"Destination Folder Access Denied" when modifying Program Files folder

hkBattousai · 13 Feb 2013

Code:

Destination Folder Access Denied
------------------------------------
You'll need to provide administrator permission to copy to this folder.
<Folder/Sub-Folder Name>
Date created: <Creation Date>
------------------------------------
Continue
Skip
Cancel

I get this dialog files whenever I try to modify (copy, delete or edit) contents of the "C:\Program Files" folder or its sub folders. When I click the Continue button, everything goes on fine without any problem. Some programs give write errors when I try to modify a file inside Program Files with them (e.g.; Notepad++ gives write error when I try to edit a text file inside one of the sub-folders of the Program Files folder).

I'm the only user on this computer, and I'm already the administrator who installed this Windows. There is no other OS installed on this machine.

This problem has been occurring for a long time. At first I ignored it, but later it started to became bothersome. I don't remember how have it started, or what had I done before it first appeared.

What can I do to stop Windows showing me this dialog box? I want to freely modify contents of any directory in my computer. This is a home computer, I have no social privacy concerns.

(OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1, Up-to-date)

Cancerous · 13 Feb 2013

You could try disabling UAC.

User Account Control - UAC - Change Notification Settings

Brink · 14 Feb 2013

Hello HK,

This is because these are protected system files. This is done as a security measure to help prevent unauthorized changes and access to system files. For example, from malware.

By default, you could modify the file on your desktop, then copy it back into it's Program Files folder with the Continue prompt.

Your administrator account is an unelevated administrator account until you use "Run as administrator" to run or open something elevated.

If you like, you could also enable and log on to the built-in elevated "Administrator" account when you wanted to do modify files like this to have full unrestricted access.

Built-in Administrator Account - Enable or Disable

Hope this helps, :)
Shawn

hkBattousai · 14 Feb 2013

Cancerous said:

You could try disabling UAC.

Since it was easiest, I tried Cancerous' advice first, and it worked.

It was strange that UAC was already appeared to be turned off (the slider was at the bottom). I get suspicious of it, I moved the slider to an upper position, then I clicked OK, then I moved the slider to bottom again, then clicked OK again, and then restarted my computer.
I did nothing else and just doing it solved my problem.

User Account Control - UAC - Change Notification Settings

Thank you Cancerous, and thank you for your reply Brink.

Brink · 14 Feb 2013

Glad to hear it worked for you. :)

Shaoshi · 20 Sep 2013

I tried disabling UAC and it also worked for me. The UAC slider also appeared all the way off, but when I moved it up then clicked ok, then moved it back down and clicked ok I was able to copy the file immediately with no restart. Very strange.

"Destination Folder Access Denied" when modifying Program Files folder

"Destination Folder Access Denied" when modifying Program Files folder

UAC method worked