"Access is denied"

[BostonBoy1019]

I seem to have a problem with my computer. When I attempt to install or delete something from my computer I frequently get an error message saying "access is denied." I don't understand this because I am the only user of the computer and the only account (even the guest account is turned off). Most recently this happened when I tried to delete World Wide Soccer Manager 2007. This happens quite often though.

Thanks for the help!

[kryyst]

How are you trying to delete it? Are you using the uninstall program or doing it through add/remove programs or are you just trying to delete the program files folder?

[BostonBoy1019]

I tried to delete it using the add/remove programs list and the uninstall program. This same notice comes up when I try to download windows updates too though and other things.

[Kwitko]

Check your disk space.

[kryyst]

You sure you are the admin account on that computer? Can you save a file directly into the program files folder for example or does it give you an access denied error?

[BostonBoy1019]

You sure you are the admin account on that computer? Can you save a file directly into the program files folder for example or does it give you an access denied error?

I have 65% free space on my computer...according to disk defrag anyways.

And yes I am definately the administrative account. It says administrator when I log off and log back in. I am the only account and I made it when I turned the computer on for the first time. There isn't even a guest account active. My brother htought that was why and he made sure I was admin and what not. It definately isn't that.

I was able to save this webpage into the program files folder with no problem. does that count?

In a possibly related issue, I have had trouble in playing my Worldwide Soccer Manager game lately. It occaisionally shuts off and says something about a serious error has occured and they made a crash dump file with teh report. Not sure if that has anything to do with the situation but it is basically the only other weird thing about this computer lately. Thanks for the help!

[BostonBoy1019]

Sorry if you're just slow to respond but I was curious to the status of the question of if you weren't sure about why it is doing it. I understand if you are busy though...just drop a line so I know I don't have to look elsewhere for help.

[kryyst]

You could try reseting the default security permissions on your computer



Open a Command Prompt window.
For Windows 2000, type CD C:\WINNT\SECURITY\TEMPLATES
For Windows XP, type CD C:\WINDOWS\SECURITY\TEMPLATES
The command prompt should show that the current directory has changed to C:\winnt\security\templates.
Type DIR
to confirm that a file called setup security.inf exists.
If the file setup security.inf is missing, Windows 2000/XP is not properly installed on your computer. Please contact a member of the Distributed Systems Support Section (http://www.le.ac.uk/cc/dsss/docs/dsssw2k.shtml) for advice.
If the file setup security.inf exists in the security templates directory, it can be used to reapply basic security settings more quickly. At the command prompt type
SECEDIT /CONFIGURE /CFG "SETUP SECURITY.INF" /DB WAISAW.SDB /VERBOSE
(This should be typed on one line at the command prompt; it will wrap around automatically.)
Applying these settings will take a minute or two. Errors will be reported (normally because files are no longer present) but these can be ignored.
When the confirmation message below is displayed, restart the PC.

Task is completed. Some files in the configuration are not found on this system so security cannot be set/queried. It's ok to ignore.
See log %windir%\security\logs\scesrv.log for detail info.

[BostonBoy1019]

I got to step 5 and it came with a message saying " 'secedit' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file." I am assuming this means that the settings didn't work. I did not get any message confirming "task is completed" and it didn't hesitate in replying with what I sent you. It came right away.

thanks!

[kryyst]

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, but I actually just had a similar thing happen here to a laptop I was cleaning up at work. Some of the directors lost their security associations so even when signed in as local admin I couldn't touch them.

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If you are using xp pro, the first thing you must do is disable Simple File Sharing. In a folder menu, click Tools, then Folder Options.
In the "View" tab, scroll down until you see "Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended)". Turn that off. Then close the "Folder Options" window.
Right-click the folder that you want to take control of, and then click Properties. You should see 4 tabs that say "general", "sharing", "Security", and "Customize". Click the Security tab.
Next, click the "Advanced" tab, and then click the Owner tab.
In the user list, click the user name or you want have access to the folder, or click Administrator if you are logged in as the Administrator. If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder you originally selected, click the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
Next, click OK, and then select Yes when you receive the message:
"You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?"
Click "Yes". This will transfer ownership of the folder over to whomever you selected.

[BostonBoy1019]

ok...maybe im just stupid but I don't see "use simple file sharing (recommended)" anywhere. I tried a couple folders and it wasn't there. Does it matter what folder I want? Also in response to the rest of hte post, it is usually when I am downloading something or deleting something that it says I'm not authorized...so there isn't a folder inspecific.

