Padlocks everywhere

[TEEB]

I have padlocks on a lot of folders. I get access denied when i try to open some folders.
So I reinstalled windows 7 HP 64 bit. When I restored data from my nova back up my Outlook will not allow me to open(Cannot open your default email folders). All the padlocks came back and I'm at a loss as to what's going on.

I don't even know what information to give you to help me out.

What ever you need to know just ask.....

Thanx

[TEEB]

I just tried to install an new email client. No luck I don't have access to the files I need. If I can get rid of the padlocks I should be okay. I've tried many things to get rid of them and none have worked so far. Hope someone here has the answer.....

[jdeb]

This seems to be permission issue. Try the steps below and check if it helps.

Step 1:

Make sure that you have given proper permissions following the steps mentioned below:

How to Take Ownership in Windows 7:

Part A:

a. Locate the file or folder on which you want to take ownership in windows explorer.

b. Right click on file or folder and select“Properties” from Context Menu.

c. Click onSecurity tab.

d. Click on“Advanced”.

e. Now click onOwner tab in Advance Security Settings for User windows

f. Click onEdit Button and select user from given Change Owner to list if user or group is not in given list then click on other users or groups. Enter name of user/group and click ok.

g. Now select User/group and click apply and ok. (Check “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects” if you have files and folder within selected folder)

h. Click ok when Windows Security Prompt is displayed

i. Now Owner name must have changed.

j. Now clickOk to exist from Properties windows

Part B:

Once you havetaken the ownership of file or folder next part comes is Granting Permissions to that file/folder or object.

How to Grant Permissions in Windows 7

a. Locate the file or folder on which you want to take ownership in windows explorer

b. Right click on file or folder and select“Properties” from Context Menu

c. Click onEdit button in Properties windows Click ok to confirm UAC elevation request.

d. Select user/group from permission windows or click add to add other user or group.

e. Now under Permission section check the rights which you want to grant i.e. check “Full Control” under the “Allow” column to assign full access rights control permissions to Administrators group.

f. ClickOk for changes to take effect and click ok final ok to exit from Properties window.

Step 2:

If you have already tried the steps mentioned above then check the status of the issue in new user account.

Windows 7 Professional 64 is Locking Me Out of my Folders! - Microsoft Answers

[TEEB]

jdeb Thanx for the help.

Ok, Completed part A The pad lock is gone. replaced by a blue arrow pointing up and to the right. I cannot get into this folder at all now "access denied"

Went to Part B when I selected properties there was no "edit button" and I could not find anything about UAC elevation. I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

any suggestions?

[rwest]

Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista - How-To Geek

there ya' go run it on the 'C' drive, that'll fix it.

[TEEB]

Originally Posted by rwest Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista - How-To Geek there ya' go run it on the 'C' drive, that'll fix it.

I could not install this utility.

SOoooooo. I did a clean install of windows. formatted the drive and deleted the 100g system partition. When the install completed the first thing i did was check my user folder in explorer. Guess what? a padlock on my username folder!!!

Now what do I do....I'm lost now?

[glc]

You have to take ownership of the whole folder.

[TEEB]

I tried,. when I go thru the process nothing changes. I got that utility installed and i just scrolled and scrolled etc etc

[TEEB]

Well I have it down to one padlock on my user folder. Doesn't seem to stop me from getting into anything. now if I can get rid of that one......

[TEEB]

Wake up this morning and windows wants to install some updates. I do that and reboot and there are no more padlocks!!! Magic?

What I don't understand is how a folder could have a pad lock on it immediately after doing a clean in stall of Windows 7. Can anyone explain that to me...please?

[glc]

Yes - even if you use the same username, Windows thinks you are a different user after a clean reinstall and you don't own the files any more.

When you take ownership of a folder, you need to choose the option to replace ownership on all subcontainers and objects.

[TEEB]

even if I format the drive? Can I not do something BEFORE I install the o/s to solve this problem?
I just did 92 more windows updates and the padlock is back.
I followed the directions that jdeb posted. The first set works just fine, but the second set does not seem to be for this version of Windows...

[TEEB]

I just installed SP 1. Now the padlock is gone from my user name in explorer, but when i click on my user name under "start" all 11 folders in there have padlocks!

[EzyStvy]

Why exactly are these padlock of concern to you?

[TEEB]

well they don't seem to be bothering me too much right now. I can't install MSSE. don't know if that is a cause.

But before I couldn't even view my pictures and my Outlook wouldn't open etc etc

I would be getting a lot of "access denied" errors

[TEEB]

I am having a problem with permissions and ownership(http://www.pcmech.com/forum/windows-...verywhere.html). I want to take MY WD black 1TB HDD and write zeros to it. The I will try a clean install of windows 7 HP.
The question is: Will writing zeros to this drive remove all data that pertains to my previous windows o/s. Then I should be able to do a clean install and eliminate my previous problems?

[David M]

Correct for both questions although you do not need to zero out a drive to do a clean install. You can write over what is already there when you re-install your OS.

[TEEB]

I tried that and it didn't work. Still had the same problem right after the install.
So I thought this might work......

[glc]

Don't you have your data on a separate drive or partition, and you haven't touched it? THAT is the issue, no amount of Windows reinstalling is going to solve the ownership and permissions issue.

[David M]

Isn't there software for getting around these permissions?

[glc]

I've merged the 2 threads.

I just checked my Win 7 box - my users folder DOES have a padlock, but I have full access to everything in it. I also checked ownership - the owner of my users folder is SYSTEM.

[TEEB]

Originally Posted by glc Don't you have your data on a separate drive or partition, and you haven't touched it? THAT is the issue, no amount of Windows reinstalling is going to solve the ownership and permissions issue.

I was thinking about this last night. So This morning I formatted all drives and reinstalled once again. This time it seems to work as I can install MSSE and Novabackup, which I could not do yesterday.

[TEEB]

Originally Posted by glc I've merged the 2 threads. I just checked my Win 7 box - my users folder DOES have a padlock, but I have full access to everything in it. I also checked ownership - the owner of my users folder is SYSTEM.

That's funny!! I checked my wife's win7 and it Doesn't have a padlock!!! That's why I was thinking that mine was wrong. Plus all the other problems I was having.

Thanx for taking the time to help me out once again