Applications unable to access desktop?

Sorry for the vague title but frankly i'm at a bit of a loss even simply describing the issue.

Basically, I'm unable to save to desktop with some programs and when i tried to build a c++ console application and then run it through visual studio, it gave me an "Access is denied" error. I've also noticed that shortcuts aren't being created.

For example, FL studio is giving me this:



and i'm not sure if relevant but i'm not even able to browse to C:\ in the save prompt.

I've tried messing with permissions and taking ownership and anything else i was able to find but so far nothing has helped.

Well that might not be true, FL studio saving did work at one point, for just a moment. I'm not at all sure what triggered it though, or what caused it to stop working.

I've had this problem for quite a while now and i'd be so incredibly grateful if i could finally find a solution.

Did you try running as administrator?

try adding everyone full control to your desktop, see if it will work - don't keep it like this though

I've tried running everything as administrator and i have also given everyone full control, has not helped at all.

Long shot but re-log in case permissions weren't activated.

Also try adding your account directly, if not added already.

Does it save to other drives/partitions?

Well this is odd - i relogged a while ago and it seemed everything was fixed, rechecking it now though, as expected, nothing works again. I'm quite sure i haven't changed anything meanwhile, at least not knowingly. While it was working though, i was even able to have an installer form a shortcut again.

I have given full permissions to "everyone" and also my account, if that's what you mean? And i've only got my one C drive, in which FL Studio for example (i'm pretty sure i've ruled it out as the culprit), can save seemingly everywhere except for the desktop. Including any folder within program files for example. It is still not able to access C:/ itself.

This situation is so horribly ridiculous to describe, i hope i'm making sense to you, at least as much as this thing is making sense to me.

You don't have permissions to create a file on C root (directly under C, can create folder) by default so possible program can't also. However, it should write to desktop c:\users\username\desktop.

Everyone is for diagnosing, should remove it later. You can keep your own user account full control, no problem with that. Odd question :) can you manually create file/folder on desktop? If so, create one and see if FL Studio will save in it.

Check that new folders owner/effective permissions (right click - properties - security - advanced). For effective permissions, chose your own account)

I wonder if Enterprise version has anything to do with this?

@Layback Bear - I'm a bit doubtful to that being the reason in this, as the folder structure is as it has always been; horribly cluttered and with the same names. How might i find out if that's what i need?

@GokAy - I can't even navigate to it within the save prompt though, i at least think i have been able to do that before. I can create folders and files on desktop, i can even save to it from for example photoshop or the snipping tool thing. The permissions are i'm guessing inherited, since they also include everyone and also me. I set myself as the owner as well for good measure, but it did not help.

Is enterprise that much different? This entire issue is very recent, it's been fine for about five years now.

Can you try a clean startup? Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup

Also you can try to re-install it if you don't mind. Right click and "run as administrator" on setup exe.