[Zuccolo]

I have two hard drives on my computer. The 300GB drive is my main C drive used for normal program installations and for OS space and junk... The 1TB drive is the other drive, used for miscellaneous media.

Recently I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 7. I used my TB drive to back up the important files off of my main drive. I did a clean install. It was successful...or so I thought. I moved my backed-up files back to the main drive after the installation was completed. I have no problems there.

Today I tried to access my downloads folder on my TB drive, thinking the new episode of Power Rangers (the classic "re-version," which is garbage, by the way...) was in that folder. I got an error message saying I need permission to access that folder. Being the administrator, I gave myself permission. It said I had to change the "owner" of the folder. So I right-clicked the folder, clicked on properties, clicked on the "Security" tab, clicked on the "Advanced" button, clicked on the "Owner" tab, clicked on the "Edit" button, checked the box that said, "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects," clicked "Apply," pressed "Yes," then "OK"ed out of all the windows. I have successfully changed the owner to myself as a user and administrator. I can now access the folder. My episode was not in there. It turns out it was in another folder. So I went exploring in another folder on my TB drive. I got the same message saying that I need permission, then said I need to change the owner. So I did the same thing. Now I had access to other media. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the first video I saw. Windows Media Player loaded, then gave me an error message saying: "Windows Media Player cannot access the file. The file might be in use, you might not have access to the computer where the file is stored, or your proxy settings might not be correct."

After tinkering a bit, I found that if I right-click a single file (not folder), click on "Properties," click on "Security," then click on "Advanced," the "Permissions" window says, "To continue, you must be an administrative user with permission to view this object's security properties. Do you want to continue?" There's a "Continue" button. I click that. Then I check the box that says, "Include inheritable permissions from this object's parent." As soon as I click on "Apply," the thumbnail for the media file appears (instead of a generic Windows media icon), and I am able to access the file.

So problem solved, right? Well, almost. The problem is I have hundreds of videos on these "locked" folders. Obviously I know the solution for a single media file, but I have been unsuccessful in getting groups and/or folders of media files "unlocked." Is there an easier way, or am I forced to have to manually unlock each one when I want to view it?

[Destroyer1990]

Woah. That sucks hardcore. How Windows 7 handles this whole "security" thing is my main beef with the OS. As far as I can tell, when stuff like this happens, there's rarely a simpler way.

[Zuccolo]

Destroyer1990, on 22 February 2010 - 06:53 PM, said:

Woah. That sucks hardcore. How Windows 7 handles this whole "security" thing is my main beef with the OS. As far as I can tell, when stuff like this happens, there's rarely a simpler way.

See...When I installed 7 the first time, I did the same exact thing (where I backed up my main files on my TB drive) and didn't have any problems. This is just baffling...

[Destroyer1990]

Because those files weren't connected to a different Windows 7 user. At least, that's the only explanation I can think of...

[cyb.tachyon]

Actually, you probably cancelled the Windows 7 security reset on the main folder when you first accessed it.

See, Windows 7 is unobtrusive when it comes to setting access permissions, and displays the progress bar for the folder in the address bar of explorer. If you navigate away from that folder or attempt to access any files/folders with explorer, it will cancel the action with no easy way to resume it.

I learned real quick to watch the address bar from then on. I like the fact that it's unobtrusive: I just wished I got a message box or small tutorial when it first popped up so I could have avoided a couple days of frustration.

The solution is to set the security options again on the main folder, and failing that try to share the entire folder with Sharing. That should prompt a security reset, and if not I'm not real sure where to go from there. If it works, just let it take its sweet time and watch the address bar, and when its done turn back off sharing.

Hope this helps,

[Thunderg0d]

You could go to the root of the drive probably and assume ownership there and select to pass the attributes to all child objects of the drive (aka everything on the drive since you are at root level of the drive.)

[Oen386]

You know Mega Man 2 never had this problem.

[Zuccolo]

Thunderg0d, on 23 February 2010 - 10:07 AM, said:

You could go to the root of the drive probably and assume ownership there and select to pass the attributes to all child objects of the drive (aka everything on the drive since you are at root level of the drive.)

Tried that. I get an error message for each file within the drive when I do that.