Cannot rename folders in User directory
Strange, strange, strange. Running Vista Home Basic SP2. No major issues since my last rebuild about one year ago. Suddenly I can no longer rename folders in my C:\Users\[user name] directory. I have not changed permissions or sharing parameters. Each time I check a folder the Read Only option is checked. If I uncheck it, I still can't rename the folder and the Read Only option is checked again. Equally strange is that if I try to run attrib -r against a folder in a command box (Run As administrator) I get a "Parameter format not correct -" error. The last major update to the system was the big "Security Tuesday" update back on April 13th. Otherwise, everything seems to be normal. Scans by Security Essentials and Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware are negative. System reboots have not resolved the issue. Ran the SFC utility and there are no integrity violations. The symptoms are not "creeping", i.e., the problem is localized to specific directories.
April 24th, 2011 8:54pm

Hi, Does this happen to all user account? Usually, this issue occurs when the folder is in use. I suggest boot into Safe Mode with Administrator privilege to have a test. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
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April 28th, 2011 4:31am

Thanks for your suggestion. Since I have only a single user account on this machine (with administrator privileges) I only see it in folders under that user account when logged on. But I had not thought of booting into Safe Mode and checking. I will give that a try and will post the result. Again, thank you for your response and the suggestion. [e.c.d.]
April 29th, 2011 12:34am

Booted into Safe Mode. Same result. My primary user account has admin privileges. I created a new account, also with admin privileges. I created a folder and tried to rename it. Same result. I will try and create an account without admin privileges and see if I get the same result. Best wishes, [e.c.d.]
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April 30th, 2011 4:54pm

Hi, Thank you for your responses. Based on the situation, this maybe because Windows system files are owned by the TrustedInstaller service by default, and Windows File Protection will keep them from being overwritten. To rename\delete them, you need to grand yourself full control over the folder. Click Start, type CMD and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter key combination to open an administrator command prompt. To take ownership of the file, you’ll need to use the takeown command. Here’s an example: takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\Test.txt The folder Test.txt under C:\Windows\System32 is the one you want to delete. After taking ownership of the file, please run the cacls command to give yourself full control rights to the file: cacls C:\Windows\System32\Test.txt /G Magon:F Please note: Magon is my username, replace it with your username. Check if it works now. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
May 3rd, 2011 12:02am

Not working. While I can rename files I still cannot rename folders. Also, getting the following error when trying to apply a security update to Adobe Acrobat: Error 1606.Could not access network location %PUBLIC%\Desktop\. Let's take a step back. I reinstalled Vista (rebuilt) April 2010. Vista is up-to-date with all requisite service packs, maintenance and security patches. I log on with only a single account, which has Administrator privileges. HOWEVER, a few weeks ago as part of a disk cleanup I did delete the folders in the PUBLIC directory. However, I had these backed up, so I restored them. However, my problems with renaming folders under my user account, and the Error 1606 problem arose around the same time. Thank you again. Regards, [e.c.d.]
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May 8th, 2011 4:55pm

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