Administrator required to save documents?

[piikea]

Ok. So I'm new to W7 (Home Premium) OS & have encountered several times when trying to "save" things getting "you have to be administrator" or "access denied" type messages preventing me from saving.

For instance I'm logged onto my computer as " Joe Blow, administrator" yet I still can't save a notepad .txt file? Who the #$!@#^& else could be the "administrator" if not me when:
a.) it says I'm the admin
b.) my name as admin is the only user on this computer??

IF I specifically open/run as admin notepad then I can save it. However, if I then click on that same document & add to it I cannot save it again w/ what I modified/added.

 

[Ztruker]

Where are you trying to save it to?

 

[piikea]

It only allows me to save to my documents even though that's not where I'd prefer to save to.

 

[Ztruker]

So you can save to My Documents. Where are you trying to save to that it won't allow?

 

[piikea]

On a different drive. I'm used to being able to save whatever TO wherever in XP. I assume it's the W7 Libraries structure but even as "just a user" (& not admin) I ought to be able to save things.

 

[Ztruker]

A different drive should be okay, I do that all the time.

Can you be more specific though, provide a specific path? Maybe that will help?

 

[logicearth]

The drive is probably setup for your previous OS. You need to adjust the permissions for the new system.

 

[Alejandro85]

Most likely it's due to the UAC thing new in Vista. It basically tries to protect you by making everyone a standard user. So, Windows in fact lies to you when it says you're an admin, in fact you only become an admin really when the elevation prompt is confirmed, and only in that program.

By default, standard users have permision to write to it's profile folder (anything in c:\users\<youruser> and subdirectories) and a few more places depending on each system. But saving to, say, the root C drive, windows folder or program files will fail as you say.

 

[piikea]

A different drive should be okay, I do that all the time.

Can you be more specific though, provide a specific path? Maybe that will help?

I've just been trying to recreate the situation & couldn't. However it's happened several times & I had to save whatever it was to my documents & then cut & paste it in the folder/drive I wanted to put it in.

The drive is probably setup for your previous OS. You need to adjust the permissions for the new system.

It's a new HDD that doesn't & never did have an OS on it. Often under permissions the allow & deny columns are greyed out so I wasn't able to alter them. If I select admin under permissions it often shows that it/I (?) as admin have "full rights".

I'm still not clear how if I'm the only user on this system and labeled as admin why there would be any difficulties. IF I was a user & there was a separate admin "account" I could understand it.

Most likely it's due to the UAC thing new in Vista. It basically tries to protect you by making everyone a standard user. So, Windows in fact lies to you when it says you're an admin, in fact you only become an admin really when the elevation prompt is confirmed, and only in that program.

By default, standard users have permision to write to it's profile folder (anything in c:\users\<youruser> and subdirectories) and a few more places depending on each system. But saving to, say, the root C drive, windows folder or program files will fail as you say.

Yes, this is what I've read. There's a way to be the "real" admin of the whole system so to speak but it was complicated to do so I didn't try it. Since I started this thread I've opened several programs with "run as admin" & the little admin icon stayed on the programs shortcut which I guess indicates it will "run as admin" all the time now when I click on their shortcuts (?). This doesn't seem to work w/ Windows programs (i.e., notepad, etc).

I am trying to save most things anywhere but the SSD which has the OS on it. I did the tweak that "directs" the my documents to this new location on my 2nd HDD - which I thought would prevent any difficulties of where things could be saved. etc.

IMO the Libraries set up just adds another "layer" of complication on top of the up-to-this-point simple "save as" function & put it wherever you want. Instead of having it in "2 locations" - the library and it's actual/real location on whatever drive or folder you put it.

 

[Ztruker]

IF I was a user & there was a separate admin "account" I could understand it.

There is a separate Admin account called Administrator. It is disabled by default in Vista and Windows 7. Unless you have Pro, Ultimate or a Corporate version, the only way you login as Administrator is in Safe More.

Open an Elevated Command Prompt
To enable Administrator: Enter net user administrator /active:yes
To disable Administrator: Enter net user administrator /active:no
Reboot to Safe Mode and you can now login as Administrator. For Pro, Ultimate or Corporate, Administrator will now appear as a choice in the Login screen when doing a regular boot.