Hi, sorry if this has been discused before, I cant find a thread talking about exactly what my problem is. First off, ACER Laptop good specs running, Vista Home 64, experienced flight simmer. Sometime in the last 30 days my computer has gone haywire and locked me out of everything. If i try to unlock a read-only folder or take ownership the attributes can not be applied and I know this is the underlying reason behind the issue.I have been installing scenery manually on this system every since it was new, with the same user account with success.Recently I tried to install a file and after adding it to the scenery library FSX gave me a message. "The file could not be installed on this computer. Please login as an adminstrator to complete the installation."I tried starting over under run as administrator. Same issue.I tried going to the folder for fsx and unchecking read only, apply. go back to properties, and read-only is checked again. Next I try to take over ownership, I think, I have done it sucessfully, restart, come back same thing, read-only still checked.I turn off UAC completely, same thing. Only now FSX wont even start. So I turn it back on. Things go back to normal but still get that cant install files message when FSX starts.I go into cmd.exe and unlock the actual administrator. I sign in as the true administrator. Same thing!There seems to be a vista profile disconnect somewhere. Even when im the administrator I can't install anything or take ownership or unlock anything in the folder. I can't even do it if I turn off UAC as the Administrator. Does anyone have any suggestions. I lost my fsx disc in my move and I have hundreds if not thousands of dollars in scenery and addons. FSX works fine, its just that I can't install scenery because the folders are read-only, it seems to me it just wont write to the scenery.cfg or something to make matters worse i cant figure out where any of those files are. i.e. the ones that are in my app data folder for my user name. Says access is denied. Its almost like I got a worm or something that changed my registry and I can't restore. All I need to do is get folders unlocked. i found a method to unlock through command.exe and the command is attrib -R but i don't know how to put it in proper directory format, DOS keeps saying syntax error. C:>attrib -r "Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Games/Mcrosoft Flight Simulator X" and it dosen't work. over the years I have become DOS illiterate is there anyone who has had this problem? I would hate to redo everything to find out that someone has had this issue and knows how to fix it. If I can't get it fixed this will probably be the end of my FSX days.If you see something I overlooked feel free to call me on it, I just need this fixed.I used to design scenery and know just about everything about fsx on a programming level, but it seems Windows Vista has finally made me angry enough to defeat me. All my folders are read-only and I cant figure this out.Thanks, Any help is appreciated.

It certainly sounds like a UAC problem, doesn't it.. Personally I have it fully off, preferring to run Microsoft Security Essentials, the Win 7 firewall, plus my router firewall instead, and to me this is very adequate for pretty much any system. I would suggest turning it off after the same manner, and then downloading "Take Ownership" from here http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52676345/TakeOwnership.zip, which will allow taking ownership from all rt-click menus. You might have to go right into the security/ownership of some files to get back that ownership. Microsoft also has a site which describes this process, plus that of getting your home folder back to "how it should be" if it's messed up. I had a number of similar issues with Win 7, and this was the cause. There are also a number of good sites with other links, too; http://www.howtogeek.com/tag/windows-vista/ ...I find it very difficult to tell a link, whether hard or soft with any version of windows.Was that DOS command you quoted a 'pasted' command here in this post? I'm asking because you do have a spelling error with the second "Microsoft" which would prevent it from working - also you're using Unix-style "/" instead of DOS-style "".Lastly - have you tried rolling back the system to an earlier date?

I don't even know if its a UAC issue, it almost seems like a registry issue. I got the horrible win anti virus 2012 - virus. I was able to chop it up and contain it and revert my registry to earlier date. So I had control of my internet and applications again, but apparently it has some sort of registry entry where i can't change read-only folders. It's like the virus got into my registry and changed this at a system level. It dosen't matter if UAC is on or not, I can not uncheck read-only on any folder. It always reverts back and I know this is one of the things mentioned in the quarantine of the virus. What make me so mad is this virus was able to just walk on through. It got through UAC, Windows Defender and Prevex 3.0. All of these security features and nothing stopped it, but I sure as hell can't control my own computer. I miss Windows 98. As for the DOS command lines, if just typed it, didnt paste it. I must have tried for over 2 hours. I could get to the directory then try to set the attribute, but DOS just went down a line when I hit enter, nothing happened. I guess i'll just have to be happy with the fact that I got my computer back without reformatting. Thanks for trying. Andy

Hmmmph.. Just a note - Windows Defender is replaced by Microsoft Security Essentials a while back, Andy.

I guess i'll just have to be happy with the fact that I got my computer back without reformatting.

You need icalcs to control Vista and Win7:-http://technet.micro...x#BKMK_examplesTo be honest - the computer's not fixed, and you make it sound like a hopeless case, so why not just up the system to Win7-64 and have done with it?

Edited March 3, 201214 yr by Paul J