• Two annoying W7 problems(permissions, shortcuts)

    Home » Forums » AskWoody support » Windows » Windows 7 » Questions: Windows 7 » Two annoying W7 problems(permissions, shortcuts)

    Author
    Topic
    #470171

    I recently got a new computer with Windows 7 (“graduating” from XP)

    I have two issues with Windows 7 that are quite annoying. I’ve even googled them and it seems that it is a common problem. Perhaps some of the experts here have some suggestions.

    1) The most annoying is the inability to delete some folders under Windows Explorer. Basically, it says that I have to get permission from the administrator, MEL. I AM the administrator. I am the only user. I have found a workaround by using an old DOS command via the command line. I’ve checked permissions and supposedly I do have permissions. But apparently it doesn’t recognize me? What is going on?

    2) The second is not as big a deal, but the keyboard shortcuts don’t work. When I set up a keyboard shortcut (ctrl-alt-key), by right clicking and choosing properties for a file, it works the first time. But after that, it doesn’t work. Oddly, there is one program that does consistently work with my shortcut. Any ideas? With XP, I used a great utility, WINKEY, to create shortcuts. Is there something comparable for Windows 7?

    Mel

    Viewing 10 reply threads
    Author
    Replies
    • #1233080

      1) I would NOT go in and start deleting files and folders, until you learn more about Windows 7. There are a lot of these folders there for the system use and NOT the user. Even changing ownership can and will mess things up. Windows 7 is so much different than XP, one needs to think differently.
      You may be the ONLY user, and be a member of the Admin Group, but, you are NOT “The Administrator”. It is a account that should only be accessed when needed by the system.

      2) what program are you NOT having issues with and what programs are you having issues with?

      DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
      Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

    • #1233109

      Pluto:

      I am somewhat computer literate. I am not trying to delete important system files. The problem folder is one that stores assorted data files that I need. Basically, some of these files get updated at work. I then copy the entire folder to a flash drive, come home, and replace the folder with the updated one.

      This has worked for me very smoothly over the last 5 years with my XP system. I am new to permissions and I can’t figure out how to resolve the problem. I should have complete control over my computer. I understand the need for W7 to prevent me from doing some damage to certain files, but this is not one of those situations.

      The shortcuts are to certain data files that work with WORD or WORKS. On my XP computers, with Winkey, I use the Windows key and another letter and it immediately opens those files. I was hoping to do that with W7. My workaround is to place these shortcuts (icons) on the desktop and put them into a shortcut folder. I can then click the shortcut folder and then the shortcut. I would prefer keyboard shortcuts.

      Thanks for your response. If you have some further ideas, let me know.

      Mel

    • #1233123

      Are you trying to delete the folder from the flash drive or your hard drive?

      Where is the folder located on your drive?

      Joe

      --Joe

    • #1233130

      I recently got a new computer with Windows 7 (“graduating” from XP)

      I have two issues with Windows 7 that are quite annoying. I’ve even googled them and it seems that it is a common problem. Perhaps some of the experts here have some suggestions.

      1) The most annoying is the inability to delete some folders under Windows Explorer. Basically, it says that I have to get permission from the administrator, MEL. I AM the administrator. I am the only user. I have found a workaround by using an old DOS command via the command line. I’ve checked permissions and supposedly I do have permissions. But apparently it doesn’t recognize me? What is going on?

      2) The second is not as big a deal, but the keyboard shortcuts don’t work. When I set up a keyboard shortcut (ctrl-alt-key), by right clicking and choosing properties for a file, it works the first time. But after that, it doesn’t work. Oddly, there is one program that does consistently work with my shortcut. Any ideas? With XP, I used a great utility, WINKEY, to create shortcuts. Is there something comparable for Windows 7?

      Mel

      1) For running Windows Explorer as an administrator, try this: in the taskbar right-click Windows Explorer icon – in the opening small window right-click ‘Windows Explorer’ and select ‘Run as administrator’.

      You see, even if you are the only user with the administrator status, on Win 7 you are still not actually running things truely as an administrator unless proceeding in aforementioned way.

      2) This is strange behavior, on my box they work just perfect. Only thing coming into my mind is that the combinations could be somehow reserved for another program or maybe system use, but don’t know.

