Thursday, September 3, 2009

Vista Program Files Cache when using User Account Control (UAC)

If you're running Vista (probably windows 7 as well) and have user account control turned on, then programs are not permitted to modify files under C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86).

If they do so, the modified files appear instead at C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)

This drove me a bit nuts as I was using OpenVPN and changing the password on my .key file, I then copied it to another machine and it didn't have the correct password. Aha, I just had to find the file in the VirtualStore cache.
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1 comment:

  1. SyntopiaJanuary 10, 2010 at 4:00 AM

    Yes, I've been confused about that feature many times.

    Btw, that you do not have to browse through the 'VirtualStore' directory. Windows Explorer will show a new button ('Compatibility Files') whenever files have been virtualized, where you can enable the hidden files.

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