty of reasons for gamers to get into various folders and edit files, move things around or delete stuff. Most folks can read a readme and follow directions. Let's face it, there's 6 million WOW subscribers and I'm willing to bet that the VAST majority of them use interface mods. And that means getting into folders on your local drives and adding new files, folders and sometimes editing existing files.That said, I'm also having the same problems.The first problem I had involvedFirefox and downloads. I'd download a file to my desktop and whenit finishes I get an error that I don't have rights to alter the folder (desktop ). Isearched, readwhere this is aFirefox problem, found the fix,fixed it, problem solved. Until a few downloads later. So, I started using IE8. Now, it's doing the same thing . . . sometimes.I looked at permissions. First for the desktop, then the users folder and finally the root.Full control everywhere. Beinga member of the admins group doesnot seem to help.So I triedunchecking some permissions, then resetting them and applyingthem to all child objects. This fixes the problem for a little while but not permanently. Thisisalso for the same session. I'm not constantly rebooting.I'malso having problems with losing accessto objects that I'm placing on my desktop. I copied a folder from my XP box to my new Win7 rigs' desktop, moved the files to where I needed them andthen delete that folder from thedesktop. Opps. Isuddenly need permisson from the user I'm logged in as to delete this folder. The folder that I put there just a few minutes ago. WTF? So, I goback in to the security tab for this folder, remind the OS that I'm the man here ( take ownership of the folder even thoughit already shows I'm the owner ) andTHENI can delete it. I've had to do this several times while I've been building this box.I also work in IT, so I can put up with this for a little while because I believe there has to be a fix.There's just no way this is working as intended. Imusthave something misconfigured. But, I can only imagine how frustrating this for folks that just expect their computer to work.
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December 7th, 2009 8:27pm

I understand both sides of the Security issue. On the one hand, MS is trying to protect us -- But from WHO? There are hundreds of nicer features in Win7 as compared to XP that I just updated two computers from. However, seemingly, MS in their quest for a tamper resistant user interface have made it EXTREMELY difficult to work with.I work with computers all the time and I know my way around fairly well. But Win7 is missing a few (IMHO) extremely critical features to make it easier to setup.1) A "SuperAdministrator" Password is needed to allow system builders to access ANY NON WIN 7 SYSTEM FILE without doing anything except logging on as that special user into any computer on his network or domain.2) Win7 needs an EASY WAY to allow users in a "home" environment to bypass all of the NON WIN 7 SYSTEM PERMISSIONS features if they choose to do so for system setup or other purposes. 3) I also observe that, as of now, the user documentation for PERMISSIONS type work is extremely limited and what IS there is initially difficult to understand.I feel no need for "big brother to be watching to see if I screw up" by telling me "Access not allowed" and then NOT telling me how to GET ACCESS!. This approach has cost me an extra 6 to 8 hours on the two systems I have set up so far. Even after I learned how to access disk drives on XP based machines, the procedure is very tedious, keypunch intensive and easy to make time costly mistakes.Does anyone disagree?Joe Nope, I'm right with ya. I'm all for security, but providing home users with one brick wall after another is just as bad as leaving them wide open. I know Win7 tried to reach a middle ground with security and the home user, but . . . Granted I never used Vista either at home or at work, so a lot of this is new to me, but after 15 years in IT I should be able to get some kind of consistent performance out of my new computer. I screw around with misbehaving applications and hardware all day long. I'm not interested in doing it at home.
December 7th, 2009 8:36pm

Back to the issue at hand...the Access is Denied BS is still running rampart. I don't have time to go through an manually edit -thousands- of files to give myself permissions....permissions that I SHOULD have. I am the administrator, but W7 refuses to acknowledge that. I get no option to "Run as Administrator..." anymore. It's not even World of Warcraft interface mods that are the issue - that's just the first thing I noticed it on. I'm now going through trying to access old coding for web templates I've created and whatnot, but not succeeding at all. It's a flatout pain in the ____. For a typical user, I can see this wouldn't be an issue...but what about the more technical types who rely on the computers for work and whatnot? The OS is failing miserably for us, and there are no official fixes for it. If ANYONE has ANY idea how to set myself to this SuperAdmin and get my permissions back - please do. I can NOT go through a website template with -thousands- of images and manually key in myself permissions.
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December 7th, 2009 9:03pm

