G
George-Derek
I would appreciate some help following the disastrous consequences that followed the attempted removal of shared access to a folder.
I feel that I have gone some way to correcting these consequences but I could easily have missed out important corrective steps and I worry that I may be running a compromised system.
I operate two accounts on my PC, a Standard account which I use day to day and the Administrator account which I only use occasionally when required.
I had previously, 6 months ago, set up sharing on my "Documents" folder in my Standard account with the Administrator account so that when I'm in the Administrator account I can refer to, and alter some text files, which I use day to day in my standard account, in which I tend to record planned changes among many other things.
As "sharing" was changed in the latest 1803 update I thought that I'd take the opportunity to remove the pre-existing sharing arrangement and then move onto specific file sharing between my two user accounts using OneDrive.
To this end, when I was in my standard account, I worked with File Explorer to do this, and I must have made a SERIOUS MISTAKE at some point. I think I had specified the shared "Document" folder and selected my administrator account name within the Share Ribbon and then clicked "remove access". I'm not 100% clear on the exact sequence here as it happened so quickly but I was asked for the Administrator password to complete this action and then everything seemed fine in my Standard account.
I then logged into my Administrator account and that went badly...
None of my browsers would launch (Edge, Chrome, Firefox), I could not access any folders including my Documents Folder, OneDrive wouldn't work, the Settings app briefly appeared after launch and then disappeared. There were serious error messages all round as I tried to launch various apps.
I then attempted to fix this mess...
Using File Explorer, I shared the "Documents" folder with myself (the Administrator account name) and I think it was then that I could launch Edge.
In File Explorer, I clicked on the standard list of my folders eg. Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, 3D objects etc. to be met with a message that I didn't have access and that I should click to get permanent access (please note my recall may not be perfect regarding the detail of the error messages)
I had also to give OneDrive access to stop the serious error messages it was throwing out.
I then went up in File Explorer to the "Administrator Account Name" level and went through each of the folders listed granting permission to any I had missed.
After this, I double checked that I had indeed got access to all these folders and then was able to launch my other browsers, Firefox and Chrome.
I've managed to launch a number of apps that appear on my taskbar, Alarms, Mail, Microsoft Store, and also my Security Suite, and at first sight, they appear to be fine, but I have not tested each exhaustively.
I would appreciate any advice you can give me that would enable me to reliably check that my system is fine.
I am worried that it might not be and that there may be serious system consequences at some point.
One detailed question which I think may not be a problem but, I'll just ask for peace of mind. After this, I did change the File Explorer View to allow display of hidden files/folders and some of the folders that appeared were just not accessible. I can recall names like Application Data, Cookies, Local Settings, Send To, Start Menu, Templates etc. Attempts by me to click on these folders result in a message like - "Location is not available" "file is not accessible" "access is denied". I wonder if these are protected system folders that have been revealed by my changes to what files/folders can be viewed?
Can I ask if there is a way for me to comprehensively check that everything is OK, just in case I have set myself up for serious consequences at some point, maybe not too far in the future?
Thank you
George
Continue reading...
I feel that I have gone some way to correcting these consequences but I could easily have missed out important corrective steps and I worry that I may be running a compromised system.
I operate two accounts on my PC, a Standard account which I use day to day and the Administrator account which I only use occasionally when required.
I had previously, 6 months ago, set up sharing on my "Documents" folder in my Standard account with the Administrator account so that when I'm in the Administrator account I can refer to, and alter some text files, which I use day to day in my standard account, in which I tend to record planned changes among many other things.
As "sharing" was changed in the latest 1803 update I thought that I'd take the opportunity to remove the pre-existing sharing arrangement and then move onto specific file sharing between my two user accounts using OneDrive.
To this end, when I was in my standard account, I worked with File Explorer to do this, and I must have made a SERIOUS MISTAKE at some point. I think I had specified the shared "Document" folder and selected my administrator account name within the Share Ribbon and then clicked "remove access". I'm not 100% clear on the exact sequence here as it happened so quickly but I was asked for the Administrator password to complete this action and then everything seemed fine in my Standard account.
I then logged into my Administrator account and that went badly...
None of my browsers would launch (Edge, Chrome, Firefox), I could not access any folders including my Documents Folder, OneDrive wouldn't work, the Settings app briefly appeared after launch and then disappeared. There were serious error messages all round as I tried to launch various apps.
I then attempted to fix this mess...
Using File Explorer, I shared the "Documents" folder with myself (the Administrator account name) and I think it was then that I could launch Edge.
In File Explorer, I clicked on the standard list of my folders eg. Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, 3D objects etc. to be met with a message that I didn't have access and that I should click to get permanent access (please note my recall may not be perfect regarding the detail of the error messages)
I had also to give OneDrive access to stop the serious error messages it was throwing out.
I then went up in File Explorer to the "Administrator Account Name" level and went through each of the folders listed granting permission to any I had missed.
After this, I double checked that I had indeed got access to all these folders and then was able to launch my other browsers, Firefox and Chrome.
I've managed to launch a number of apps that appear on my taskbar, Alarms, Mail, Microsoft Store, and also my Security Suite, and at first sight, they appear to be fine, but I have not tested each exhaustively.
I would appreciate any advice you can give me that would enable me to reliably check that my system is fine.
I am worried that it might not be and that there may be serious system consequences at some point.
One detailed question which I think may not be a problem but, I'll just ask for peace of mind. After this, I did change the File Explorer View to allow display of hidden files/folders and some of the folders that appeared were just not accessible. I can recall names like Application Data, Cookies, Local Settings, Send To, Start Menu, Templates etc. Attempts by me to click on these folders result in a message like - "Location is not available" "file is not accessible" "access is denied". I wonder if these are protected system folders that have been revealed by my changes to what files/folders can be viewed?
Can I ask if there is a way for me to comprehensively check that everything is OK, just in case I have set myself up for serious consequences at some point, maybe not too far in the future?
Thank you
George
Continue reading...