UAC, network share, and All Users starup folder

[smah]

Usually, I can find a way around these sort of things, but I can't come up with this one. It's related to UAC. It seems that with UAC enabled (as all my users are), one can not copy directly from a network share to the all users startup folder. Using Windows Explorer to drag & drop or a batch file exhibit the same behavior. It seems that when UAC elevates privileges to copy to the all users folder, network connectivity changes also.

When using a mapped network drive letter, the error is that the mapped drive letter is no longer available. When using a network UAC path, the error simply says that you don't have permission to copy directly, but it can be done by copying to the local drive first. I have even using 1 batch file to copy to from the network to a local location (OK), then use 'runas' to run start another batch file as administrator, which copies the local file to the all users folder. This combination yields a permission denied error. Is there any way to do this directly (preferebly from a batch file) without disabling UAC?

----
Steve
Small Business Support in the Connecticut River Valley of VT and NH
faq219-2884
MS Knowledgebase version: How to Ask

 

[GrimR]

Sorry can't help don't have a Vista machine with UAC enabled. M$ trying to put things on computers to help or irritate us. Do love the copy feature though.

 

[linney]

Do you mean these locations?

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

I don't think C:\Users\All Users\ has such a folder?

 

[smah]

Yes,

%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start menu\Programs\Startup

is the actual path location that I'm trying to directly copy to.

 

[linney]

I did try to reproduce this on my smallish LAN but was unable to do so. As a Standard User on both Vista and XP I was able to copy files to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup (on a third machine running Vista)
and as a Standard User on the machine to which they were copied I was able to execute these files. UAC was enabled.

The Folder was shared, with "Everyone" marked as a "Co-Owner" in my testing.

Not much help to you in your situation, but it would suggest the problem is at your end and not Vista related?

 

[smah]

Thanks linney. If I understand corretly, you pre-shared the startup folder and then copied to that share from a remote location. I want to do it in the opposite direction, and without pre-sharing every machine's start up folder.

For example, when at the local vista machine open 2 explorer windows: 1 would be the local C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. The other would be some remote share somewhere on the LAN. Now, try to drag & drop a file from some remote share on the LAN to the local Starup folder.

 

[linney]

I have tried and succeeded in what you have asked, in that I was able to drag a file from a remote Vista share to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup, and as a Standard User and while at the machine with the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder open.

I might be succeeding because I have Security Permissions set for the Start Menu folder, and the 2 below it, to include "Everyone" and my Standard Username as both at "Full Control".

Does the user copying files have at least write permission access to your destination folder?

 

[smah]

That seems to be why it would work. I assume that you've added those permissions manually because normally, it looks like

and only Administrators group and the System group have full control. Individual users are not listed. It seems that there's no easy way to do this without modifying the permissions of that folder on each machine.

 

[smah]

And to answer your question: No, normally no regular user account has direct write permission to that folder. That's why UAC comes into play. Thanks for checking.

Steve

 

[linney]

Yes, I probably did change those permissions, I use a Standard User for all my work, but it was just more convenient to have full control of the Start Menu in my circumstances.

If I set the permissions to the default as shown in your image, then the only difference I see and experience is the need to go through UAC in order to achieve the same outcome (for me) as before.

I have no other obstacles in writing to the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder or copying a file from a remote share into it.