Solved Folders in explorer appear as shortcuts and refuse access

vann59

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18
Location
Florida
I just got a laptop with windows 8 last week. I hate the things they are doing with windows, my last OS was XP. I found that the file path names were hidden by default and set out to change that. In doing so I changed the access permissions thinking that it would allow me to see the file paths and have access, but it didn't, although I did find out where to change the explorer settings so that I now can see the file path, even though it's not as complete as in XP. So here's the problem: I checked the access permissions on each user type to open things up, but now in explorer some of the folders appear as shortcuts with the little 'arrow in a box' icon, and when you try to open it, it refuses access. I'm thinking this might be to the changes in access permissions, but it might not be. Can anyone here help?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Samsung NP510R5E-A01UB
    CPU
    INTEL CORE i5-3230M
    Memory
    6 GB
    Browser
    IE, Firefox
    Antivirus
    AVG free
Hello Vann, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Those are not real folders, but are actually junction points or symbolic links for backwards compatibility of older programs. These are protected OS files and should not be messed with.

By default, you will not be able to open them since they are not a real folder.


It would be best to have hidden files set to no longer show as per step 3 in the tutorial below to avoid accidentally doing something to them.
Hope this helps, :)
Shawn
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Thank you so much Shawn. I will surely direct others to this forum. The store was ready to charge me $200 to work on something that I thought was a problem I had inadvertently created myself when I was only trying to make the OS functional to the level of all the previous windows versions, when it was actually just a weird quirk in Win 8. Microsoft seems to be devolving into something we can't even recognize. If you can't control something, you don't really own it, and your computer shouldn't be walled in so much that you can't even navigate through the folders. Thanks again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Samsung NP510R5E-A01UB
    CPU
    INTEL CORE i5-3230M
    Memory
    6 GB
    Browser
    IE, Firefox
    Antivirus
    AVG free
You're most welcome. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
If you went up from XP to 8, then all of your files were moved to "Users" rather than "Documents and Settings" - Open the Users foilder, and look for your account, and any personal files should be in there - If not, check for a folder named "Windows.Old/Users"
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
I noticed that, they also have my docs under libraries now. At least now that I can see the file path I can learn my way around. Thx.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Samsung NP510R5E-A01UB
    CPU
    INTEL CORE i5-3230M
    Memory
    6 GB
    Browser
    IE, Firefox
    Antivirus
    AVG free
Nope :D Documents under Libraries is a Junction point/Hard Link as Shawn mentioned before. It just points to where the actual Documents folder resides which is \User\yourname\Documents.

Once you get used to Libraries, they are pretty cool. An easy way to access similar data stored in different places, even different partitions or drives.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro X64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo IdeaCenter K450
    CPU
    Intel Quad Core i7-4770 @ 3.4Ghz
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Integrated HD Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP h2207
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050@59Hz
    Hard Drives
    250GB Samsung EVO SATA-3 SSD;
    2TB Seagate ST2000DM001 SATA-2;
    1.5TB Seagate ST3150041AS SATA
    PSU
    500W
    Keyboard
    Wired USB
    Mouse
    Wired USB
    Internet Speed
    3GB Up, 30GB Down
    Browser
    SeaMonkey
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender; MBAM Pro
    Other Info
    UEFI/GPT
    PLDS DVD-RW DH16AERSH
I'm getting adjusted to it, since I can see my way around now. I'm glad I found this forum.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Samsung NP510R5E-A01UB
    CPU
    INTEL CORE i5-3230M
    Memory
    6 GB
    Browser
    IE, Firefox
    Antivirus
    AVG free
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