Error 1606: Could not access network location %APPDATA%

Time to do the regular software updates. Logon to my administrator account and do the necessary. Today was more of a challenge than usual.

The first one was Adobe Reader - the auto update has failed - nothing new there, it often does. I'll downloaded the new version. Firefox doesn't start - no messages - nothing. Same for opera, same for Safari. IE works. I get the new version of Adobe Reader from my Standard User account. There Firefox and everything else works a treat. That's a relief. Back on the Administration account I try to move some files, as I'm planning to delete the account. I can make a 'New Folder' in Public, but renaming does nothing. The command line will create the named directory, but then the drag and drop of files does nothing.

After some very inconclusive web research, I decided to try the spare Administration Account. It's been created, but never used, so it creates a desktop and takes ages. The registry is clean though, and the installations are working.


So, I'll delete the old Administration Account. After all the usual permissions are granted, it just sits there as though I'd not even clicked the button. I try again, the decide to wait for disk activity to cease. You can grow a beard waiting for that. Eventually a message - "Windows cannot delete the Logged on account".

The old Administrator account has gone, but the top level folder is left, under that there is \AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player. Well there's a surprise, I've just applied some update from Microsoft to media player - could this be the culprit?

There is a file there - CurrentDatabase_360.wmdb, which I cannot delete, because it is in use by another program. Time for a restart and safe mode.

Safe Mode though doesn't start up cleanly.  The dialogue never completes and I'm left with a '98 style start button in the left hand bottom corner, and a mouse pointer with the circle indicating 'wait for vista'.  Ctrl-Alt-Del, task manager, new task, cmd.exe.  At LAST  I have control of my machine, and can delete the file.  I use the command line 'shutdown /s' to stop the machine.  During that process the proper @SAFE MODE' screen flashes up briefly. The old Administration Account is gone, logged on to the spare I create a new one.  My installs are complete.

I'm assuming that this was registry corruption - it reminded me of a problem in Windows '95 where one user suddenly had control of everybody's desktop.  Whatever changes were done there happened everywhere.

Is it too much to ask that Windows 7 might just WORK?

Windows Security Alerts - wrong information

Still more problems in Vista - it is just never ending. The security center assures me that my firewall and virus protection are not working - I just wish I could assure it they are.
I have AVG Free and ZoneAlarm. They both say they are working correctly too.



I tried this procedure to no effect.

Windows Vista Permission problems

Problem:
Files saved in 'public' (Vista) or 'Shared' (XP) are not accessible to other users. This is extremely annoying when the files relate to pictures uploaded from a digital camera, or backups of files in the same shared (or public) area produced by a backup application. You can tell the affected pictures because a preview is not presented.

Now the bad thing about this problem is that even Administrators cannot access the file, but fortunately they CAN change the permissions.

Investigation:
There must be some commands that will let me examine the permissions. The GUI is one of those 'way too small - non-re-sizable mini-windows'.

This is for one I can see	This is for one I can't see

The thing to note that is not shown is that the group 'EveryOne' is included when it works.

Now to the command line:
The command is icalcs.exe, which I found from here. Directory entries (via dir) and attributes (via attrib) are the same.

Starting a command prompt with 'Run as Administrator' and running the command:

icacls 100_066*.* /T /C
100_0664.jpg NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(I)(R)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(I)(M,DC)
Everyone:(I)(F)

100_0665.jpg NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(I)(R)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(I)(M,DC)
Everyone:(I)(F)

100_0666.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)

100_0667.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)

100_0668.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)

100_0669.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)

Solution:
So, now I've a Command file "Acl_ForPics.cmd" which contains:
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(R)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "BUILTIN\Administrators:(F)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(F)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "Everyone:(F)"

Run from a directory prompt it will add all the access I require. Shouldn't have to do it, but something somewhere is not setting permissions correctly, so this is a fix.

The original permissions are left in place, they could of course be deleted (replaced).

I know of similar problems in other machines with executing from directories and installing into directories other than "program files" - I'll be looking at that over Christmas.

Dell I530S Video Drivers

I have been experiencing problems where the image on my MultiSync LCD 2070WNX would display adjusted off either the left or right of the screen, by about two centimetres. This left the 2cm at the other end invisible. The screen is connected through a Belkin keboard video mouse (KVM) switch. If the adjustment occurred while the screen was switched to the other PC the screen would report 'out of range' - and that was that. The only thing to do is press the power button, wait for the shutdown power off, and power on again, making sure the screen is correctly switched. This only happens through the switched VGA, not through the direct DVI on the other machine, so its either the switch (unlikely) or the video card or drivers (most likely).
When I had the network card problem with SP1 there was nothing worthwhile on the site, now there is lots. Dell have caught up a bit.

Intel G31/G33/Q33/Q35 Graphics Controller

Release Date:	10/10/2007
Version:	7.14.10.1322, A02	Other Versions
Download Type:	Driver
File Format:	Hard-Drive
File Size:	15 MB

Hopefully this problem, and the associated unnecessary restarts will now be a thing of the past.