Why Standard User Able To Replace Folder Ownership With Admin?
Jul 27, 2009
I have 2 accounts on my Vista Home Premium machine. One is an admin account with password and the other is a standard account without password (UAC off). I have multiple internal hard drives some of which has folders that I want only my admin account to access. I have denied all permissions for the standard account to these folders.
When I login as the standard user and try to open these same folders I get a pop up message saying that I don't have permission to access them and to click “continue” for access. Then I get a second message saying the same thing but there is a clickable link at the bottom to the "security tab" and it's suggesting to use to gain access. Once I click on that I get another "You don't have permission to change security setting" message in the folder properties window under the security tab.
At the bottom of that window it's also suggesting to click on the "Advanced" button for special permissions which will lead to taking the ownership from the admin account under the "Owner" tab by clicking "Edit", thus allowing full access to the contents of those folders. Does that make sense to anyone? I also noticed that the standard account has the ability to change the type to an administrator account from “User Accounts” in Control panel, is that normal?
I use a admin account on my computer but when I added standard user account it will not open some web pages for example when I go to my yahoo mail it will show the email but when I click on it, it will not show any text, but when I use the administrator account the web page works fine, I can see and read all emails. Another example is when I go to ask.com and search under the standard user it comes up as a blank page but will show search results under the administrator account. I have windows vista home and 7.0 explorer.
I am running Windows Vista Home Premium 32 (system specs: laptop 2.1 Ghz core 2 duo, 4 gb RAM, 500gb hd (about half full) nvidia 8400M GS, Avira Premium Security Suite). I have had the computer for about a year running fine with 1 main admin account. Now when I need to create an account for another user I cannot create one, either admin or standard. When I create it, using either the control panel or command prompt, it creates the user picture, making the account visible on the control panel user accounts screen, and on logon screen. However, when trying to log into the new account I am greeted with the error "User profile service failed on logon. User profile cannot be loaded." The standard fix for this from various forums is to edit the registry key of the account. However, on going to regedit I see that no key even exists for the account. On further investigation I discover that no user files have been created either. I attempted a system restore, but discovered that all my past restore points were gone, and intruigingly, the computer had stopped createing 24 hour checkpoints. I cannot say for definite whether it was this issue or another one that caused system restore to mess up, as I don't check my system restore all that often. Either way, system restore is not an option. There have been mentions of a full Vista reinstall, though if at all possible I would like to avoid this.
I am trying to help with a Vista Laptop where we are trying to rename a folder located in the users APP DATA folder. I've used the utility by Doug Knox (?) to take ownership and it shows full rights under the "Security" tab. Cannot rename a folder in the "Roaming" section and I need to do that to test a backup file restore. We keep getting "You need permission to do this..."
This all started when I recently had some malwares/viruses roaming around my laptop one day. I had managed to get rid of it all but it left my Direct Console 2.0 useless (I have an ASUS G-50V, Vista Premium 64-bit). I've tried reinstalling it and it just wouldn't load, no error message or anything (it did show up on taskmanager but no window appeared).
So trying to find a solution on google I ended up installing .net Framework 4.0. However, after restarting i started getting a ton of error messages about files in the Program Files folder, and then I realized it had just completely disappeared (rather, all the files inside disappeared). First the error messages said the folder was "corrupt and unreadable."
I navigated to the folder and tried clicking it, which then another error message popped up saying "Access is denied." I tried almost every solution I found on google, changing ownership and such, but I still cannot open the folder. Moreover, I cannot repair or uninstall any program that is or has been in the Program Files which I'm assuming has to do with the permission issues. I noticed this when I ran the setup for Direct Console 2.0 and tried to repair it, only giving me an error saying "The Installer has insufficient privileges to modify this file: C:Program Files (x86)ASUSOvClk.dll." But this also makes no sense to me as this is the x86 program files folder, which I can access.
I checked both of the folders and TrustedInstaller has ownership to both of them.
*Edit - I just checked the ASUS folder inside my Program Files (x86) where the only group assigned to it for security is "Everyone" and it had no access whatsoever.
I would like to know if there is any possible way to fix this and if the files inside the folder are still there as this is very frustrating to deal with. Most of my ASUS programs were in the Program Files, including the hotkey manager is really useful to me. Thanks a lot.
In case you need to know:
As for the what I did to deal with malwares and viruses I mentioned before, I did install Malwarebytes on another computer with updated definitions and loaded it on a flash drive here, removing whatever malwares it found. Even after this though (and this has been a consistent problem), mbam.exe would disappear after installing Malwarebytes regularly on my own laptop.
Thinking there was some virus or other malware laying around that it didn't pick up, I downloaded and installed AVG. I updated it and full scanned, which found more viruses and did fix the issue of mbam.exe disappearing after install. At this point I installed Malwarebytes again, updated, and scanned again, finding 1 or 2 trojans and I think at this point there shouldn't be any viruses/malwares causing issues, but of course I could be wrong.
