Windows 8 permissions??

[richie43]

I recently did the Windows 8 upgrade from Windows 7. I have always done a clean install for any OS, but decided to do the upgrade due to the huge number of plugins that I have been accumulating that require crazy authorizations.... Anyway, everything has been super smooth sailing, until today I realized that I can no longer drag and drop wav files into a project unless I use the media explorer. This is not a terrible set-back for me, but I have always just opened my folder with audio in it in Windows Explorer and dragged them from there. I CAN adapt to using the media explorer, but I am perplexed why this is happening. I upgraded from a Windows 7 administrator account with full permissions, and never had an issue like this. When I start to drag an audio file into Reaper, as soon as my cursor get's into Reaper, I get the little black "no" circle. Does anyone know if Windows 8 has some extra level of permissions I need to enable somewhere? Thanks in advance.

[hopi]

OMG... don't know the answer but I WANT to know about this!

so question... can you drag and drop as normal just between diff folders? Did you install the thing you can get for 8 that let's use the normal windows shell look and not just the metro?

[Jae.Thomas]

maybe files on the external drive are "owned" by your old windows 7 account. I ran into this issue as well, first when going to windows 7, and then again to windows 8. Let me share an article with you:

http://superuser.com/questions/43401...-does-not-work

and then this:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...ndows-8-a.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...ndows-8-a.html

and look for suggestions about ownership and permissions - just remember, this could mess up bad, so do some research on it first.

[richie43]

I can drag to other folders in Windows, and Jason, my audio is on separate installed hard drives, not external. But I am reading those articles right now. Very weird.

[richie43]

Originally Posted by hopi

OMG... don't know the answer but I WANT to know about this!

so question... can you drag and drop as normal just between diff folders? Did you install the thing you can get for 8 that let's use the normal windows shell look and not just the metro?

I am still on the Windows 8 standard shell, or metro. Are you referring to the "classic shell"? I downloaded it but have not installed that yet.

[Jae.Thomas]

I meant any drive except your system drive/partition. that was the case with me anyway.

[richie43]

Thanks Jason. It's weird that I can drag and drop, copy/paste, etc in between any folder in Windows, from any of my 3 HD's and partitions, and I can add audio using the media explorer, but I can't drag from a Windows folder directly into Reaper. Did you do the "take ownership" via the elevated command prompt or the quick (but nerve-bending) registry edit?

[Jae.Thomas]

I actually had to do the command prompt thing for it to "stick" - weird. I was kind of in a rush, so it's hard for me to remember exactly what I had to do

there was one article in particular that really did the trick and I can't seem to find it.

please dont act hastily!

[richie43]

Originally Posted by Jason Brian Merrill

I actually had to do the command prompt thing for it to "stick" - weird. I was kind of in a rush, so it's hard for me to remember exactly what I had to do

there was one article in particular that really did the trick and I can't seem to find it.

please dont act hastily!

I never act too hastily when Windows gives me grief.

[hopi]

Originally Posted by richie43

I am still on the Windows 8 standard shell, or metro. Are you referring to the "classic shell"? I downloaded it but have not installed that yet.

yes sorry did not have that name on the tip of my mind...

[richie43]

Originally Posted by hopi

yes sorry did not have that name on the tip of my mind...

No worries. I did just install it... I like it better than "Metro", but it did not solve my problem.....

[Jae.Thomas]

ahh here is the article:

http://qualapps.blogspot.com/2010/09...rnal-hard.html

after following this advice, my problem seemed to go away.

I also sometimes still need that "take ownership" thing however.

weird. but not bothersome anymore really.

[lowellben]

Originally Posted by richie43

I recently did the Windows 8 upgrade from Windows 7. I have always done a clean install for any OS, but decided to do the upgrade due to the huge number of plugins that I have been accumulating that require crazy authorizations.... Anyway, everything has been super smooth sailing, until today I realized that I can no longer drag and drop wav files into a project unless I use the media explorer. This is not a terrible set-back for me, but I have always just opened my folder with audio in it in Windows Explorer and dragged them from there. I CAN adapt to using the media explorer, but I am perplexed why this is happening. I upgraded from a Windows 7 administrator account with full permissions, and never had an issue like this. When I start to drag an audio file into Reaper, as soon as my cursor get's into Reaper, I get the little black "no" circle. Does anyone know if Windows 8 has some extra level of permissions I need to enable somewhere? Thanks in advance.

