Padlock On Folder?

[Pete Moscatt]

Hi All,

I have made the move across the Windows 7 in recent times and therefore
still getting used to the new environment.

I am the administrator of the OS but I notice that under 'C:\Users\' that my
account name has a padlock showing and can't get into certain hidden folders
for maintenance.

What's the way around this?

Fritzables.

 

[Dave-UK]

Hi All,

I have made the move across the Windows 7 in recent times and therefore still getting used to the
new environment.

I am the administrator of the OS but I notice that under 'C:\Users\' that my account name has a
padlock showing and can't get into certain hidden folders for maintenance.

What's the way around this?

Fritzables.

There seems to be various things that generate a yellow lock icon
on a folder, probably something to do with sharing and permissions.
Googling 'yellow lock folder windows 7' gives plenty of hits and plenty
of reasons.
Some folders are not real folders, they are junction points for backwards
compatiblity with software written for XP etc.
Folder icons like ' My Documents', 'Application Data', 'NetHood' etc will generate
a 'Location is not available' box and an Access Denied message.
(You'll only see these icons if you have selected to show system files in folder options.)

 

[Gordon]

Hi All,

I have made the move across the Windows 7 in recent times and therefore
still getting used to the new environment.

I am the administrator of the OS but I notice that under 'C:\Users\'
that my account name has a padlock showing and can't get into certain
hidden folders for maintenance.

What's the way around this?

Fritzables.

What "hidden" folders for WHAT "maintenance"?
You shouldn't need to enter hidden folders for any maintenance at all...

 

[Mr Baracuda]

why do people want to mess around with folders THEY HAVE NO REASON TO BE
POKING THEIR NOSE IN?????

Leave the darn padlock folders alone! they are locked for a reason!


"Pete Moscatt" wrote in message
Hi All,

I have made the move across the Windows 7 in recent times and therefore
still getting used to the new environment.

I am the administrator of the OS but I notice that under 'C:\Users\' that my
account name has a padlock showing and can't get into certain hidden folders
for maintenance.

What's the way around this?

Fritzables.

 

[John]

There seems to be various things that generate a yellow lock icon
on a folder, probably something to do with sharing and permissions.
Googling 'yellow lock folder windows 7' gives plenty of hits and
plenty of reasons.
Some folders are not real folders, they are junction points for
backwards compatiblity with software written for XP etc.
Folder icons like ' My Documents', 'Application Data', 'NetHood' etc will
generate a 'Location is not available' box and an Access Denied message.

I like to keep the "My Documents" folder on a different partition to the
default system (C partition so that if I ever have to reformat and
reinstall Windows, I don't lose all my personal data in the "My Documents"
folder. I've always done this by right-clicking the shortcut to My Documents

Properties which shows current location and a "Move" button. Are you

saying that it's different or can't be done in Win7?

 

[Gordon]

I like to keep the "My Documents" folder on a different partition to the
default system (C partition so that if I ever have to reformat and
reinstall Windows, I don't lose all my personal data in the "My Documents"
folder. I've always done this by right-clicking the shortcut to My Documents
saying that it's different or can't be done in Win7?

Certainly can be done in Windows 7 in exactly that manner - bit not on
the shortcut - it needs to be done on the actual folder itself...

 

[John]

Certainly can be done in Windows 7 in exactly that manner - bit not on
the shortcut - it needs to be done on the actual folder itself...

Ah right, thanks Gordon.

 

[Dave-UK]

I like to keep the "My Documents" folder on a different partition to the
default system (C partition so that if I ever have to reformat and
reinstall Windows, I don't lose all my personal data in the "My Documents"
folder. I've always done this by right-clicking the shortcut to My Documents
saying that it's different or can't be done in Win7?

I see you are using XP, so you may not realise there is no 'My Documents' folder in Win7.
It has been renamed to 'Documents'.
As I explained the icon labelled 'My Documents' is a system file for backwards compatibility
with software written for XP and Win98 etc. It is not normally visible to the user.
In Win7, to change the location of the Documents folder:
Right-click your Documents folder > Properties.
Select the Location tab and make your changes.

 

[Gordon]

I see you are using XP, so you may not realise there is no 'My
Documents' folder in Win7.
It has been renamed to 'Documents'.

Not correct. It was changed to "Documents" in Vista but reverted to "My
Documents" in Windows 7.

 

[Dave-UK]

Not correct. It was changed to "Documents" in Vista but reverted to "My
Documents" in Windows 7.

