Troubleshoot W7 64 Accounts Backwards?

[AtlBo]

Downloads are all happening to the Administrator account even though I am using SUA. Also, in a very unexpected twist, the folder for Downloads under Favorites in Explorer leads directly to the Admin account (I think see pics below). Anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

When I created the SUA account, I used the following method. Create a 2nd Admin account. Use the 2nd Admin account to change the original Admin account to SUA. It was a long standing established Admin account, but it's now SUA. No idea if this could have contributed to the problem I am seeing.

BTW, it seems as if the accounts are switching around somehow. Like just now I went to look over the Admin account downloads in the Users folder tree. In the Admin account all the downloads are there. I have only ever downloaded to the the SUA account, but there are only two files showing in the actual SUA folder in the Users folder area.

Anyone run across this before? Seems very serious, so I would like to see if I can get it fixed ASAP...

Here is how strange this is. The following pics are of the same folder. Only difference is that I have clicked on the path bar in the second picture to show the location:

Before clicking on the path bar I see downloads link under Favorites has taken me to the SUA Downloads folder (User-LTD):

and after clicking on the path bar I see that I am actually in the Admin account Downloads folder(?):

This is with the exact same folder open. What could this be? Haven't had a chance to check to see if any other folders are affected this way.

 

[AtlBo]

Yea, the desktops are backwards too. What can I possibly do to fix this? I suspect the references to folders may be all squabbled throughout the system...

 

[vtqhtr413]

Do you have a good backup image you can restore to?

 

[AtlBo]

I do thanks. Problem is I don't want to recreate the user account. I'm a couple on months into this and it would be easier to reinstall the OS I think.

This may have something to do with programs installed into the old Admin account that caused Windows to transfer ownership of the folders for the old admin account (when it was changed to SUA) over to the Admin account. It appears Windows switches the ownership for all folders where there could be any question about whether the folder contains data of use to a program that requires Admin rights to run. So its solution is to just flip flop those folders and then present the folder as though everything is normal LOL...

It was a really weird twist for me to get the UAC prompt for attempting to look into an SUA folder from SUA a minute ago. What's inside is what I would expect to be in the Admin account (very little) instead of the SUA. Again, same for all or many folders anyway. UAC prompts for programs seem to be happening normally in SUA with the password and all. I'll have to study the rest from now on to be able to say, although they seem to be correct in Admin account too. All the programs seem to work too, so I'm OK with that at least.

It's super confusing, and I will probably get mad and reinstall. No big deal, and I am OK with it.

 

[vtqhtr413]

I think its called file association, its been a very long time ago but I had to try to figure that out once and I don't believe I did. Good luck AtlBo.

 

[Deleted member 178]

When I created the SUA account, I used the following method. Create a 2nd Admin account. Use the 2nd Admin account to change the original Admin account to SUA. It was a long standing established Admin account, but it's now SUA. No idea if this could have contributed to the problem I am seeing.

It is what i do too on Win10. Never had this kind of issue. Better clean install and redo all properly.

 

[tonibalas]

A silly question.
Do you allow automatic download?
Because in each browser i have selected the option to <ask where to download>.
And when the new window appears i can select where to download.
Have you tried this?

This may have something to do with programs installed into the old Admin account that caused Windows to transfer ownership of the folders for the old admin account (when it was changed to SUA) over to the Admin account.

I think this is what happened. I hope you will find the solution

 

[Prorootect]

I think its called file association, its been a very long time ago but I had to try to figure that out once and I don't believe I did. Good luck AtlBo.

If file association problems, you can fix it with PowerTool/Application/File Association tab ... if "fix" on right click is not grayed on particular file, you can fix it...
...and under Network tab, look on Hidden Account/Clone Account tab too, why not

I hope for you too

 

[Ink]

Libraries can contain more than one location.

For both accounts, find out where are the Downloads being stored:

• Open Windows Explorer > Libraries > Right-click Downloads folder > Select Location tab.

Understanding the Libraries Feature in Windows 7

 

[Prorootect]

...and maybe you're victim of Chrome Remote Desktop extension for Chrome, look at this MT topic: Add-on - Guest Accounts Gain Full Access on Chrome RDP

 

[AtlBo]

...and maybe you're victim of Chrome Remote Desktop extension for Chrome

I hope not @Prorootect . I don't have it installed so I don't think so. I looked that over in your thread where it was mentioned previously, and I hope they get something done about that.

Thanks for all the input. Here's the most important facts to clariy and because maybe someone could find it interesting. Kind of has me going wondering if it happened intentionally by MS design:

I wanted to set up an SUA on an Admin PC
I decided to use the primary (Admin) account as the user account (keep files and AppData)
I created a new Admin account with a slightly different username from the original
Changed the original to SUA
Changed the name of the new SUA account in Users Admin area to the same as the other account + LTD<------ This is when I think Windows may have shifted things around based on program dependencies or associations etc.

I am going to look around for awhile and see if I can come up with more, but I have NEVER seen Windows show a location in Explorer as one thing and then show its path differently when the path bar is clicked. I don't know how everything is continuing to function properly, although UAC seems to be mildly affected in this way. In SUA, if I attempt to open one of its actual folders like Documents or Desktop (navigate to C:\Users\User-LTD\<FOLDER>), I get the UAC prompt, while I can freely roam around in the Admin folders from SUA.