Yup I know exactly what you mean. Permissions in Win8 is INSANE. I couldn't even copy and paste files into a folder on my C: (outside of my personal folder) - It was very annoying.

But I fixed it by taking UAC off and using non-web based logins (i.e. only local accounts).

[Jae.Thomas]

Originally Posted by lowellben

Yup I know exactly what you mean. Permissions in Win8 is INSANE. I couldn't even copy and paste files into a folder on my C: (outside of my personal folder) - It was very annoying.

But I fixed it by taking UAC off and using non-web based logins (i.e. only local accounts).

yes, I think that might have been my error, I used my live account as a login. however, I like the potential for sync when I eventually get a windows 8 tablet and phone (at least for files and settings... the apps of course wont be)

[richie43]

I have UAC off and have never used a web-based login. I upgraded from 7 and never changed my login info. In fact, I have it set to not ask for a password. This is very perplexing.

[Jae.Thomas]

I had UAC off at first as well.

[richie43]

I just ran through the directions you linked me to Jason, and still no change. This is annoying, for sure.

[richie43]

Now things got odd. I just did a portable install onto one of my other installed hard drives, and drag and drop works fine. I have already set Reaper to run as administrator, but what else am I forgetting? Should I "take ownership" over my system drive?

[lowellben]

Originally Posted by richie43

I just ran through the directions you linked me to Jason, and still no change. This is annoying, for sure.

http://www.eightforums.com/system-se...nistrator.html

This should be exactly what you need.
I forgot to mention one last step which worked for me which is editing the local group policy.

I can promise you that will work

Win8 defaults to even admins being prompted incessantly.

[Jae.Thomas]

im going to try that now too, since I am still having to use that "take ownership" thing occasionally. Thanks!

[Jae.Thomas]

hmm, I wonder what the ramifications of this choice are

[lowellben]

http://www.petenetlive.com/KB/Article/0000687.htm

This may be a clearer explanation, hope this helps.

Basically you just need to go into group policy and stop admins from being prompted.

It's a guaranteed fix. Saved my sanity

No negative ramifications that are of any concern imo.

[Jae.Thomas]

nice, thank you.

[richie43]

lowellben!!!!
So far, this has done the trick. Thanks, this will allow me to return to my "normal" workflow again. Thanks again!!!!!

[lowellben]

No problem

I was an IT consultant / network admin for years, I know what headaches Windoze can cause.

Group policy, in this respect, is 100% safe for what you want - spread the word
Win 8 permissions headache no more!

Enjoy your new OS! No more admins getting prompted!

Edit:
By the way, NEVER edit the registry in order to get around UAC - it messes with the Start screen and more. Just disable UAC the normal way, via the GUI/control panel, and then edit Group Policy.

[richie43]

Ah...... (sigh of returned contentedness......)

[lowellben]

My pleasure...

Windows 8 is awesome, I'm very impressed.

It's not perfect, but a great step in a much needed direction of the future for all devices.

Ben

[karbomusic]

Originally Posted by richie43

lowellben!!!!
So far, this has done the trick. Thanks, this will allow me to return to my "normal" workflow again. Thanks again!!!!!

You should never have to do that unless you were in some user state you didn't need to be in to begin with.

This was happening because Reaper is running in one sandbox (say admin) and your desktop user session is another. This is how I know you have a wacky setting you don't truly need as this can't happen unless you have a split across user/admin sandboxes.

Turning off the prompt is fine (well sorta, since you did just remove the last line of notification before getting hosed by a virus playing tricks), but it is still a bandaid for something else that is/was set incorrectly. In a normal working environment you can easily recreate this same issue by right-clicking reaper and choosing Run As Administrator which is something else you should never need to to in order for Reaper to work properly.

[lowellben]

Originally Posted by karbomusic

You should never have to do that unless you were in some user state you didn't need to be in to begin with.

This happening because Reaper is running in one sandbox (say admin) and your desktop user session is another. This is how I know you have a wacky setting you don't truly need as this can't happen unless you have a split across user/admin sandboxes.

Turning off the prompt is fine (well sorta, since you just removed the last line of notification before getting hosed by a virus playing tricks), but it is still a bandaid for something else that is/was set incorrectly. In a normal working environment you can create this same issue by right-clicking reaper and choosing Run As Administrator.

True, but it gets very annoying when people have additional prompt coming up every time they try copy and pasting files/folders to various locations on the C: drive or wherever - Win8 asks each time for admin permission and I personally can't stand that in a corporate environment.

