# "you'll need to provide administrator permission to copy this folder" - please help!



## mike9inch (Jul 12, 2005)

Dear techguys,

I am bashing my head and getting nowhere with windows 7....

I have 3 users; a, b, and c (say)

and administrator; z (say)

when logged into z, I want to copy the folder of user 'a' but when I try to do this it comes up with ...

"you'll need to provide administrator permission to copy this folder"

But...whatever I try and do it will not allow me to copy the folder in question.

I have not found an answer so far, so wonder if anyone here has the knowledge to help solve what is proving problematic to crack.

Thanks for any help.

Kind regards,

mike


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## Lance1 (Aug 4, 2003)

What version of Win7 do you have? Have you right clicked the folder in question \ Properties \ Security. Are you in the *Group Of User Names* List? And if so what are your permissions?


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## mike9inch (Jul 12, 2005)

hi Lance1,

Many thanks for the response...

I'm running win 7 home premium edition 2009.

I've clicked the permissions and it says I have; full control, modify, read and execute, list folder contents and read and write - only special permissions is blank, which I think is right. too.

This is why I just don't understand and am baffled.


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## Lance1 (Aug 4, 2003)

Have you tried taking ownership? Properties \ Security \ Advanced \ Owner and Edit.


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## mike9inch (Jul 12, 2005)

Hi Lance,

Done what you say to the "top level" user directory for say user "a" which is; c:users/usera

When I try to copy file usera it says same message for the printhood folder, and if I ignore this one it then goes on to say the same thing about others.

Is there a quick way to get control of not just the usera folder but also every folder within it?


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## Lance1 (Aug 4, 2003)

Sorry Mike, I had to walk away for a bit. It can be daunting to set permissions. You miss one little step and you don't have access. I have use this little reg file to add *Take Ownership to explorer right click menu* This should give you access not just to the user folder but all sub-directories and items as well. Download it and run the Take Ownership.reg file. try again to right click the folder in question and click the option in the right click menu *Take Ownership* Lets see if this works for you.


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## mike9inch (Jul 12, 2005)

Hi Lance,

That sounds great, but I am not sure I am confident enough to do this - I fear this may screw up in ways I can't tell or predict - I am running "win 7, 64 bit, home premium" on a sony vaio and whilst 90% of the comments by users praise it I see some got stuffed by running it.

I am so damned annoyed with ms for when I had xp the task took just minutes, never had a problem etc.

just to clarify; I have users 'a', 'b', 'c' - all normal users and I am user 'd' - I am administrator and I also have set up another administrator account as user 'z'.

All I want to do is be able to copy c:users/user'a' to a usb drive (and do the same for user'b' and user'c'.


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## Lance1 (Aug 4, 2003)

Sorry Mike. I've done just about as much as I can. I hope someone here can offer some other options for you. Good luck.


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## DaveA (Nov 16, 1999)

When the account was made and the account files were NOT set to be shared, then I do NOT think that any account of Admin Group can access them. I think it must be the Built in Administrator account that can. Try opening Window Explorer with "Run as Administrator" and then gave a go at.


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## mike9inch (Jul 12, 2005)

Thanks DaveA & Lance1,

Sadly, DaveA, you appear to be right about not being able to access them. Even running as administrator doesn't bring the result I want.

I just feel so annoyed that microsoft have "over-engineered" when there wasn't a problem in the first place for home users.

Having moved direct from xp to win7, and having avoided the vista debacle, I had expected win 7 to allow me as administrator to at least copy files to a backup media but clearly I am stuffed. 

Thanks Lance1 for trying to give a solution and I am sure a lot of people who read this thread will love the routine you suggest but I am just too "fearful" of the consequences if it goes wrong as I have a lifetime of emails and work related material at stake going back some years.


Once again, many thanks

mike9inch


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

It sounds to me that you are trying to copy a folder that has something inside that is in use. The same message pops up, even though permissions are not involved with the root cause.

If you are trying to do some sort of backup, there are many good ways to do that. For one, either Paragon or Acronis can use the volume shadow copy service to make backups of files and folders that are currently in use.


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