I see everything the way I want to see things as far as what files I see in the folders in each account when Explorer opens Documents, etc. It's just that the path is not what's expected. This is reflected also in the C:\Users directory tree where the files are not what I would expect for each of the two accounts. That extends all the way down the AppData path too.

If Windows moves things around this way when an account name is changed, I wonder what it would have done if I had not created the new Admin account before changing the old one to SUA (I know I would have been stuck w/o and Admin acct but...)? Would it have moved some things to the machine Admin account so the files could be available for programs? I just don't know and again, no idea why everything just didn't break. I guess I did reinstall a good bit of the software to get around other quirks of establishing 2 accounts, so maybe I just never noticed breakage that was there...

Anyway, the short is that in the C:\Users directory, many if not all of the folders are flip flopped account-wise. Hope I can find out what happened. That Explorer.exe presents the folder as what I would like to see kind of indicates to me that it was something intentional from MS for W7 at least...maybe to accomodate installed software(?)...

Libraries folders:

Again when I open the -LTD account folder I see the files I would expect to see in the newly created Admin account. However, in SUA, Explorer.exe->Documents shows me the files I want to see and then indicates I am looking at the -LTD account folder...until I click on the path. Then via the path I see that those are actually stored in the Admin account. Same thing happens in the Admin account in Explorer except in reverse.

It's like having normal expected access from Explorer, including UAC as far as I can tell, but then the folders are flip flopped in directory-wise. And Windows even accomodates, indicating that I am in the expected/desired folder.

When I changed from Admin SUA and then changed the name, I would have expected the files would still be in the account, but this is not the case...all the way down to AppData LOL. Yet Windows functions perfectly as I would like, including UAC. I don't know what Windows must have done underneath for this to work. It took me 2 months of steady use to even notice this I guess. Crazy...

 

[Deleted member 178]

Anyway Win7 suxx

 

[Freki123]

I would say windows as a service sxxx. Atleast win 7 didn't have cortana and the cloud thingy by default. How about giving people an opt in and not forced stuff. You pay for the os with money and they still want your data (for free as a bonus) :/
If i pay for something i don't expect to be the "the product"

 

[Ink]

I wanted to set up an SUA on an Admin PC
I decided to use the primary (Admin) account as the user account (keep files and AppData)
I created a new Admin account with a slightly different username from the original
Changed the original to SUA
Changed the name of the new SUA account in Users Admin area to the same as the other account + LTD<------ This is when I think Windows may have shifted things around based on program dependencies or associations etc.

Not sure if any use, but it has some user management controls.

Run lusrmgr.msc (or via Control Panel > Admin Tools > Computer Management)
Local Users and Groups > Users > {Open Properties of User account}

I have no experience in modifying these settings, proceed at your own risk.

 

[AtlBo]

@Spawn. Looked at this very closely and read the Windows help. It appears that I could connect the accounts to each other's data, so that the paths would read correctly in Explorer when clicked on. However, I think Explorer.exe would reverse what it shows as the location of the files, so that might appear incorrect. That sounds like a problem I could fix in the registry somehow, but I'm not sure.

Think I will get a clean image and reverse the paths for the accounts and see what happens . Live and learn I guess.

Thx for the pointer. Solved an old ReHIPs issue I had with accounts in the process. Couldn't figure out how to delete references to the accounts made by ReHIPs and used for containers. Nice to get into this part of Windows finally...been meaning to for a long time...

 

[AtlBo]

Thx for all the input so far on this. Noticed something when I went in to change the account path. In the picture in the previous post, I typed in MACH into the first column. I hadn't expanded the column and I assumed from what I was seeing that it was the MACH name. However, it was not. It was the account name. So the "Account" and its "Full Name" are a separate thing. Then I realized that the "Full Name" for each account was backwards. So I changed those names to match the account name. Here is the result:

And here in the second pic is the result of this action:

Sorry about the explanations. I don't have any experience in this area. Basically I still have access into the correct files from the Standard account...as before I did also. However, two things have changed:

1. The SUA account name has changed to the name I intend for the Admin account.
2. The paths in Explorer.exe match what Explorer.exe shows as its simplified version of the location when the folder is opened.

Here is Explorer.exe title bar. Locations now match:

So now all I have to do is change the names of the accounts I guess. So do I change the SUA to a temp name, then change the Admin to the desired name...then the SUA to its correct name?

No idea what will happen with this LOL...

 

[AtlBo]

Well this actually worked. Got the accounts lined up name and Full name. Then I changed the account names to the desired account names. Everything matches up now.

Still think MS did this on purpose to keep apps from breaking. I did notice that NVT ERP lost its password settings during the changes. Happened twice. Kind of feel bad about saying it here but I guess those files need to be protected somehow since obviously they are in the user path (think I found them in appdata). Hopefully there won't be any other breakage.

All this did cause me to dig a little bit deeper and think about what might be in W10 for dealing with the issue. I suppose it could be that restrictions forbid placing program related files in the user path...don't know. I'll take @Umbra's well regarded word for it that this wouldn't happen in W10...

 

[AtlBo]

Tested with a relog. Guess I spoke too soon, cause on reboot it reverted:

I guess it made sense for MS to do this if this is intentional. Apps don't break, user still sees the files that are required in Explorer and the proper desktop and downloads, etc. The entire account functions as normal. Even UAC functions 100% properly, since it only cares what kind of account. However, if W10 has a fix for this, then that is a nice improvement obviously. No fun digging around in a wrongly named user space for files or information...