Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion

HowTo open Explorer with admin rights?

<< < (4/4)

mwb1100:
This page has a pretty good explanation of the 'legacy redirect' folders such as "C:\Documents and Settings":

  - http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/folder-is-not-accessible-access-is-denied/79b0fb38-9466-4dec-b889-1860addfcc0b

However, what I've never had adequately explained to me is why Microsoft doesn't make it so that when you double-click on one of those "legacy link" folders, Explorer doesn't just 'follow the link' and open the target folder.  While that might be somewhat confusing to some people, I think it would be vastly less confusing than the "access denied" error, as well as infinitely more useful.

Here's an article that attempts to explain why Explorer won't - or can't - follow the link (it also gives more detail on why these things exist):

  - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee851567.aspx

However, I remain unconvinced that Microsoft couldn't come up with better behavior.  Even if you might not want arbitrary applications to list the contents of those special folders, I think that some scheme could have been devised that would allow Explorer to be smarter about them.

One last edit: XYplorer follows these links just as I think it should.  I'd think there's a good chance that other 3rd party file managers might as well.

Renegade:
 :-\

Sometimes Windows is just bucket loads of stupid...

Pasting "C:\Documents and Settings" into Windows Explorer results in:



BUT...



 :'(

Stoic Joker:
Right, because Documents and Settings is an empty target (e.g. Link). It's not supposed to contain anything, it just a way to get somewhere else. If you go to C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName% however, you will get a file list of that folder. Because it is a folder. D&C isn't.

Renegade:
Right, because Documents and Settings is an empty target (e.g. Link). It's not supposed to contain anything, it just a way to get somewhere else. If you go to C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName% however, you will get a file list of that folder. Because it is a folder. D&C isn't.
-Stoic Joker (April 11, 2012, 07:12 AM)
--- End quote ---

Yeah, but it just strikes me as a bit crazy to return the bare bones instead of using it more like a pointer to the actual resource. Like, if you're "at" "Documents and Settings", why not simply treat it exactly like "Users"? i.e. Treat it exactly like a pointer.

i.e. When you go to "C:\Documents and Settings\", under the hood you are actually at "C:\Users\".

Like, this is just dumb:



The error message there is WRONG. "Documents and Settings" isn't a file and it isn't a subdirectory. It's a half-assed symbolic link.

Sigh... Anyways, that's just sort of explaining a bit of the reasoning behind why I find Windows so utter nutty sometimes.

Stoic Joker:
I think it's just the nature of the beast. Similar to why a folder must be empty before you mount a partition to/in it. Or why you can't write files to a DFS root from the network side.

They're actually rather consistently nutty if you add the rest of the quirky behavior. :)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page