[This is my second post on the same subject. The first thread died] I had this Vista Home Basic machine working okay, but the power went out and then another person who was high used the machine. They named a new user as administrator. I don't know what else they did.
Now I have a new user as administrator and the previous users are gone. I still see evidence of them in the file tree but the old programs are gone and the documents are buried in C > Users > Admin (that was a name of a previous user that I had named when I first got the machine) I've gradually installed some of my old programs and I'm currently just rebuilding everything, but it would be a lot easier if I could revert to the old user system. The Control Panel > add or remove user accounts is useless. I only have two icons there So is there anyway to return to the original condition? How can I recover the missing users?
I need to convert my old InstallShield project to work under Vista for Standard User account. But I really don't know how to perform simple tasks like create some keys in HKEY_CURRENT_USER or install/delete files to My Documents for user running installer. There is Admin rights UAC prompt at the beginning and all actions now are related to this admin account. But i need user account registry path and user documents path. Not admin's. What can I do? How can I access registry and directories for current user?
When I my son signs on it comes back with logging off and logs him off. I am setup as an administrator and can log on without any problems, my son's account is setup as standard user account with parental controls turn on. I have deleted his account and created a new one as a standard user, I tried turning off parental controls and I still get the same problem. The only way around this I have found so far is to make his account an administrator. Which is not something that I want to keep this way.
I managed to change the Guest account to administrator type. Tried to amend the type back to standard user with other administrator accounts without success. Even tried the hidden administrator account. The Guest account does allow the standard user option to be selected but nothing happens when this is applied, it remains as an Administrator. Anyone have any idea how to reset the Guest account to a standard user
As a Mac OSX user I am trying to configure Vista Business and coming up against an apparent lack of functionality with regard to configuring user accounts. I say 'apparent' cos frankly I'm new to Vista so I'm not sure. Basically I have an admin user account and a standard user account. I wish to block certain programs (such as IE) on the standard user account.
is it safe to install Windows Updates logged into the machine as standard user (as opposed to a Computer Administrator)? Up until now I have always logged into the machine as the Computer Admin specifically to install updates - but is this necessary?
I am using the techinque to get the TokenElevationType using the API GetTokenInformation on Vista to determine if a user is an admin. It seems to work fine on Vista Business/Ultimate etc. However, it fails on Vista Home. Does anyone have any clues? The code is along the following lines:
switch (elevationType) { case TokenElevationTypeDefault: TRACE(_T("TokenElevationTypeDefault - User is not using a split token")); m_bAdmin = FALSE; break;
case TokenElevationTypeFull: TRACE(_T("TokenElevationTypeFull - User has a split token, and the process is running elevated")); m_bAdmin = TRUE; break;
case TokenElevationTypeLimited: TRACE(_T("TokenElevationTypeLimited - User has a split token, but the process is not running elevated")); m_bAdmin = TRUE; break; }
A friend of my sisters has asked me to look at her PC, as it keeps "just crashing". A thorugh technical description to help I know!.However, I have found that the PC, which is running Vista Home Premium, has 3 user accounts.
1) Admin account with password 2) Standard User 3) Guest
I can not log into the admin account as I do not have the password, and my sisters friend is unreachable.The standard user account, wont letme do anything remotely techy, or use any system tools, or install my own PC diagnostic tools. The user account doesn't have the correct permission. It wont even update any of the virus definitions with out asking for the password.I have a copy of Active Password changer, that I have used in the past in these circumstances, but the PC was bought from a big retail chain, and has been set up with the usual hidden partion with important files on it. So Active Password Changer can not see the partion with the SAM database on it to change the admin password.
I am in the Administrator group on my own network, i am also in the Admin group of the local Vista pc, connected to a 2003 server. For some reason i do not have any Admin rights when i log on to the server. It treats me as a regular user, I think. I can't change security settings, can't install any programs, can't browse the network. Is this the way Vista is supposed to work or is something broken? And how do i get real Admin privileges?
I have two reg user accounts and i changed one to an administrator account that I didn't want to use regularly, but when I try to do certain things it ask for a password, but when I put my password in it says "wrong password' or something like that. I know that is the right password; so I try in safe mode it say "The user has not been granted the requested login type at this computer. Also the account that I created will not show up when I restart my computer, so I can't login using that account.
Following the instructions to fix this doesn't work because everytime I try to do something I get a window that asks for a password for "ASP.NET Machine Account". I have no idea what the password for this account is and leaving it blank doesn't work. I have a standard login now that won't allow me to create a new account of any sort nor can I make changes to my standard user account without permission from the ASP.NET Machine Account.
I am new user to the Windows Vista Home premium. My laptop is being shared with some family children. I given them the Standard User Account and applied various security policies regarding their computer usage.
1. How can I restrict a Standard User from using Removable Media like CD, DVD, USB.
2. How can I disable "Delete Browsing History" or "Internet Options" for the internet explorer for a standard user.
I have searched on net but nothing fruitful can be done even on changing Registry.
