The real answer?
"We once gave you commoners this power and you used it to fuck your computer up and then blamed us for it, so we learned you can't be trusted with this power. We hid it behind a kind of skill test, and you're failing that test."
Good luck with opening the subdirectories of C:\WindowsApps\. I ran Explorer as admin, gave myself R/W permissions, even recursively changed ownership of everything, followed all the online guides... Still denied access.
Those're probably containerised.
Sandboxed rather than containerised I think.
If you make a bootable linux usb drive you can do whatever you want with all windows stupid files without even having to install linux.
U can use proccess hacker to lauch for example total commander with SYSTEM privileges it's highest possible privilege in windows.
I prefer the answer of giving the giy the reins and letting him get it so riddled with viruses then when he calls for support replying "sorry, your property your problem. You have absolute dominion over it and thus we give no warranty as we have no responsibility."
Microsoft gives no warranty and assumes no responsibility as it is.
Why can't I delete System32? It's taking up space.
Where are the other 31 systems??
Andrew is not very smart. Windows isn't very good, but he is very clueless. There are legitimate things to complain about, but Andrew just complains.
Andrew doesn't know how file system permissions work. He complains that computers demand he keeps up, but these ACLs have been a thing since Windows XP (for consumers, much longer for older NT versions) so clearly the 14 years he had to catch up weren't enough.
I'm not sure why he brought up moving to 64 bit (guess he came from XP, perhaps?), I don't think thats relevant to anything here.
He doesn't seem to know what an administrator account is (so his normal account probably is an administrator account) and rants something about "owners" as if that means anything to a computer.
He also concludes that this needs to be done for every file (it doesn't) and then gets mad about that.
Fixing ACLs sucks, it takes forever and the UI isn't very good for novices, but this guy's anger seems to be misdirected towards his own misunderstandings about how Windows works and has worked for over a decade at the point he came to the forums.
None of this is because of "changes", if anything his problem is exacerbated by the fact Windows still has the Win2000 permissions dialog on ACLs to this day.
Windows permissions can be tricky... I'll give them that. A lot of the tools Microsoft provides are not very straightforward.
However, PowerShell and tools from Sysinternals suite, or open source tools as well, make it a lot easier.
Managing permissions on Linux, especially if doing the ACL thing, can be complicated too. I've really never ran into many permission issues myself. psexec has been helpful too when needing to access things as the SYSTEM user and not get those stupid prompts asking me to change permissions for protected folders.
Having used secured SELinux enterprise code, I've learned that Linux permissions can be even more complicated than Windows' when multiple permission models suddenly overlap. There's an endless supply of special bit flags, security contexts, and sandboxing features that all overlap.
I've run into very complicated Linux permission issues when combining SELinux (properly configured, not just neutered and standby) and system services in some specific configuration. Once you start applying the permission systems that Windows comes with by default in Linux, you get the same problems (or worse ones, as Linux has a multitude of permission systems stacked on top of each other).
On Windows, I recall one particularly messed up drive from another computer that not even NT_AURHORITY\SYSTEM was allowed to alter the ownership of. Luckily Linux happily stripped out all the permissions for me because Linux can plainly ignores ACL if you're root and provide the right flags. Probably a terrible way to break ACLs in a managed environment, but this time it was a feature!
I think Andrew might be a lawyer.
My roommate for a couple years in college was pre-law, and did some internships after graduation but before gaining his own law degree. He mentioned at one point how absolutely and hilariously pervasive it was at the firm he was working for attorneys to just run screaming to IT every single time literally anything was even the slightest bit inconvenient or obtuse (to their understanding). Part of it was the logic of “I bill clients at $800/hr, I am not spending my time to resolve whatever this hiccup is”, but part of it was absolutely also some bullshit power dynamics.
Worked in IT for over a decade, lawyers are the fucking. worst.
I see your lawyers and I raise you doctors...
I was working with a doc on an IT problem a few months ago.. It was a mildy terrifying experience, I would never want someone so ignorant as my doctor.
I don't know, I don't think I want the best IT person in the world performing an appendectomy.
Just because you're an expert in one field doesn't mean you're an expert in every field.
I don't think I want the best IT person in the world performing an appendectomy.
"Okay so let's start with the simplest thing by performing a power cycle and seeing if that fixes it...CLEAR!"