Ok, here's what I did recently that seems to have cleared things up for me as far as my desktop issues go. I gave Users full control to the Users folder on the root of C. However, I will say I think this is wrong and strikes me as a huge security hole. I would never, ever do this at a client site or on a corporate network. However, I do think it speaks of how frustrated I am. It boils down to this for me. If I choose to use my desktop as the target location for my downloads then so be it. The option to do so is present in both IE and Firefox. I've been doing it this way forever. I like my download right where I can see it. When I'm done with it, I will put it in a more logical place rather than clutter up the desktop if I don't just delete it. It does not make any sense to me that the account I use, which is in the admins group, cannot alter the contents of the desktop. So, I say again, I must have something mis-configured, but until I find it this is the best solution I've tried so far. It should work for you as well tymneal09, since the file you pointed out earlier is ultimately under the users folder. I will continue to work on this. If I make any improvements I will add more here.
December 7th, 2009 10:06pm

OK There is no issue with downloading to the desktop, I do all the time, in fact I just downloaded 7 zip EXE to my desktop and now I will download the linux version to my root drive without an issue..if you are having so much problem with permissions I would do a wipe a load as it is not normal across win 7 installs.OK I downloaded all the versions of 7 zip .tar / .gz / zip to my root folder..the ONLY two formats which gave me a warning when I try root are .exe and .msi but as a normal course I would NEVER be downloading to the root for ANY reason and could not think of why anyone would.It just makes sense not to.Now everyone in world hollers about how microsoft is so open to infection that when they do tight it up some folks whine about how it is taking away thier rights to use the software, not so, you have the right NOT to use the software.
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December 7th, 2009 10:33pm

I'm glad you're not having issues with downloading to your desktop. But that doesn't help. And you're right. "Everyone" gets upset when their PC is "open" to attack and "everyone" gets upset when their computer prevents them from doing things. I still believe there is a middle ground. I also think we're all well aware that no one is forcing us to use this software. You've already pointed that out twice in this thread. Thank you. Do you have any constructive ideas about these permissions errors? Not that I think this is a direct permission error at this point. In my case when I "reset" the permissions to my desktop folder my download saves fine to the desktop. For a few downloads, then I'm getting the permission error again. I go and check the permissions and sure enough, they're the same as when I left them. Are there any services that interact with the desktop that might be causing this erratic behavior?
December 8th, 2009 12:05am

If you do not would like to change to a new account to workaround this issue, try take ownership of the drive C. Input Run in Start -- Search, run it as Administrator. type following command: cacls C:\ /E /T /G Administrators:FTo canned-AIR-, if the issue occurs repeatly, it may be caused by security program. You are welcome to createa new topic for the issue so that we can focuson it.
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December 9th, 2009 11:52am

I am having a similar problem. This is a new computer with a new install not an upgrade. There is no Admin login access, some folders are locked (access denied) and some files are also locked. Locked folders and files include the documents folder. There is only 1 (ONE) user account available. When I try to change the permissions it pops up with can't change permissions. I have restored several times from the system recovery setup and it's still the same old story. There is also no "run as admin" by right clicking anything. I have turned off all the security features I could find, I do NOT use any anti virus and still there is no access to some files and folders. This is just one of the major issues I have with Swindles 7. If they would give me a copy of XP I would much prefer it and would dump this garbage. Sounds like a fair trade to me.... I should not have to go out and buy a copy since MIcrosoft has already been paid for this. A suggestion for the Mac developers who now work for Microsoft would be to have the basic set up as it is and include controls for those of us who need them. 2. If I had wanted a Mac I would not have purchased a PC.
December 11th, 2009 9:52pm

Seams that using regedit is the only way to gain access. After editing a few hundred keys I finally have access to the my documents folder, sub folders and even the files. This is stupid. You have to start at the top and work your way down the registry in order to have the control stick. Folders and files are set to inherit properties of the parent directory. If you don't change them from the top down they revert back to default. The file manager in 7 is the worse yet. Too bad Microsoft never learned anything from Xtree.
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December 13th, 2009 5:07pm

I can't replace/save edited notepad file. how do i go about it?
December 23rd, 2010 5:47am

Check and see if you are in a domain and check the RSoP via command line. I had to log into safe mode to get an accurate reading. I will almost bet you have been hacked.
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January 31st, 2011 12:11pm

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