Windows Vista Documents and Settings folder 'locked'?

I am trying to migrate some email data from Windows XP on another computer which gets stored in a subfolder to Documents and Settings. In Vista, this folder seems to be locked and I can't seem to unlock it.

Please advise how to get into D&S.

I have gone into Properties>Security and allowed myself but it continues to deny

 

Documents and Settings isn't really a folder on Vista, it's a "junction. "

However, go to C:\Users and you'll find it's essentially the same as XP's Documents and Settings.

 

Documents and Settings

OK. I found that but the problem persists. In The specific Users folder I found subfolders for AppData which I could access but that had a subfolder called Local with another sub folder for Application Data but access is denied to that folder.

There was also a subfolder to the user called application data to which access was also denied.

Again, under the security boxes, I am shown as having all permissions (albeit shaded) except Special Permissions.

I am not sure where I want to go. I want to copy over my email profile before I install the email client (Thunderbird) on the new computer so that the installation picks up the old settings. In XP, the profile was in a folder called Thunderbird in the specific User folder as a subfolder to Documents and Settings.

 

You can view a list of all the new Vista locations by using a command prompt.

Go to Start and type cmd and press Enter. Now type: DIR /AL (Capitals for clarity only) and press Enter. The results will be a list of all the Junctions for the user folders. These will show the name of the old XP user folder and the name of the new folder that replaces it in brackets.

 

It is unwise to interfere with those directories/files but, if you really wish to go down that route, do this:
To take ownership of a folder, follow these steps:

Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:
You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?

All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.

where folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of.

Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.

To take ownership of a file, follow these steps:

Right-click the file that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click Administrator, or click the Administrators group, and then click OK.

The administrator or the Administrators group now owns the file.

"Junctions " are not new with Vista, they are inherent in the ntfs file system. If you are interested, it could help you if you read this page before applying the above:
'http://windowsconnected.com/blogs/joshs_blog/archive/2006/09/28/Windows-Vista-Junction-Points.aspx

 

Permissions

Ok I'm getting a little bit frustrated with the denial of access to my folders. I have turned off user account control but I still get access denied when I try to open folders such as "documents and settings" and various other folders even folders on my backup drive.

Why will Vista not allow me to view my folders, where do I set permsissions for full control? I've tried right clicking and chaning the security settings but when I click ok it says access denied. This is getting to be really aggravating, it's my darn computer and I should be able to open any folder I want to. I can't even find files I've downloaded even by doing search, I have unhide system folders and system extensions (which I've always done on previous versions of windows.

How can I set permsissions to open ALL folers? There has got to be a way somehow to do this.

 

I do not think there is any command which will give you blanket clearance to open secured folders. All the folders, to which you do not have access, are not needed for day to day operations. I do not use Thuderbird, but doesn't it have any import facility, where you could point it to the location of your profiles?
If you are really intent on gaing access to individual folders, however, I did outline a procedure in my earlier posting.
Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:
You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?
All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.
Now click the permissions tab. If you see an entry for everyone and an entry saying deny, edit and remove the "everyone" entry. Apply and OK and OK again.
You are now back in the original box, click edit. Under you user name, or the adminstrator, make sure all the boxes at the bottom are ticked. (You tick one and it defaults to all) Apply an OK again and you should have access. Be very careful what you change in there!

 

Oh I'm not wanting to change anything there, you see I am female and when someone or something tells me I can't do it then you know darn well I'm going to try and find a way...... q Have decided it wasn't that important anyway. And that dang folder is locked, no way could I change the security settings on that, so I admit I have been defeated on that issue.

Had other major problem but will have to make a new post for that.

Look for Services Disabled????? post see if you can tell me what happened.