Why does Windows 10 control where I save my documents, etc.?


  1. Posts : 2
    Windows 10
       #1

    Why does Windows 10 control where I save my documents, etc.?


    When I do a "Save As", I don't expect to be told that I can't put the item where I want to. Who dreamt up this piece of nannying?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 1,778
    Windows 10 Pro,
       #2

    You can obviously choose where to put any piece of data or file where ever you want. You can set it up in advance or you can choose ad hoc.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 5,478
    2004
       #3

    Rocky said:
    You can obviously choose where to put any piece of data or file where ever you want.
    Well not exactly. Without changing permissions you can't save to root of C: drive, to another users or system folders. That has been Windows security design for years.

    You can change permissions to allow full access to everything if you want but it will make your system less secure (any malware could do anything) and any programs that rely on default permissions may act in unpredictable ways. Not a good idea...
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  4. Posts : 1,778
    Windows 10 Pro,
       #4

    lx07 said:
    Well not exactly. Without changing permissions you can't save to root of C: drive, to another users or system folders. That has been Windows security design for years.

    You can change permissions to allow full access to everything if you want but it will make your system less secure (any malware could do anything) and any programs that rely on default permissions may act in unpredictable ways. Not a good idea...


    Although you are 100% correct, I don't think that the OP had this in mind.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 2
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Rocky said:
    Although you are 100% correct, I don't think that the OP had this in mind.
    My settings will only allow me to save a new document to either "This PC" in the C drive or "Documents" in the D drive. Although I'm the only user, when I try to "Save As" to anywhere else, it tells me I don't have administrative permission. Having saved to the Documents folder, I then have to drag or copy the item to the folder I actually want it to be in.

    There seems to be no obvious way to amend (or do away with) this setting.

    Frustrating on a busy day.

    Ron
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 31,630
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #6

    This is most likely just down to permissions. A bit more info would help us to say what can be done about it.

    Is the account you are using when you try to save a standard user or an administrator?

    Do you sign in with the same account when you move the saved file?

    What is the full path to the folder you want to save to?

    From which app are you trying to save?

    When you do successfully move the item, do you get told 'You need Administrator permission to move to this folder...' and have to click 'Continue' to complete the move?
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 757
    Host W8.0 x64 Guest W10 x86
       #7

    ronbar said:
    When I do a "Save As", I don't expect to be told that I can't put the item where I want to. Who dreamt up this piece of nannying?
    Are you saving to a folder under Program Files or Program Files (x86) by any chance? If so this has been an annoyance since Windows 7. I write small scripting programs and they usually save .ini files or data files to the same folder as the exe. If it is run under one of the Program Files folders I get the permission hassle.

    Like you I am the only user on the system. So I used Take Ownership Context Menu Command from Tutorials to just take ownership of everything in the Program Files folder trees. Note you do not want to take ownership of all of the system partition, such as C:\ or you will have issues. But my systems have run fine for years using the Take Ownership method.

    The alternative was to run programs As Administrator for only that reason. I think the Take Ownership method is a better choice if you are the only user on the machine. But read the Tutorial and see if it applies to your situation.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 9,788
    Mac OS Catalina
       #8

    ronbar said:
    When I do a "Save As", I don't expect to be told that I can't put the item where I want to. Who dreamt up this piece of nannying?
    Another take on this. Save As defaults to the default directory in your User folder. If you want to change that behavior in say Office, you just go into the settings and change the default directories. All programs if written properly, will allow you to go into Preferences and change the default location which gets put into the Registry also.

    All that Save As is doing is allowing you to change the location that you want the file to be saved. Say you use a USB thumb drive to keep files on between work and home. You would save one copy to your hard drive, which is Save As, if you opened the file on the Thumb Drive. If you click Save instead of Save as. The file will be saved to the device that you opened it from.

    Think of this like a person delivering mail to a group of buildings, but the mail has no mailbox number on it, just the physical address of where the mail needs to be delivered. If the mail person does not see a name inside the mailbox, they will hold on to it. Now if they open up the box and see a name, then the mail is placed in that box. Basically the same concept.
      My Computer


 

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