      BTW, have you tried installing this Winkey utility? It might still work, according to this source.

    • #1233146

      Joe:
      The folder is on my C drive.

      Basically like c:workstuff

      Stuff would be the folder containing data files.

      Ripley — thanks for the hint. I’ll try that when I get home. Also, if I do this, is it set or do I need to do this every time I run Windows Explorer (if I want to delete or move files)?

      Mel

      • #1233176

        Also, if I do this, is it set or do I need to do this every time I run Windows Explorer (if I want to delete or move files)?

        It’s not set, I suppose you have to do this every time.

        But if you’d use constantly the same folder under which you want to delete folders, you could make a shortcut to that folder on the desktop. Then give the shortcut permanent right to run as an administrator. Right-click shortcut, choose Properties, then on tab ‘Shortcut’ click Advanced. There’s an option to run as an administrator.

        Then again, when trying this, it only seems to work on program shortcuts, but on folder shortcuts it’s grayed out, at least on my system. That feature looks like it needed a registry hack … maybe I’ll delve on this a bit more. Or maybe someone else can clear this right away?

        Looks very much like you’d have to turn off UAC to make this work, which is certainly not recommended, unless your machine is absolutely safe i.e. offline all the time. That’s just my opinion, though.

    • #1233188

      Ripley:

      I’ve created this .bat file on my desktop and it does the job of removing the file:
      cd
      cd firstfolder
      rmdir secondfolder/s

      This removes the folder in question and all its contents, including sub-folders. It seems to work well, despite the permissions problems.

      But I will try your suggestion.

      Mel

      • #1233288

        I’ve created this .bat file on my desktop and it does the job of removing the file:
        cd
        cd firstfolder
        rmdir secondfolder/s

        There is no particular reason you should need to create a batch file to accomplish this. What are the exact steps that failed when you tried to do this? What was the exact error message you received?

        Joe

        --Joe

    • #1233243

      Glad you solved that issue. I too noticed looking in the registry that some operations are indeed allowed for programmatic access only. Seems like Microsoft’s basic policy is to protect us from ourselves

    • #1233245

      On the keyboard shortcut issue, WinKey doesn’t work on 64-bit systems, because it is 16-bit only. But I found this free utility claiming it can do keyboard shortcuts and more.

    • #1233246

      Ripley:

      I tried your suggestion. No joy! This is ridiculous.

      The Auto Hot Key programs does not list W7. It is 16-bit

      Any new ideas

      Mel

      • #1233312

        Ripley:

        I tried your suggestion. No joy! This is ridiculous.

        The Auto Hot Key programs does not list W7. It is 16-bit

        Any new ideas

        Mel

        You’re right, it does not list Win 7, however it installed fine on my 64-bit Win 7 system. Windows 7 can run many 32-bit programs, but not 16-bit ones.

        This AutoHotkey takes a while to learn, but seems to be a very powerful tool.

    • #1233299

      jOE:

      “You require permission permission from administrators to make changes to this folder”

      I have also tried Ripley’s suggestion: right click on Windows Explorer, right click on it again, choose to run the program as adminsitrator.

      It doesn;t work. I did d/l an UNLOCKER program and that works great. I can unlock and delete. That program says explorer.exe is what’s locking the program.

      Mel

    • #1233304

      Do you have more than one instance of windows explorer open & point to the folder or file in the folder when you are manipulating these files? If the folder name does not change is it really necessary to delete the folder? Why not just copy from the flash drive to the hd?

      Joe

      --Joe

      • #1233315

        Do you have more than one instance of windows explorer open & point to the folder or file in the folder when you are manipulating these files? If the folder name does not change is it really necessary to delete the folder? Why not just copy from the flash drive to the hd?

        Joe

        I forgot to mention that you should have no other Windows Explorer processes running when starting the run as admin session. I think by default it opens current user’s Library, from which you can navigate to your folder. Tip: if you have only Library items listed, you may want to change Layout to show e.g. Navigation pane (from Organize>Layout).

    Viewing 10 reply threads
    Reply To: Two annoying W7 problems(permissions, shortcuts)

    You can use BBCodes to format your content.
    Your account can't use all available BBCodes, they will be stripped before saving.

    Your information: