Take Ownership of System Files?

[firewolfrl]

Other than the security issues.
Is there any issues if Ownership is taken for the system files and even the hidden Documents and Settings folders?

This is more out of curiousity than anything else.
I had a previous install that I had to wipe. before I wiped the drive I tested out the theory and made every file accessable by taking ownership.
The OS seemed to work fine and everything worked OK for what I was doing.

It would be interesting to see the replies to this post as the severe lock-down that Vista imposes to administrators is a pain in the arse....lol

Is Vista security too much security when you need to make system changes or access the Local Settings files to edit a file in the application folder?

Its a pain to access the outlook .PST file if it is hidden and you are locked out due to Vista security

this is not a UAC question as that is a whole separate topic on its own.

 

[linney]

This goes to part of your question, and it is easier for me to explain if I quote a reply from Microsoft about this matter.

"Here is the reason behind it. "The junctions are there to only provide appcompat for legacy apps and aren’t meant for a user to traverse through. The junctions have been explicitly set to block read through them by setting Everyone Deny Read. The main reason here is because these are just links to the actual location, so you dont want backup tools and other tools operating on your data twice, once from the original path and once via the junctions. There are scenarios where some of these junctions actually form a loop to support the appcompat for the old namespace in comparison to the new and in those cases allowing read through them is disastrous, for e.g. setup was broken for a week when the file system wasnt honorign the deny read.

Also as far as a user goes, you will never see these as they are system hidden, and you will need to take explicit action to see them by default."

As to the other part of your question, I think you answered it yourself, Security, Security, and more Security.

 

[firewolfrl]

LOL Linney
I think Microsoft thinks we are all idiots out here.
I kinda hate it when a company locks you out and thinks it has to hold your hand to do anything.

The reason I had to wipe the drive was the fact that I had legal licensed Windows Vista Ultimate and Office 2007 standard. I could update and activate with no issues. I could not go to any MS website and download as their ActiveX controls were denied in themselves by their own protection scheme within Vista. I would get the windows explorer crash.
I spent 3 hours with the Office 2007 team then the next day 3.5 hours with the Internet Explorer 7 team (they are out of Canada)
Then I dealt with the Genuine Advantage team (they are not true tech support) they had the best and only fix. wipe the drive and start over.

I never did find what caused it but I did find out that one in 1000 computers have this issue and it is related to corruption of the controls that verify your windows is geniune. but only web related through internet explorer. some of fixes they had would have fixed most computers

the Canada teams really have a good knowledge of the system.

it's up and working now.

 

[linney]

It will be a while before you reach your 999th computer, after this one, does that mean your indemnified from similar problems in the future? I doubt it.