Don't apologize about taking time to respond...i understand you're busy (im busy and i don't check forums and help people out :.) I appreciate it.

[Thrax]

Kryyst, if he's on Windows XP Home, he can't disable simple sharing unless he's in safe mode.

BostonBoy, do you know how to boot in safe mode?

[kryyst]

Yeah - good catch Thrax, I forgot about that limit on XP Home.

As for the rest, I do understand that it's not one specific folder your having an issue with. But the reason I suggested this is because if following those steps allows you to recapture the ownership of a file and you can then delete it we can start looking into why you are possibly losing ownership of files. If it doesn't then there is something else going on.

It may be that you need to do a repair install, which if secedit isn't working may be required anyway. At the very least you should be able to go into Start>run and type in secedit and it should bring up a box that gives you an overview of what the command does.

[BostonBoy1019]

Ok...sorry i didn't see a response to this post. I usually get email alerts but the last one must have gone to my spam for some reason. I tried the "secedit" thing from start>run and it spit back this:

"Windows cannot find 'secedit'. make sure you typed in teh name correctly and then try again. To search for a file, click the start button, and then click search."

I tried it a few times to make sure I typed it in correctly and got the same thing each time. What is a repair install? Is that what I am looking at? I will do the safemode thing now...I don't anticipate a problem but if there is I'll post again. Thanks fo rhte help.

[BostonBoy1019]

I didnt see that option in safe mode still. I wonder if it is because I am teh only account? I don't really know what to say. One interesting thing from restarting in safe mode though is there were 2 accounts. One said "administrator" and the other said "frank (my account)." I went to user accounts in control panel and it only listed 1 account though (it listed mine). I logged onto the administrator account and it was bare...like how it was when I first turned the computer on. idk if that means anything or if it is typical, but figure it was worth reporting. I do not see that account outside of safe mode htough....

[BostonBoy1019]

Not sure if it has anything to do with this but I couldn't run combofix just recently for some reason. it didn't say access is denied but it wouldnt start up right away. I had to run it in safe mode and use a code to have it run. It finally ran and at one point the log on the screen said "access is denied" repeatedly. Just wanted to put that out there. Thanks!

[troll]

No secedit in XP Home either...

You'll have to copy "%windir%\help\secedit.chm" and "%windir%\system32\secedit32.exe" from a Win2000 Server or a XP Pro computer.

[troll]

One interesting thing from restarting in safe mode though is there were 2 accounts. One said "administrator" and the other said "frank (my account)." I went to user accounts in control panel and it only listed 1 account though (it listed mine). I logged onto the administrator account and it was bare...

Always create a User account when you first install the OS, you should NEVER use the Administrator Account for anything except repair. Assign it a password, log out and forget about it.

Also NEVER rename an account (Pet Peve of mine, my boss does it all the time and wonders why server shares always ask him for a password...)
Create a NEW account with the User name you want...

If you look in Documents and Settings You'll probably find two Administrator directories. One call Administrator and the other called Administrator.Name_of_your_machine... If not, no biggie...

Just my 2 cents about account creation... :)

[BostonBoy1019]

No secedit in XP Home either...

You'll have to copy "%windir%\help\secedit.chm" and "%windir%\system32\secedit32.exe" from a Win2000 Server or a XP Pro computer.

so...how do i do this? Is that the problem? Thanks.

[BostonBoy1019]

Another thing...when I shut down yesterday, I got an error message saying something about access being denied and a blank box to click in instead of the box saying "ok" or something like that. NOthing seems out of place on the computer and I don't have exactly what it said, but it was weird.

[troll]

I'd say that you have some Malware or a possible virus.

Get a copy of Malwarebytes Antimalware from http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
And run it.

Do you have updated Virus protection?

[BostonBoy1019]

i actually just had the virus and spyware forum guys check over my computer and they gave me the clean bill of health from viruses/malware/spyware. I do have spyware, malware and virus protection...all up to date. I have a firewall. Here's a list of what I do have:
Spywareblaster
SpyBot S&D
AVG 8.0
ad aware
WinPatrol
Comodo
Windows Defender
HJT
ComboFix
and I ran Kapersky and Panda scans recently and each said I was clean. Thanks!

[troll]

Rules out malware or virus then...

[BostonBoy1019]

yea...i'm pretty clueless. My brother took a look back when I couldnt DL windows service pack 3 because it was being denied and he managed to get the SP downloaded but couldnt figure out why it wouldn't let me.