REAL Software Forums

I admit - I must be plain stupid. Employing my 20+ years of working with computers I can not figure out how I should access a file in Vista! I am aware of the Junction "problems"/"features" of Vista but I do not see how this could cause my problems.
I am trying to use the tracing facility of winhttp which spits out a trace-file to a location containing API calls and other diagnostics. This works beautifully in Windows XP, but not in Vista! I am administrator of the system (or as close as you can get, my account is in the Administrators Group). Writing the trace files to C:\Users\msa\Desktop and running the application to be traced, I get files on the Desktop that grows as expected. After a run has been completed I would like to read them, but alas - I am not able to read them!

I have tried everything I can imagine;
1) Change permissions of the files. Yes, I can set myself with all access rights (full control). Still "Access Denied" when opening the file. I can delete the file from the desktop, I can copy the file...
2) Make myself owner of the file. Yes, I am the sole owner of the file - still "Access Denied" when reading. Deleting and copying is OK
3) Run Windows Explorer as Administrator - still "Access Denied" when reading...

The only solution I have is - and I really love this - is to copy the files to a NAS share and from there I am able to open the file for reading!!! Why is the freaking system doing this to me and what can I do?!?

Any help GREATLY appreciated before I torch the computer in the parking-lot! (I have already downgraded my primary computer from Vista back to XP and this is one of my testing computers for my software)

TIA /M

Oh yeah - copying the files back from the NAS and I get "Access Denied" again when trying to Read them.

Yes, Vista does prevent write access to some areas of the file system but it sounds strange that you can open "your" file on "your" desktop.

You can go into the control panel and switch off UAC (User Access Control) or whatever it's called. Not sure that'll help but it's the first thing I'd try. Not saying you should leave UAC switched off but give it a try to see if it's UAC that preventing you from accessing the file.

Works! God d*mn this CRAP! Now I hope I can get rid of the warning balloon popping up every 5 minutes reminding me that UAC is disabled.... I hope Windows 7 will be the Mother of All OS:es... (I doubt it though...)

Thanks,
/msa

For reference: to disable UAC, start msconfig -> tools tab -> Disable UAC and then reboot.

Enjoy /msa

In the task bar you'll have a little security centre widgit. Open that and you should be able to switch off the alerts. problem with that is it disables 'all' the alerts so if some other part of the system security was disabled it wouldn't alert you.

You're right, Vista is crap. Not because it's really crap but because MS Windows, as an operating system, wasn't developed right from the start to be secure. Something like Linux/Unix was designed from day_1 as a secure system so all parts of the OS and user applications were created with that in mind so they all work. With windows though all the security is just 'bolted on' as an afterthought to the effect that even bits of windows can't talk to each other without cocking it up bigtime.

Furthermore, the current path Microsoft is heading is a total mystery - why develop a Vista Business that lacks BitLocker to fully encrypt harddisks? Why add tons of eye-candy to a "Business" Version? Why is Vista Enterprise only available to Software Assurance customers? Why is my 5 months old system scoring 3,2 on Vista Experience (oh yeah - only 256MB nVidia FX570 graphics...)? Why can't I use my 18 months old HP printer/scanner combo (no drivers)... or my web-cam - oh - forgot to buy new hardware...
I sincerely hope that Windows XP will be the most long-lived OS for Microsoft - decent combination between usability and business use.

Cheers,
/msa

Have you tried writing the files to the User Documents folder instead of to the Desktop?

I tried various locations for example, C:\TEMP and C:\Users\msa\Documents, with the same result - Access Denied.