Advice with Win 8.1 - Read Only folders and files

[SayinNuthin]

Finally succumbed to the inevitable and bought a 64bit machine which has windows 8.1 Pro on it. I have issues with the whole Trusted-installer thing and 'You do not have permission to' do this that or anything I damn well please really rubs me the wrong way! That's the generality, here's the specific:

 

I change the colour of the HUD display while playing but when I re-start the game the colour has reverted. When I look at the properties for any of the game folders Attributes - Read Only (applies to files in folder).

 

Now I've applied a 'Take Ownership' script and tried to unlock specific files as well as the entire hard drive, but as stuff continues to come up locked this appears not to be working. And if its not working for a minor thing like the game's .ini file (which is where I think the hud colour setting is stored) then the GECK has no f**king chance. Being as I generally work on the FalloutNV.esm directly...

 

I'm a long time XP and Linux user with plenty of experience rummaging around in the bowels of both systems but this is doing my nut right in. So I'm not even going to try using the GECK till I get a handle on this. Any advice anyone?

 

BTW, Yes I've made myself admin with 'full control' of everything except special permissions which seem to be what's needed to unlock everything and keep it unlocked.

 

God I hate windows...

[bben46]

I haven't messed with Win 8 at all ( Win7 works just fine for me) here is what works in Win7, you may see if 8 has something similar.

http://s1.zetaboards.com/bbenlibrary/topic/4912979/1/

[phoneyLogic]

There's a security feature called User Account Control, it protects every program that is located in the "Program Files" folder.

 

This usually makes sense and really is usefull but there's a problem with Fallout NV since running a program without rights like shown in bbens46's link, doesn't allow changes to anything in that folder.

 

So in order to keep this security feature and to make your game moddable, I'd suggest to install New Vegas outside of the Program Files folder, maybe under C:\GAMES\Fallout...

 

With this method you can run the games with user rights just fine. However, in order to properly work with the GECK, you should run the GECK.exe as Admin.

 

 

I keep it as a rule to not to install any game in Program Files. Some games will still demand admin rights, but many run fine without.

Edited April 5, 2015 by tortured Tomato

[SayinNuthin]

Thanks guys this is a start but with programs installed outside the programs-folder on top of all the compulsory My Pictures, My Videos cack (what are we 9 year olds?) as well as the whole libraries structure my hopes of a lean system are floating off on a sea of bloat here.

 

I guess when I get home I'll be installing win8 on a spare machine along side a Linux then fly over the windows and start ripping lumps like the UAC and trusted-installer out of it (Kano, Mortal Kombat?.. :devil: ) and see what happens 'cos you can do that in Linux. This question has been asked again and again, I've discovered, All Over the forums where it seems attract Microsoft paid trolls like flies to s**t all whining 'you can't do that, it's dangerous'. Like more dangerous than a monstrous faceless corporation in bed with the American government having the back door keys AND the final say on what I do with my machine?

 

Yea right, I'll just live with the risk okay. :laugh: but if anyone knows where to find instructions on how to disable ALL of the WinKrap.. please share.

[phoneyLogic]

There's a way to gain full Admin rights by enabling the built-in Administrator account, which is disabled by default.

But since Windows 7 or 8.1 has another security concept, I wouldn't browse the web with admin rights.

 

The user of cause is a security threat so it's wise to give users and programs only admin rights if neccessary. Which btw works very well. One could compare it with sudo in the linux world.

 

However, if you want to activate the Administrator account, have a read here:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825104.aspx#UseMMCConsole

 

There also is a way by using the Computer Management console like this

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770642.aspx

 

Then log off and back in as Administrator.

[SayinNuthin]

Thanks again TT, I'm all over that stuff now having gnawed my way into the Gpedit.msc and all it contains such as;

Local Computer Policy/Computer Configuration/Local Policies/Security Options/System objects [strengthen default permissions of internal objects] DISABLED!!!

And User Account Control: Behaviour of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode. ELEVATE WITHOUT PROMPTING!

 

Lots of good stuff in here that will do until I can kill it properly (just call me Gru.. ZAP! "Freeze-ray!") but I'm not remotely worried about system security for the simple reason the machine will basically be never plugged into the internet. When I need to activate a game I plug the machine in, watch very carefully where it goes and what it does, and as soon as that's done, the plug gets pulled!

 

Anything I download is done so in Linux where it's scrutinized and if necessary sanitized. All my 'stuff' is backed up on remote drives so worst case scenario if some nuisance gets through, I have to reinstall the system (yawn) like that's any more than a dull chore and minor annoyance...

 

But hey, I wouldn't want to upset anyone's billion dollar security software gravy train here by suggesting the whole thing is a massive paranoia scam preying on people who really shouldn't be f**king with stuff like online banking in the first place since they have no bleeding idea how their computer or the internet actually works.. Dear me no, perish the thought :dry:

 

Anyhow a bit more tinkering and I'll backup the current customized system, Recimg and progress has been achieved.. then archived.

[phoneyLogic]

Yep,the mmc is a very powerfull tool. :-)

 

You could change all these policies or just enable and use the built-in Administrator account.

Not a fancy user name but he at least should have all previleges.

 

If you go offline, then no worries. But for the average user, stuff like UAC really helps and the OS still is very usable. Windows made some progress here. ;-)

 

May I ask what linux distro you prefer?

[SayinNuthin]

 

May I ask what linux distro you prefer?

 

Been using Ubuntu for everyday stuff since the Debian/Suse era, though Mint is cute I've not switched over. I've a couple of machines like an 32 bit tablet PC which need an OS like Zorin because it has the bits to run the screen (which has a pin-point accurate stylus interface plus a screen you can rest your hand against while you use it!). Then there are utility disks like Knopix and my old favourite Trinity (a dormant distro sadly, but it still works) and distros like Tails for.. er.. special circumstances..

 

If I get a new machine that will be used on the internet then I normally bang Ubuntu straight on it as a matter of course - then spent 5 to 10 hours reigning in the latest excesses, removing 'docks' as inserting start menus etc.

 

When this new 64 bit machine is 'fettled' to my satisfaction it will, like almost all of my machines, look pretty much like windows 98. with all the fancy crap shut down or preferably entirely removed from the system. They can stuff their Aeropeek where the sun don't shine, their docks and ugly start screens an all that s**t can just shrivel up blow away and I'll have the processing power thanx. I've never ever had a machine I haven't maxed out and brought to a standstill within a couple of months - and I'm not expecting that to change anytime soon. Because computer processing demand will always expands to meet capacity. Always...

 

And I'm planning to re-do the LOD blocks of almost a half of the existing NV wasteland plus half as much again which will be almost all open space! So I'll be clearing the decks and all hands brace for impact for that one :laugh:

[phoneyLogic]

Mint is a very nice client system, already tried it, really nice, like the lmde and kde versions.

 

I'm quite in favour of debian anyway. For minimal server systems, e.g. as proxy firewall combination, it's awesome.

 

Suse is appealing too, maybe a bit peculiar in some regards, but as said, for some reason I'm all for debian.

 

Maybe it's because debian is most straight forward and doesn't guide too much.

 

However, Windows 8.1 is one of my favourite client systems as well. It's very stable and quite performant for a Windows machine. For some reason I like the UI very much. It's not bad that os and as soon as you got used to it, you wont ever go back to XP.

Edited April 6, 2015 by tortured Tomato