Accessing Widows XP File system Best answer on the web

  • I'm a Visual Basic developer. I just started developing on Windows XP and my VB apps do not have permissions to access the the Windows file system. For example, I'm writing a program that has a function that deletes files from a directory but XP will not give it access. Any idea how to change the security setting in XP for applications?


  • Hi,
    Your best bet to get the answers you need are on microsofts website at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/modcore/html/deovrdatabaserolesuserinformation.asp You will have to creat user accounts with permissions, the site above should answer your questions on how to do what you need. Good luck


  • Is the VB application part of a developmental website? If it is you may need to alter the read/write access of the directory under IIS (Internet Information Services).
    To do this right-click on My Computer and select Manage, IIS should be at the bottom of this list. If you open up the website tree you should see the Default Web Site tree. Right-click on this and select properties again and then click on the Home Directory tab on the window that appears. You should see here that it is possible to alter the read/write properties of the directories as well as the types of execute permissions that are allowed.
    It may be possible to add your VB directory as a virtual directory to the Default Web Site to enable the correct permissions. I haven't tried this myself as the VB I program is solely in a web development environment now.
    It is also possible to alter some of the User ID's and their permissions via the Local Users and Groups tree within the Computer Management window that appeared when you followed the instructions above.
    I hope some of this is of use to you. I know how frustrating this must be as I have struggled on this myself in the past!


  • Hi, I did everything you said and then some, I gave all users/system etc full rights to the directory and still no go! I am using the Kill command in Visual Basic. I'm getting ready to put my program in beta mode but can't due to this one issue. However, you gave me more information than anyone and can take the cash. If you have any other ideas that would be great. Thanks.


  • Excellent answer but for some reason I still can't get it to work.


  • Are you running the program under an Administrator username? XP only incorporates 2 options for usernames: Administrator and Limited. Limited accounts can do very little in the way of deleting files - I'm sure this applies to programs run under them also
    Hope this helps


  • I had a very similar problem to this when I was attempting to program an ASP page that needed to write and delete files from a directory.
    The answer to the problem is as you expected you need to alter the security settings in such a way that allows this to be achieved.
    First of all you need to be signed on as an Administrator in Windows XP, this is very important!
    Now navigate to the folder that you wish to set write/delete access to. Right-click on the folder and select properties, can you see the SECURITY tab?
    You need to alter the settings on this tab to change the permissions of this folder, which should be self-explanatory (just click the box stating that you wish write permission to be enabled for the particular user you are interested in). More information about this can be found in the references towards the bottom of this answer.
    If you cannot see the SECURITY tab (which was my problem) you need to enable it which is done by going to Tools->Folder Options on any open window. On the View tab click the Advanced Settings box; towards the bottom of the list that appears should be an entry "Use simple file sharing ", you need to CLEAR the check box. You do not want to use simple file sharing. Click OK to close all the windows and follow the instructions above to alter the write permissions.
    More information about the enabling of write permissions in Windows XP can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/security/accesscontrol.asp
    You can find out more about the differences in Windows XP security settings here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/techinfo/planning/security/whatsnew/default.asp
    More about setting file permissions can be seen here:
    http://www.microsoft.com/WINDOWSXP/expertzone/tips/september/stevens1.asp http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/default.asp?url=/WINDOWSXP/home/using/productdoc/en/Set_perm.asp









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