The elevation is the issue. It's not just a matter of "running" programs, but also just everyday tasks get called out all the time. Overkill imho.

[karbomusic]

Originally Posted by lowellben

True, but it gets very annoying when people have additional prompt coming up every time they try copy and pasting files/folders to various locations on the C: drive or wherever - Win8 asks each time for admin permission and I personally can't stand that in a corporate environment.

The elevation is the issue. It's not just a matter of "running" programs, but also just everyday tasks get called out all the time. Overkill imho.

For Reaper, they should never ever hit the issue period.

For the C: drive and corporate stuff, it only applies if they copy directly to the root of C:, Windows, Program files or other protected folder. Yes, I am sympathetic to dealing with lousy developers who could have coded an app to do just that. I also sympathize on the corporate side, just noting the majority of that pain is from bad user habits and misbehaving legacy applications. I rarely, if ever see UAC prompts outside of an install or similar settings change and I never see it when using Reaper.

[lowellben]

Originally Posted by karbomusic

For Reaper, they should never ever hit the issue period.

For the C: drive and corporate stuff, it only applies if they copy directly to the root of C:, Windows, Program files or other protected folder. Yes, I am sympathetic to dealing with lousy developers who could have coded an app to do just that. I also sympathize on the corporate side, just noting the majority of that pain is from bad user habits and misbehaving legacy applications. I rarely, if ever see UAC prompts outside of an install or similar settings change and I never see it when using Reaper.

Interesting. You're lucky then !

[karbomusic]

At one time the following could happen in Reaper IIRC. If so, I don't think it is an issue now but I truly don't remember for sure:

1. User installs Reaper which invokes UAC to run the install with admin rights.

2. Install proceeds as normal.

3. Reaper asks at the end of the install "Launch now?"

4. User clicks launch now.

5. However, the child process that launched Reaper was still running in the admin sandbox, which flags Reaper as needing admin privileges in the future.

Later, user launches Reaper and drag/drop functionality is mysteriously missing. Not sure if my play by play above is 100% accurate but I do remember a similar situation a good while back.

[richie43]

Hey Karbo, I totally agree with you in concept, but I am the one who started this thread with these issues. I am not a computer novice, but I am not IT specialist either. But as I said, I upgraded from 7 2 days ago, and this issue that I had to change the group policies to fix did not exist on the Windows 7 install I had updated from. Why? It seems to be a mystery. I never had any "permissions" issue in any app, let alone Reaper. And I never had to run Reaper as an administrator. But since the upgrade, until today I could not drag audio files into a Reaper project unless I used the Media Explorer. If I tried with Windows Explorer, Reaper would not recognize my file. But it worked on a portable install on a different (installed) HD. Any ideas?

[karbomusic]

Originally Posted by richie43

Any ideas?

Well, if you right click Reaper.exe > Properties > Compatibility. What do you see there? It usually comes down to those settings and/or where Reaper.exe or files it is using are located.

Lastly, I didn't mean to come of snarky. What I meant is that you (or anyone) could have made some small change in Windows 7 without knowing that triggers it now (such as the follow up "launch now" issue I had mentioned), that could have happened two years ago, you made some tiny UAC change to make it go away in Win7, you upgraded and some of the UAC or security stuff was set back to default since its well, an OS and security related.

Short story, I'd feel better if you didn't have to disable but you don't have to. If you don't find a glaring reason, enjoy it as-is and don't worry about it for now.

[richie43]

Originally Posted by karbomusic

Well, if you right click Reaper.exe > Properties > Compatibility. What do you see there? It usually comes down to those settings and/or where Reaper.exe or files it is using are located.

Lastly, I didn't mean to come of snarky. What I meant is that you (or anyone) could have made some small change in Windows 7 without knowing that triggers it now (such as the follow up "launch now" issue I had mentioned), that could have happened two years ago, you made some tiny UAC change to make it go away in Win7, you upgraded and some of the UAC or security stuff was set back to default since its well, an OS and security related.

Short story, I'd feel better if you didn't have to disable but you don't have to. If you don't find a glaring reason, enjoy it as-is and don't worry about it for now.

You didn't come off snarky Karbo. If you did, I was hoping that you would see this thread anyway, I tend to depend on people like you here on the forum for even some non-Reaper-specific computer issues than I do any tech forum. The glaring reasons I was facing weren't "glaring" I guess, but they were potentially menacing (I have been Drag-n-dropping from Win Explorer into Reaper for 3 years now, and suddenly I couldn't and I'd rather mess with the OS than change my work-flow. Goofy, maybe, but it is what it is. See attachment, that's what I see regarding compatibilities.

