Massive permissions problem - nothing runs

[Niege]

I'm running Home Premium 64Bit a new rig less than 2 weeks old. I was trying to copy my old Google Earth 'myplaces' file from my old rig to my new one. UAC, or something, wouldn't allow me access to my Users/App directory. I searched the forums and then, stupidly, started trying to do things with permissions, things I no longer remember.

Now each time I boot I get two errors: one is from Acrobat Distiller saying that it can't create a file that already exists (error 183) and a MS Visual C++ Runtime Error. The error message says "Program C:\Program..." with no additional name or info "has requested runtime to terminate in an unusual way."

My wallpaper has disappeared, all the taskbar icons are gone, all startup items haven't started, and most programs won't run. Some shortcuts, like to Excel, do work. However, I am denied access to my outlook.pst files so Outlook won't start and MS Word 2003 gives me a dialogue box mostly in Japanese referencing a file 'Omso.ad' in English followed by another Japanese box with only an OK sign followed by a seemingly endless series of warnings about invalid signatures and macros. Actually, almost all my programs will no longer run. I'm sending this message from my old computer.

Since there is no program identified at the boot screen I don't know where to start. I tried sfc /scannow but the result was a cmd window open and closed so fast I almost couldn't see it. I tried to remember what I did and go back and undo it, but I honestly don't remember and access to most everything is now routinely denied saying I don't have permissions or the disk is locked.

Owing to horrid experiences with XP I never turned on System Restore. I had installed ERUNT in the beginning but never could get it to work. Clearly I had no idea of what I was getting into. Feeling very stupid, here.

I really don't know where to go from here. I don't want to have to wipe my disk on this OEM installation. I can't get access to my Users directory so I can copy my Outlook pst files and so data loss seems highly likely.

Is there any way to revert back to previous permissions status or someway that will allow me total access so I can work my way back to the previous status?

Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

Thanks.

 

[Modelworks]

If it is really bad and you can't do a reinstall then try this:

Enable administrator account - it is not the same as the UAC one.
From admin command prompt :
net user administrator /active:yes

Now log out of your current account and you will now see an administrator login. click it and you should be able to load the desktop without a bunch of errors.

Reset the security accounts:
secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

Reset the file permissions, from command prompt:
icacls * /T /Q /C /RESET

Log out after it is done and back into your normal account. If all is good then disable the admin account:
net user administrator /active:no

 

[Niege]

Thanks, Modelworks, but I'm afraid that didn't work. I am in an admin account, actually it's the only account, and no new one came up. Still, I followed the rest of the instructions and nothing changed; I'm still in the same boat.

Would a reinstall cost me my Outlook and other data files? Also, when I installed other programs, like Adobe CS4, there were a bunch of updates that came down. If I can't uninstall them, owing to this permission thingee, would I have problems reinstalling those programs over new updates?

Thanks.

 

[Modelworks]

That is very odd.
From the command prompt type:
whoami

Does it say Administrator or does it say your username ?

The above commands will only work correctly from username administrator, doing it with a elevated user account will not have the same effect. icacls will give access denied if run under a user account.

 

[Niege]

It says my user name.

I tried again from cmd on the net user admin command and it came back with a System error 5, access denied.

 

[Modelworks]

It says my user name.

Go to admin tools in control panel.
local security policy
local policies
security options
First item on right should be administrator account status, change it to enabled
log off and see if the new administrator account is there.

when you do whoami under aministrator it should read
pc-name\administrator

 

[Niege]

Here's a weird thing I did which could have made a difference. When I got my rig from the builder I changed my username from "Valued Customer" to my own. However, the user directory remains "Valued Customer". My name is now listed as Administrator and is the only account. Yet, it seems as if it's acting as a standard user account? I am so confused.

 

[Niege]

I'm in Admin tools, but I don't see anything related to "local security".

 

[RebateMonger]

Here's a weird thing I did which could have made a difference. When I got my rig from the builder I changed my username from "Valued Customer" to my own. However, the user directory remains "Valued Customer".

That's normal.

 

[Niege]

I've managed to create a new administrator account that gets me a new desktop and access to some of my programs, but some do not run.

This new admin account also does not have "Local Security" under Admin Tools in Control Panel.

Is it possible to use this admin account to do global permissions resetting? Since I was such a doofus before, I am loathe to strike out on my own with permissions again.

