Need way to disable "Permissions" dialogue and take ownership of everything

[kelliann1]

Joe, you and I were typing at the same time. Yes, it is a permissions issue. I want to get whatever permission I need to open documents from the Windows Explorer in Word. For that matter, Excel spreadsheets too. And to rename photos or do whatever I want with them.

Documents are visible under Desktop/Libraries/Documents/My Documents/a bunch of subfolders.

They are also under C:/Users/MyUserName/My Documents (I assume this is where they are really stored; under libraries they are just shortcuts to the C: path.) So I would really like to get permission to do whatever I want starting with /MyUserName/ downward. But I can't figure out how.

Checking under Control Panel/User Accounts, I see {my user name} with the word Administrator under it. Apparently that is the standard user account.

When I try to change from standard user account to Administrator, it won't let me.

I hate this.

I have not yet tried Winbubbles.

[BruceR]

Checking under Control Panel/User Accounts, I see {my user name} with the word Administrator under it. Apparently that is the standard user account.

No, that means you are a member of the Administrators group.

When I try to change from standard user account to Administrator, it won't let me.

It won't let you change to an Administrator there because you are already an Administrator (i.e. member of group).

The change screen defaults to selecting a standard user, but that is not an indication of what you are currently.


Bruce

[kelliann1]

I have UAC disabled entirely but it doesn't help.

I just read that post #1 you mentioned, Joe, and am not sure what I would put in place of the "X:" for external drive letter.

Let's say I wanted to get the permission I needed for the things in My Documents to open up in Word. Would I replace that drive letter with this path.... "c:/users/[myusername]/my documents" followed by the rest of the things he mentions? And use the quotes to indicate the path is all one unit?

If you need to take ownership, open a command prompt with admin privileges and type in:takeown /f "X:" /r /a (where X: is ext. drive)Enclose the drive letter with spaces in quotes. /r is recursive. /a grants ownership to the Administrators group, rather than the user.

[JoeP517]

You should replace "X:" with which ever folder you wish to change. The /F parameter on takeown is a genereic filename specification. That means you can specify a drive, a folder, or down to a specific file. In a command prompt type "takeown /?" to see an explanation and examples.

Remember to run an elevated command prompt to make sure you have the appropriate rights to make these changes.

Joe

[kelliann1]

I am reporting back that Word 2003 32 bit is now opening correctly in Windows Home Premium 64 bit when I click a document (.doc) from Windows Explorer. I don't know if 32 or 64 bit has anything to do with it, just thought I would include that information here.

Why did it start working? Not sure. I have been working on this for days and didn't follow the rule of changing 1 thing at a time. Now I am annoyed at myself.

After running the compatibility troubleshooter with no luck I typed the exact error wording into google search box and of the hits that came up, I chose to go here http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-sound/problem-with-command-line-switches-cant-open-word/18eb8dca-a900-48a5-8468-8b18f364e3a7?page=5

Ignore the page number at the end - I started reading from the beginning of the thread and got as far as page 5 before I quit reading.

What was happening to me was this. I click a .doc from Windows Explorer. Instead of opening Word 2003 and the document at the same time, I would get this error message:
There was a problem sending the command to the program.

Today I put the desktop shortcut to Word in the recycle bin. I went to start/programs (I have the "old" XP style start menu), and right clicked the word shortcut there. I opened properties and picked restore to previous version. I restored to the date I installed word. I did this because I'd messed with the permissions tab in previous days and decided I should start fresh. Before I restored I did check the permissions that were set against what I have on a windows 7 machine with Word 2007 installed. They matched perfectly. Still, I thought maybe I did something wrong.

After going back to the install date for Word 2003, I again tried to open a .doc from Explorer. No. Didn't work. Got the same error message. Ran the compatibility troubleshooter. It suggested the thread that I provided the link for above.

Read everyone's troubles and suggested fixes. Fixes didn't work. Mainly they were: Go to Properties, compatibility tab, uncheck run as administrator. Or, then click button at bottom called change settings for all users and uncheck it in there. Or uncheck run in compatibility mode. I unchecked both run as admin and run in compatibility mode.

There were a bunch more suggestions. Apparently this error can also happen in Excel. One guy suggested Excel Options/Advanced/General tab and check or uncheck (I forget which - you'll find it in the thread) the box for Ignore DDE something or other.

I went to Word options looking for such a thing. Not there. I looked around the options tabs and under security tab, unchecked something about random numbers for merge, and unchecked something about Save without privacy information. On compatibility tab I unchecked the sole checked item which had to do with linebreaks.

I decided to try and open any .doc file using word's own Open command (which had been working fine, but just thought I would try anyway). It worked fine as usual. The same doc I could not open via windows explorer opened using Word's open command, as it had been doing.

I left Word open and tried something I've tried before that didn't work. I went to Windows Explorer and once again tried to open a doc from there. Surprise - it opened in the already-opened Word. This was the first indication things might be on the way to being fixed.

I closed Word. Went to Windows Explorer. Clicked the same document. It opened Word and instead of the error message, the document opened perfectly! Success!! I tried closing Word and opening several other documents from various folders. All opened Word and then opened themselves just fine.

Whether this success will stick if I shut down the computer, and restart, I have no idea. I don't even want to try it.

I do know that "restore (Word 2003) to previous versions" when clicked from Word's properties tab (right click your shortcut) did not solve the problem by itself.

I did check the file associations and as it was previously, .doc was associated with Word 2003 so no change there that I know of.

Right now, I can't come up with a single solution or even exactly what was wrong with mine and what fixed it. But I do know that from what I've read, everyone who encounters this spends days on it, it's enormously frustrating, and Microsoft has ignored the issue as far as I can tell and left the users to flounder around trying to find a cure. This isn't right.

[Katieelizabethmarie]

I realize it has been quite some time since you asked this quesion but in case you, or someone else reading this, still hasn't found the answer I've got your solution, well at least I hope so. I had this poblem when trying to add a locked folder to itunes, and after a ton of research and hours of frustration I found the schooling simple explanation. Open my computer and right click on the c drive and select properties. Open the security tab and select advanced. From there open the owner tab and press edit. Now select your user name, and this is VERY IMPORTANT check the "replace owner on subcontaioners and objects tab" if you don't select this it won't help. From there press okay, if windows security askes something along the lines of are you sure you want to so this click yes or okay. It will have a window showing the transfer of owenship, this will take awhile. After its done a box that will apear that says you have successfully changed ownership, and then you should be good to go. I know it's rather frustrating that its that simple but it house help. Good luck!