[karbomusic]

Originally Posted by richie43

You didn't come off snarky Karbo. If you did, I was hoping that you would see this thread anyway, I tend to depend on people like you here on the forum for even some non-Reaper-specific computer issues than I do any tech forum. The glaring reasons I was facing weren't "glaring" I guess, but they were potentially menacing (I have been Drag-n-dropping from Win Explorer into Reaper for 3 years now, and suddenly I couldn't and I'd rather mess with the OS than change my work-flow. Goofy, maybe, but it is what it is. See attachment, that's what I see regarding compatibilities.

Uncheck run as administrator and that will fix the D&D issue assuming nothing else is at play. If you must run as administrator, just tell me why and we'll fix that too if possible.

You shouldn't see another problem, if you do, then might as well tell me about the install... regular install, portable, exactly where Reaper is located on the HDD.... Desktop, Program files, just the exact path to folder where it lives.

[richie43]

I had the D&D problem before I changed it to run as admin. And this is Reaper 64bit, installed on it's default location on my Windows 8 Pro 64bit upgrade from 7. And after changing the group policies that lowelben instructed to do, I no longer have the D&D issues, with or without the "run as admin" check=box checked. I checked it when I first discovered my issues as an attempt to fix things and hadn't unchecked it.

[karbomusic]

Originally Posted by richie43

I had the D&D problem before I changed it to run as admin. And this is Reaper 64bit, installed on it's default location on my Windows 8 Pro 64bit upgrade from 7. And after changing the group policies that lowelben instructed to do, I no longer have the D&D issues, with or without the "run as admin" check=box checked. I checked it when I first discovered my issues as an attempt to fix things and hadn't unchecked it.

Uncheck it anyway if you haven't already. It would be pointless to leave it checked while troubleshooting a condition that particular option automatically triggers as per its very design. I didn't need to set that GPO and you shouldn't either because there should not be an "Admin Mode" being entered to begin with. From the "Explain" paragraph in that setting:

• Disabled: Admin Approval Mode and all related UAC policy settings are disabled. Note: If this policy setting is disabled, the Security Center notifies you that the overall security of the operating system has been reduced.

Believe me, I'm on no mission to modify someone else's computer infrastructure; I wasted way too much time here last night in the "Worst four hours of my life thread" and I got some acoustic tracks to try to lay down. Just thought I'd ask a few questions because its just as easy to check a few settings as it is to blindly change a few others while blaming it on sun spots. If we check a few things here and there and come up nil, so be it, but let's at least methodically check them one by one w/out assumptions or shortcuts.

If you install a portable version on the desktop in folder and run it as is, without pointing to VST folders etc., does it still happen? Otherwise, like I said, you can leave it checked but Reaper should not need such a high level of rights in order to run. Not the end of the world though.

[richie43]

I unchecked the admin check-box, and I can still Drag and drop into Reaper. And as I said earlier, I did try a portable install before and the portable version was fine when the fully installed one was not. I have not undone the group policy change I made yet, I just unchecked the "run as admin" check-box. Are you suggesting that I return the group policies back to where they were and check again?

[karbomusic]

Originally Posted by richie43

Are you suggesting that I return the group policies back to where they were and check again?

The GPO is masking the issue so you would need to revert to properly test, however, you don't have to revert your GPO right now since its getting late but that would be the routine thing to do in order to officially check that off the list and be thorough. I'm not concerned about being wrong its just due diligence to take it formally off the table. Moving along... The installed non-portable version needs access to something that requires elevated privileges or it is flagged as blocked or similar. You could also consider the following at some point because it should allow you to reset the GPO and retain D&D and/or do some light troubleshooting at the same time at your convenience.

1. Portable installs are basically disposable and isolated, they can't harm your main installation AFAIK. You can (when bored) import the main config and add the VST paths etc to see if it suddenly breaks. If it does, you just found the problem, if it doesn't see #2.

2. Get rid of the official installation eventually or rather stop using it as your main version once you get a portable version set up to your liking. I went to the portable as at test a couple years ago and never went back. Having a portable version in my User folder means I can install as many Reaper portables as I want (in sister folders) and never worry about fubaring my go to staple portable install (not to mention I can just throw that on a USB drive and run it on another machine).

Otherwise, I'll shoot you some more things to check once I get freed up.