Security issues (Access Denied)

CrazyAwesome said:

The owner is my PC and my only account. The copy of the hosts file, I compared all the security settings side by side. They are identical. Yet one I can edit and one I can't.

Try going to c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc at a command prompt and type

attrib hosts

does it show as below?

R C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

It says
A C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

I'm stumped. By default, the owner is "System" and read-only is set. I just unset my read only and made a change. No prompts for anything related to permissions.

Did you try using the Administrator account?

The account I'm using is the only account on the pc. When I installed Win7 months ago, I just entered my name and thats it. Not other accounts present. Really appreciating all the help.
But im also stumped. Every guide I've seen online tells me just running notepad as admin will work. Yet it doesnt. Nothing works.

Almost sounds like you're logged in using a temp account

Well I surrender. I rebooted the computer and hey presto. I can now edit the file no problem. WTF
Many thanks for everyones input.
The most annoying part is I already tried rebooting once already and it didnt make a difference.
Another Windows mystery.

Just a note, the Administrator account is there, but disabled by default. You have to go in and enable it to use it. Glad you got it sorted!

To edit the host file I have always ran notepad or notepad++ with elevated admin permissions.
Then opened the host file "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts" made changes then saved.

Had the same problem