A bug in Vista’s UAC

Vista’s User Account Control (UAC) elevation prompt sometimes appears when it shouldn’t. Here is an example which works every time for me. I have a folder in Documents (within my home directory) called recordings, containing MP3 files. I double-click one of these files and it opens in Windows Media Player. Now let’s say I try to rename the recordings folder. I get a dialog saying I need to confirm this operation, complete with a UAC shield.

I click Continue and get the screen flash and the elvation prompt. It’s not enough though; I now get a dialog that says “Destination Folder Access Denied – You need permission to perform this action.” If I click Try Again, I get the same dialog, for ever.

It’s nonsense of course. I don’t need permission; I need to close the MP3 file. Indeed, if I close the file I can then rename the folder.

Oddly, if I try this with a Word document, Vista correctly reports that the folder in in use by Word. But if I try a second time, I get the inappropriate UAC prompt.

It’s possible that some Windows API call is returning an access denied error, when it should indicate a file or folder in use by another process, or there could be some other explanation. The end result is a poor user experience.

If Microsoft can’t always get this right, it illustrates how hard it is for developers to give users appropriate error messages when working with UAC on Vista.

 

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6 thoughts on “A bug in Vista’s UAC”

  1. Not addressing your main issue but…

    >>
    Oddly, if I try this with a Word document, Vista correctly reports that the folder in in use by Word.

  2. Daniel, do you get the same result as me if you try the rename folder operation a second time, with a Word document open?

    Tim

  3. I can’t uninstall MS Office 97 in Vista and I think the reason is the same as what you encountered. I can’t delete the folder either. (It’s in my root directory, not that that should make any difference.) Any ideas?

  4. Never mind–there was an office 97 file that I had to delete manually. I forget which it was.

  5. This bug carried over into Windows 7 now. I’ve had downloads die out mid-way because of the “in use” error. The permissions are set properly on the folder.

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