Yeah like, complain about the one thing MS is finally improving in recent years, clamping down on non-admin users and non-admin permissions.
Andrew is ignorant. He could learn the basics of computer literacy, which would answer all his questions, but I'll take a shot in the dark and say that Andrew doesn't want to do that and is perfectly happy being ignorant. And also angry.
"I shouldn't have to use permissions or sudo, just all root all the time"
"Real Men Run As Root"
Andrew complains, Microsoft makes a root mode so Andrew can have his way. Andrew breaks his computer the next second by deleting a system file and proceeds to call Microsoft support. :)
Most of the annoying stuff that Linux users hate about Windows are because Windows has to cater to even the least technologically knowledgeable users.
It is why Windows updates are forced, why so many files are locked behind SYSTEM user and can't easily be circumvented, why some settings are registry or Group Policy only, why some settings are opt out, ...
Without those, their support center would blow up.
So if Linux wants to become mainstream, it will have to cater to those users as well. And Linux will slowly turn into Windows.
Most of the annoying stuff that Linux users hate about Windows are because Windows has to cater to even the least technologically knowledgeable users.
Isn't that the whole idea of GNOME? Always considering users as stupid and lowering the bar?
In defense of Andrew, until windows 10 never had I ever installed a program that made it’s own files untouchable unless you did some real fuckery with permissions.
As soon as they introduced that little warning screen in program files it was clear shit was going downhill for power users.
The long reply on how to change file ownership when it could just be chown -R andrew /pictures
chown won't alter the ACLs set by setfacl (which is much closer to the permission model Windows follows).
On Windows, you can use takeown /f "path" /r to recursively set the owner on a directory. Powershell can do more fine-grained control if necessary.
The problem with this and your proposed Linux solution is that most normal users don't know any command line tools and just want a button to access their files. Windows does have this, but it doesn't always work reliably. On Linux it depends on the file manager, but I don't think any of them support setfacl-style permissions.
In which case you could also go right-click -> properties -> security -> advanced -> click change where it lists the owner.
It's not as quick but hey, mouse-driven UI exists.
Yeah, that guy's issue isnt a matter of "Microsoft has control over my PC!!!"; more like "I've been using a computer for years and never actually looked at how things work under the surface".
Simple permissions error, happens in Linux all the time as well.
Right?
This reeks of inexperience.
We lock things down because a malicious program can easily be "owned" by the user through stupid choices. And now you got viruses.
This is a way to stupid proof things. And the workaround isnt difficult, but it's to stop people like Andrew. And so far, success.
My man just reinvented free software.
My brain read that in John Oliver's mocking voice. xD
sudo apt install linux
problem fucking solved
"sudo is not recognized an an internal or external command"
I want to say "Haha, Idiot trusting Microsoft".
But honestly I want the same stuff he wants. Including modems in mobile phones. Including EVERYTHING I own.
There's an OS you might like. It has no UAC, no file permissions, no sudo nor chmod, as it has no multi-user support, no antivirus and no firewall, no protection rings, not even spectre/meltdown mitigations, and most of all - no guard-rails whatsoever: You can patch the kernel directly at runtime and it won't even give you a warn. And yet, it is perfectly safe to run. It's called TempleOS and it achieves such a flawless security by having no networking support whatsoever and barely any support for removable media. If you want a piece a software - you just code it in, manually. You don't have to check the code for backdoors if it's entirely written by you... only for CIA at your actual back door...
Pebkac. Gui equivalent of chown perfectly working on windows and supports recursing into directories. If the questioner doesn't know how to login as an admin they miss some absolute basic computer usage knowledge, and a general help forum thread wont help them.
People talking shit about Andrew but I've had seriously weird issues with Windows throwing out odd permissions errors on seemingly basic shit on files that are 0kb after restarting and doing all sorts of basic troubleshooting including CMD Prompt and Powershell guides only for none of them to work.
It reeked of virus but never was. Just weird stupid shit that wasn't easily explained, should've worked but didn't, or various other things that the allmighty Lemmings here think is just beyond a google apparently.
FWIW I'm pretty sure it was straight up related to corrupted files in weird shared folder spots.
You have to pretend they don't exist and never think about them again after hiding them then hopefully never remember or just reinstall because it's been a couple years and probably good to do anyway.
Andrew is going to get malware on his PC, guaranteed.
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