Windows 7 Two Windows 7 computers, one can't save files directly to C drive?

repole

New Member
Before I go into detail, I understand that saving things to the C drive, whether it be by a user or a program, can generally be a bad idea.

I have two computers currently running Windows 7.
-On both computers, I use an account with administrator privileges
-On both computers UAC is set at the default level.

For some reason, on one computer I am capable of saving files on the C drive without having to run a program with UAC, but on the other computer this does not work. Similarly, if I right click on a program in my C drive and click "Create Shortcut" I receive the message "Windows can't create a shortcut here. Do you want the shortcut to be placed on the desktop instead?" What I'm trying to convey by point this out is this is not a problem that I have with a particular program, but an issue I'm experiencing with the operating system in general.

Anyone have any idea why this would come up on one computer and not my other?
 
The create shortcut thing happens on my system all the time.

Otherwise, where are the files coming from you are trying to save on C: And I assume you are referring to the C: drive on each computer's own harddrive...

If you right click properties are there any differences showing on the files you can notice?
 
The files I am trying to save could be new files, or files already located on the C drive (opening one of these in Notepad++ and then trying to save gives an error). The idea I suppose is that I don't have administrative rights to make changes to files on the C drive without permission, which I suppose makes sense, but I'm not sure why it's different on the two computers.

Don't see any differences in the properties of the files, the user permissions are all the same, I can't seem to find any setting anywhere that would explain this. Both installations of Windows are relatively new (within a few months), and I'm pretty sure things have been this way since Windows was installed.
 
All I could think is that the files in question were owned by another user, so you needed elevated rights to do something with them, or where you are trying to save them has been changed. When I look at the permissions for my C: drive, System and Administrator have full control and I only have 3 check marks. Authenticated users have Special Permissions.

But if you can't create a new folder, or make a .txt file and save it, something must have gotten away from the default settings. I don't suppose Notepad ++ has anything to do with it..
 
For what it's worth I can create a new folder, and if I run a program as administrator I can save/edit files on the C drive. It's just that I don't have to run a program as administrator to do the same on my other computer.

It's definitely not a Notepad++ issue (I have it on my other computer as well and don't have the same problem), it happens with any program that isn't run in administrator mode and is trying to change or create a new file on the C drive.
 
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