Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Two previously standard folders, "Documents and Settings" and "Local Settings", appear to be locked in Windows Vista. The reason: they've been moved.
I can not longer access the Documents and Settings folder or the Local Settings folder after my XP to Vista upgrade. I appear not have sufficient privileges yet I am the administrator (full access) or my local PC?
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As best I can figure Microsoft is trying to make it very difficult to access those old folders.
Yes, I said "old folders". Apparently in Windows Vista, the folders have been moved. The information is elsewhere and fully accessible in the new location.
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If you try to open "C:\Documents and Settings" in Windows Explorer on Vista, you're quite likely to get this error:
Even if you're logged in as administrator you may still get that error.
The "problem" here is that Microsoft has apparently moved everything that used to be in "Documents and Settings" into a new folder called "Users". Open that and you'll probably get what you were expecting out of "Documents and Settings":
In fact you may notice that "Documents and Settings" is displayed with a shortcut icon in Windows Explorer:
As you can guess, "Documents and Settings" is a shortcut to "Users", presumably present for compatibility reasons.
You can probably also guess what's happened with "Local Settings". Normally you'd find it in "c:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Local Settings". It's been moved to "c:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local":
I don't know the specific reasons for the changes. One observation is that the "new" paths have no spaces in them, making me wonder if the old names were particularly problematic when configuring software to use these locations. That doesn't seem like enough of a reason, though, for a change of this magnitude.
In any case, if you get access denied at the old location, the solution is simple: go to the new location instead.
Article C3093 - July 21, 2007
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
I really don't like Vista for I can't find anything once I have put it in a folder or documents why am I having so much trouble with this
Posted by: Mary Woodard at February 22, 2011 2:34 PMif you look at the permissions on the Docs and Settings folder, you'll see how this works. You have access to see the folder but not the contents.
Administrators however have access to see subfolders and contents.
in the windows explorer address bar for example, type:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator
and you'll see you can access that - which is actually showing you C:\Users\Administrator
For the person who said "Dumb comment - its not a solution to have crap on the drive which we can't access." - you actually can access it is the point.
It's like one of the two roads leading to your house being blocked off - just use the other one.
Posted by: Nick at June 17, 2011 2:45 AMThank you for these useful tips, iv been trying to access pictures that iv lost for months, and iv finally been able to access them!! thank you
Posted by: Lucy at October 9, 2011 2:48 PMTry the steps below to get access to the Documents folder.
1. Right-click on the Documents Folder.
Posted by: jhon at December 13, 2011 10:18 PM2. Select Properties.
3. Click Security tab.
4. Click Advanced in the lower right corner.
5. In the Advanced Security Settings window that pops up, click on the Owner tab.
6. Click Edit.
7. Click Other users or groups.
8. In the "Enter the object names to select" type in Everyone.
9. Click OK.
10. Then select Everyone under "group or user names" and then "Allow" "Full control" to the folder.
11. Apply the settings.
Then try accessing the Document folder.
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I wanted to just say thank you for this article. Solved my problem and all is well with the world once again.
Posted by: Steve Welsh at January 10, 2012 8:11 AM