Windows 10: Programs can't write to Documents folder - Permissions problem?

I can't put my finger on what triggered this, but I get an error message whenever a recently installed program tries to write to my Documents folder or Desktop folder (built-in Windows programs and other programs that I installed many months ago do not have this problem).

Wording is different depending on what program, but the gist of it seems to be lack of permission. My account is Administrator. I have no problems in my Documents folder when accessing folder directly through Explorer. I haven't tested every possible folder/program, but did confirm that Handbrake is unable to write to Documents but is able to write to C:/. I seem to not get the error message if I run programs as Administrator.

"Security" tab of "Properties" for folder C:\Users\Me shows that my account has full access.

Any suggestions?

:)

 

Downloads folder is the Documents folder

Hi Chris,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I suggest you to Restore to Default the folders and document settings and see if it helps.

Step 1:

Please follow below steps and check if it helps.

• Go to Download folder.
• Right click on the Download Folder and go to Properties.
• In Properties go to Location tab.
• In location Tab Click on Restore Default.

Step 2:

Please follow below steps and check if it helps.

• Go to Documents folder.
• Right click on the Document folder and go to Properties.
• In Properties go to Location tab.
• In location Tab Click on Restore Default.

After performing above steps change the settings as you required and check if it helps.

Hope these information helps, please get back to us for future support, we’ll be glad to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

Losing permissions to Documents folder after reboot

This behavior started this morning as far as I have been able to determine. It seems to be only affecting the Documents folder for my machine account. I determined this after I was unable to start Outlook (due to lack of permissions)

• I am using a Microsoft account to log in.
• I am still shown as the owner of the root user folder, and of the Documents subfolder.
• I can set myself full access permissions to the Documents folder.
• After reboot, entire entry for my account disappears from the Documents folder. It still shows in other folders in the user folder.

My user folder permissions after reboot.

Some screenshots that show the situation after reboot. Note that the Documents folder has only the group permissions, not the user permissions. Again, this only seems to affect the Documents folder under my account.



Edited to add: I have done malware scans with Defender and Malwarebytes, each came back clean.

 

No permissions

Hi,

I would suggest you to right click on the user's folder for your profile and check if the permissions shows as "read only'. If this is the case, it might be causing the issue. In this case, I would suggest you to go to C:\User folder, right click on the
folder with your username and follow these steps:

• Open the properties of the main user profile folder where the files are located (such as Documents, Pictures, etc).
  
• Go to the Security tab and click Advanced.
• Check the box at the bottom of this window. It is labeled "Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object" and then click Ok.
  

This does a one-time action that replaces the security on all the files/subfolders. It’s one-time, so you won’t find that box checked if you peek at it later. Try these steps and let us know the results for further assistance.