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Windows XP question

ssibal

Unregistered
S
I recently acquired a box with XP on it and I want to play around with XP a bit. My problem is that for some reason I cannot execute applications from the desktop (files that I put on the desktop). It says I do not have the right privilages or that the file cannot be accessed. This is strange because I am always on as Administrator, I should have complete control. If I create a shortcut on the desktop to any application in my start menu I get the message and cannot run the program, but I have no problem running it from start. Anyone have any idea what is going on and how to fix it?
 
You get this sort of behavior when the local registry's bent/damaged.

Create a new account, and give it admin priviledges. See if the behavior goes away.
 
It sounds as if you acquired the XP box as a used machine, yes? If so, you don't say whether you reinstalled XP fresh. That's what I'd do.
 
Privliges

You can also get errors like this if the box was part of an Active directory previously. If it is, make sure you change the settings in My Computer's Properties to Workgroup. This should solve the issue, but I have had boxes that still wouldn't allow the administrator account to work properly after it.

Good Luck,
SSR
 
Are you actually logging on as the user "Administrator" or with another user name with Administrator privileges? Once any user name is created in XP, it resides forever even if you rename it or delete it, thus probably the explanation for your current problem. Check your current logged on name, then see if that user exists in your 'documents and settings' folder. Someone may have previously ran Windows Repair with the installation disk after using the system and attempted to use a duplicate, already used name. This creates the situation you are currently experiencing as well. If all else fails, boot in safe mode, log on as 'Administrator', delete the other problem user accounts, leaving only the 'Administrator' account. This ensures access to all aspects of the system from anywhere.
 
sounds like someone deleted the Administrator signon.

bye bye Admin rights.

requires reinstall of xp.
 
An update, I tried creating another account with administrator privilages. That account has no problems executing programs from the desktop, but the Administrator account is still messed up. Re-installing XP is out of the question since I do not have the CD. Now where do you set permissions for the desktop in XP? I can right click on any file or folder to set permissions but how would I do it for the desktop. Would that even work?
 
The desktop is usually located in C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Desktop
 
Iconoclast said:
Are you saying this is a pirated copy of XP?
Click to expand...
If not, it could be a box (such as a Hewlett-Packard) that has the OS installed on a hidden partition. The OEM's website should have instructions on how to reinstall the OS from the hidden partition. If the hidden partition gets hosed, the OS can sometimes be obtained from the OEM for a nominal fee.
 
If not, it could be a box (such as a Hewlett-Packard) that has the OS installed on a hidden partition. The OEM's website should have instructions on how to reinstall the OS from the hidden partition. If the hidden partition gets hosed, the OS can sometimes be obtained from the OEM for a nominal fee.
Click to expand...

Well, unless things have changed recently the best thing they'll do either send you a recovery CD (for a small fee of course) or ask you to buy a copy of Windoze from Micro$oft at your own expense.

I worked tech support for these people a few years ago and that's how they operated back then.
 
Skyknight said:


Well, unless things have changed recently the best thing they'll do either send you a recovery CD (for a small fee of course) or ask you to buy a copy of Windoze from Micro$oft at your own expense.
Click to expand...

Wow. That really sucks.
 
Iconoclast said:
Are you saying this is a pirated copy of XP?
Click to expand...

No, I have the original 'recovery' CDs which will format the hardrive and restore the computer to its original state (i.e. with XP and all the other junk programs they put on). Obviously, I do not want to go that route or I would not have even posted about this.
 
Check the security settings on the \desktop folder. Administrator might just be denied /execute (don't know why). Take ownership of it and reassign the proper rights.

In any case reinstalling is a bit much just to get an admin acct. You say creating another account with admin rights works right?

Rename the current administrator account to something like administrator-old, create a new account named administrator and add it to the local administrator group.

It sounds like it was a member of Active Directory or an NT domain and it wasn't backed out of it properly. All the domain policies are probably still on the system. Some companies restrict how the local admin account behaves since breaking/resetting the password on it is a trivial thing.
 
Ok, heres what I have found:

I noticed that the Administrator desktop was located in:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Cookies\Desktop

and the desktop for the administrator I created is in:
C:\Documents and Settings\test\Desktop

So, what I did was move the Administrator's desktop folder out of the Cookies folder to the same spot. Now I can execute the shortcuts that I had put on the desktop as Administrator. Now, for some reason the desktop is still tied to that directory. Now when I place a new shortcut on the actual desktop, it does not place it in the Desktop folder (it does not even appear on the actual desktop!). But if you browse the desktop "folder" in windows explorer (on the top of the list) the shortcuts appear there! Very strange, anyone have an idea how I could associate the desktop to the correct folder again?
 
Hmmm, whenever I have had similar problems I do what evildave suggests, which usually helps considerably. Also, I don’t know how your desktop folder found its way into the cookies folder because as far as I’m aware it has no business whatsoever being there (normal corruption or unintentional screw up is what I’d suspect). With that said, try a right-click on your Start button and see if there are two options for exploring. With my install of winXP, one will say “Explore”, while another will say “Explore All Users”. The Explore option will take you to the Start Menu folder belonging to the account you’re currently logged into, while Explore All Users takes you to another Start Menu folder. The key to understanding what’s going on here is that the shortcuts in the All Users directory should, by default, be present in any account on the computer (at least when a new account is first created I’m fairly certain this is so). In other words, individual accounts contain their own stuff plus all the stuff designated to be shared by All Users.

Here’s an interesting experiment; log into a user’s account, create a file and place it on the desktop. Now copy the item, and place the copy in the All Users/Desktop folder. Now have a look at your desktop… what I see are two identical files (name, and extension) seemingly coexisting in the same place at the same time (not supposed to be possible), and if you right click each one in turn and select properties, you can even view that the paths (locations) shown are the same, kewl ! Of course, one of the files is an imposter, pretending to be located in the current users directory when in fact it is located in the All Users directory.
Could this be XP magic ?

You may be aware of all this, I don't know. Good luck solving your problem !
 
Sounds like folder redirection to me, probably part of a group policy set on the domain or active directory that the system used to be (or currently is) a member of.

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/q242/5/57.asp&NoWebContent=1
(I know it says Win2K but the keys are the same)

You can change those keys directly if you like but if there's a group policy in effect it will probably go back to the old way when you log back in.

Check and see if the system is a member of a domain or a workgroup. If it's a member of a domain make sure you have a functional local admin account and change it to a workgroup.

edit: Just FYI, when you open explorer and you see \desktop, \my documents, etc at the top level just ignore them, they're just pointers to the real folders in \documents and settings\username.
 
Problem fixed!

Problem fixed! I mis-stated myself in my previous post. I did move the Administrator's Desktop folder from the Cookies folder but I did not move it to the place I said. I had forgoten when I posted that I had first copied the folder to C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop and then I moved the original to another location. Well, I created an empty Desktop folder in the Cookies folder and tried to create a shortcut. It appeared on the desktop, and searching in Windows Explorer, it appeared in the Desktop folder that I had moved (not the one I copied). So I deleted the copy of Desktop, moved the original Desktop to the right place, and deleted the empty Desktop from the Cookies folder, everything works fine, I can create shortcuts on desktop and execute applications. Thanks for all the help.
 
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