Thanks

 

[RebateMonger]

According to my Win7 Ultimate computer, the Security Permissions in my \Users\RebateMonger\AppData folders (and below) are simply:

System: Full Control
RebateMonger: Full Control
Administrators: Full Control

 

[Niege]

RebateMonger - thanks for your reply.

It seems pretty logical to simply give everyone full control. My situation is that I cannot access the security settings for my original username in order to do that.

I've tried setting Full Control for each user with my original username, which had Adminstrator privileges and I've tried it with a new Administrator's account that has another username. In all cases I am denied access to those security settings for my original username.

I don't know how I messed that up, but I did a magnificent job of hosing it. It is so bad that even in my own username account, running it as Administrator, that I cannot change the picture for account.

My aim is to do what you suggest and reset all those permissions so that my computer will run, and I don't know how to do that, given my present predicament.

I am mortified that I created such a mess owing to a massive amount of hubris that told me I knew what I was doing. Win7 is a very sophisticated OS and I approached it like it was coloring book. So, I need some help from the adults around here.

Thanks.

 

[GeekDrew]

Try this:

While you are logged in as a user with administrative rights, navigate to c:\users. Right click on whichever folder represents the user account that you are unable to gain access to. Click properties. Security tab. Advanced button. Owner tab. Edit button. In the "Change owner to:" list, select the administrative account you are currently using. Check the "Replace owner..." box. Hit OK.

Once that has completed, close out of all windows that this process has opened, by hitting OK as many times as is needed. Once all of those dialog boxes are closed, right click on the folder again, and choose properties. Security tab. Advanced button. Permissions tab. Click "Continue" if it says "To continue, you must be an administrative user...". Click the "Add" button, type "Everyone" in the box, hit OK. Check Full Control/Allow. Click OK. Check the "Replace all child object permissions..." box, and hit OK. Once that is done, close any dialog boxes that might still be open, and then try accessing that directory; you should have access to all of the files within that directory.

If this doesn't work, please provide exact error messages, and describe when they happened.

 

[Niege]

GeekDrew, thank you for your reply.

I think I followed the instructions exactly. There is partial success. I had my username (with admin privileges) take ownership of my user directory. It turns out that Everyone had full control, but my username account did not. I gave that full control, too.

I regained wallpaper, though not at my previous resolution, and access to certain programs such as Firefox. There are no taskbar icons.

I cannot access my Outlook email, getting the error message that I do not have permission to access the pst file, which is located in my username directory. Word comes up with dialogue boxes in Japanese as does Excel referencing, in English, a file in the username directory, Omso.ad. So... Office is not available.

Acrobat Distiller still says it can't create a file that already exists.

No Adobe program will run at all giving the standard 'stopped working' even before it's totally loaded.

My main photo editing program, Nikon's Capture NX2 won't run, saying first that a temp folder has been deleted, then gives the dialogue box about stopping working altogether. It's companion viewing program, ViewNX2 does work, and about 10 times faster than before. I can easily reinstall Capture.

Quickbooks won't open a company.

iTunes can't access my library saying I don't have permission for the locked disk, which is C:\Users\Valued Customer......

My Users\Valued Customer folder still does not have its 'lock' icon that disappeared sometime during my lunatic rampage.

Rather than going on and on with more programs, I think it's safe to say that there is progress, but not functionality.

I really appreciate your suggestions. Do you possibly have additional ones for me to try?

Thanks

 

[GeekDrew]

Are you able to create an additional user account -- a new one, not one that currently exists? If so, do so. Log in as that user account, and see if programs run. I realize that they wouldn't have your data from your old user account, but we can cross that bridge later, after we see if the apps will run.

 

[Niege]

Hi, GeekDrew, I did create a new user account with administrative privileges. I can run all of my programs from it although, obviously, I would have to redo all the settings, profiles, etc. It looks like my other user accounts are just hosed?

 

[GeekDrew]

I'm sure that you could fix your other accounts if you poked around with the security on them for long enough, but it's probably going to be far more trouble than it's worth to do so.

Now that you have a user profile that you can run programs in, you can try to copy files from your old profile's folder structure into your new profile's folder structure. I wouldn't try to move something huge - like AppData - but instead just move the things that you absolutely can't recreate. Favorites, Documents, Outlook PSTs, things like that.

 

[Niege]

I think you're right. If I only transfer the absolute essentials I lower the risk of transferring the bad cooties that I spread around. So I won't run amock with hubris and permissions without adult supervision :biggrin:. Thanks so much for your help!