Well I must have some strange version of Win7 Ultimate 64 then because the
folder is called 'Documents' here. When I click on it, it opens.
As I have system and hidden files shown I can see a semi-transparent folder icon
with a blue arrow called 'My Documents'.
If I try to open it I get an error message telling me the location is not available.

 

[Gordon]

Well I must have some strange version of Win7 Ultimate 64 then because the
folder is called 'Documents' here. When I click on it, it opens.
As I have system and hidden files shown I can see a semi-transparent
folder icon with a blue arrow called 'My Documents'.
If I try to open it I get an error message telling me the location is
not available.

Did you upgrade from Vista?
It's always been "My Documents" here, in a clean install of 7....

 

[Gordon]

Well I must have some strange version of Win7 Ultimate 64 then because the
folder is called 'Documents' here.

Sure you aren't confusing the "My Documents" folder with the LIBRARY?
That is called "Documents" but it contains a shortcut to the My
Documents folder...

 

[Trev]

I see you are using XP, so you may not realise there is no 'My Documents'
folder in Win7.
It has been renamed to 'Documents'.

But surprise lots of applications stick things in my documents and do so by
creating a my documents folder in documents. still it was a good idea while
it lasted

 

[Dave-UK]

Did you upgrade from Vista?
It's always been "My Documents" here, in a clean install of 7....

No, it was a clean install. I'm Admin and here's my desktop folder:
http://www.admin1.myzen.co.uk/AdminFolder.PNG
The faded folder icons are normally hidden.
My documents folder is labelled 'Documents'.
All of these folders are junction points and generate the access denied error:
Application Data
Cookies
Local Settings
My Documents
NetHood
PrintHood
SendTo
Start Menu
Templates
Anyone else have the same or different setup?

 

[Death]

Did you upgrade from Vista?
It's always been "My Documents" here, in a clean install of 7....

Win7 64 - back to My Documents, My Music, etc in the folder structure.
But there are 2 My Documents...1 is just a junction point, the other
contains junction points, except folders created by non-MS programs.
The Library has Documents, Music, etc without the My.

I think My(whatever) are still mainly being used as junction points for
Windows, but other programs are creating actual folders within.

The Properties of My Documents point to Documents.

 

[johnbee]

Hi All,

I have made the move across the Windows 7 in recent times and therefore
still getting used to the new environment.

I am the administrator of the OS but I notice that under 'C:\Users\' that
my account name has a padlock showing and can't get into certain hidden
folders for maintenance.

What's the way around this?

Fritzables.

My understanding is that if the owner of a folder is SYSTEM, then the icon
has a padlock on it. That is what it means, and it makes little difference
to anything as long as one has admin privilege because you can always do
whatever you want anyway.

At least, it does mean that, but it might also mean something else as well:
see my next comment.

If you wish to have a go at fiddling with things, good on you I say, but
make certain that you set up some folders and sub folders to practice on
before doing anything for real. Security, sharing, ownership, ACLs, and so
on are very tricky and if you change things a few times you will not get it
right unless you are very clever or lucky, which you aren't because you
asked the question in the first place. So, as I say, practice on folders
where you do not care what happens.

 

[Dave-UK]

Sure you aren't confusing the "My Documents" folder with the LIBRARY?
That is called "Documents" but it contains a shortcut to the My
Documents folder...

I think you are right about the Libraries, here's a quote from Windows 7 Annoyances:
"Disappointingly, the cloying "My" prefix that was mercifully
absent in Vista has returned in Windows 7. But it's only used
on the four folders for which there are matching libraries: My
Documents, My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos. In Windows
7, when you see one of these locations without the
dreaded My label (such as the aforementioned Start menu entries),
it usually means the library, not the folder."

A couple of months ago I installed a beta Service Pack 1 for Win7 but removed
it after a week or so. I'm wondering if that had altered anything.

 

[Pete Moscatt]

Thanks for the responses....

The folder I want access to is: C:\Users\Fritzables\Local Settings\Temp

I can't get into 'Local Settings'

I have had some Trojans attack in XP days and by going restarting in 'Safe
Mode' one could go into this folder and delete it's contents and take the
offending file with it.

Hope this helps what I am trying to do.

Fritzables.

 

[Gordon]

Thanks for the responses....

The folder I want access to is: C:\Users\Fritzables\Local Settings\Temp

I can't get into 'Local Settings'

I think you'll find that C:\Users\Fritzables\Local Settings is a
Junction Point not a real folder - that's why you can't access it.
Have you tried cleaning out all the Temp folders using disk cleanup?

 

[Pete Moscatt]

I've been using CCleaner - I think that a pretty good job of it all.