On some Vista Business systems I deploy, I need to be able to give non-admin uers the ability to chkdsk drives. I found the "Perform volume maintenance tasks" user rights policy, but that isn't doing it. Anyone know if it is even possible (I know some things can only be done by Administrators), and if so, how?
I installed Vista Ultimate about 8 months ago. This was an upgrade from XP. I just now have had the need to do an uninstall. I went to my Admin User account (although my normal user account has Admin privileges) and when I go to Add/Remove programs, there are no command lines for Uninstall/Remove/Repair programs.
I verified that my normal user account had Admin privileges. Logged into it and it does not have the capability to do any of the above. I even added a new user with Admin privileges, no success. I then re-installed Vista Ultimate as an "upgrade" again, still the same problem. All my user accounts have full security access, so I know that's not it. I've read through the threads and although there are similar admin issues, I haven't seen this specific one. I have tried a couple of the suggestions for other Admin problems to no avail.
In Vista Home Premium, I want to disable User Account Control just for the admininstrator profile. I want User Account Control to remain enabled for all other user profiles. How can I do this? I have tried several methods that Google found, but always when I disable UAC for admininstrator, it is then disabled for other users. How can I disable it just for the admininstrator?
I have several icons/files from my "User" folder showing up in the "Computer" folder (several in duplicate), PLUS numerous blank icons. This seems to have occurred after the Common Files folder became corrupted, after I somewhat riskily decided to power off while Vista was attempting to come out of Sleep mode - it had already taken about 3 mins and I was in a hurry - bad move, I know. That delay appears to have been due to an old version of Online Armor, and has now been fixed (by an update). Chkdsk scanned and (apparently) corrected some errors, and I also ran SFC which said it had corrected some errors but had also found some that it couldn't correct.
I've accidentally moved my Documents Folder into my user profile folder by mistake and now i have a mess. basically I now have a folder that goes something like this: c:usersdocuments and it contains a duplicate of everything that was already in the desktopusernamedocuments folder except now I can't rename or delete my user profile folders...ad I don't have a restore point to go back to what can I do?
Both apart is quite straightforwad. Go to Options and select which you desire. But I am NOT able to achieve both. Tried two approaches: First I made a BMP-file with my signature and logo and used the stationary wizard to put that on left bottom of my messages. In the wizard I can also change the font and size. Easily done. But ... when I compose a mail the bitmap doesn't go down with the text which makes this approach quite useless.
Secondly I made a HTM-document with Word and again placed my signature and logo on the bottom. In Mail itself I tell to use font Calibri 12. The HTML-text scrolls nicely down when I compose a mail but it KEEPS typing in dull times New Roman 12. The 2nd approach is closest to what I desire apart from the font. Maybe there is a 3rd approach which I haven't found. Maybe there is a simple solution.
Awhile back I was given instructions on how to change the folder standard green folders to new pink folders. Well, my computer crashed out and I had to get a new hard drive. I tried to follow the instructions from the previously solved thread, but I can not find the "desktop.ini". When I go to the users folder inside my choices are Administrator and Public and I can not find the "desktop.ini" file. I have windows vista.
I recently partitioned my 500 GB hard disk on my Vista computer into multiple drives in order to keep data files and picture files separate. In doing that I succeeded in
screwing up the folder line-up in my user folder. In spite of many tries I haven't been able to "unscrew" it. There are two main problems:
1. There are now two folders called Pictures (E referring to ther new partition
Both of these folders contain the same subfolders and files. No matter what I try, I cannot delete one of these listings.
2. There is an additional folder called Pictures.
However this folder contains all the music folders and files. When I try to rename this folder to Music, I get the error message:"This action can't be completed because the
folder is open in another program", even though no other programs are running.
I've been away from the computer for the past three weeks, and when I got home I discovered everything in perfect working order. Everything, that is, except for my User Folder. None of the subfolders (Music, Videos, Pictures, etc.) have text beneath the icons. This only happens if I have the folder in icon view, no matter the size. List, Details, and Tiles all show the appropriate information, but the names of the folders disappear as soon as I slide the view to Small Icons.
This is true for anything else in the User Folder. For example, I tried moving a file there from the desktop, only to have that file's name disappear. Removing it back to the desktop confirmed that the file still had its original title. Creating a new file in the folder yields the same result. The subfolders themselves still have their names, and I can see them if click "Rename" on any of the folders.
I accidentally changed my user folder shortcut name in Windows Explorer under Desktop.
It was changed when I tried to save a file to the desktop and accidentally create new folder while highlight the user folder shortcut. It might be a bug in the system, since I can’t duplicate the change again.
I have tried to rename it but nothing happens.
I deleted it but it came back after refresh (F5).
There is no property available since this is a special folder or shortcut like network shortcut in Windows Explorer.
I briefly went through the registry and search for ‘shell’ related value but find none to resolve the issue. Did the search on Google and this forum, I have found nothing related to this problem. Maybe I use the wrong word for the search. Does anybody know how to reverse the change or edit in the registry?
