Difficulty with Program Files saving

[hyrulistic]

I seem to be having some issues with my Program Files folders, specifically with my games. Namely, they don't seem to create save files to disk that can be found, copied, or deleted. My computer has been having a few issues recently, so I thought I'd get everything backed up and ready to reinstall/wipe out my computer...but if I can't bring my game saves with me, I'd be rather sad. I've tried doing some different things with the properties and security permissions, but nothing seems to work. (Just to note, I do have system files and hidden files visible for the time being, to keep my options open). As a comparative test, I copied one of my games' folders to my desktop. When I loaded the game, it had no record of any saved files. However, when I created a new game and saved it, a save game folder was created and the file was visible. Obviously there's something going on with the Program Files properties, and in the future, I may just install my games to the desktop to avoid this happening again...any suggestions on how I might be able to find my current saved files? They must exist somewhere, since the copied folder didn't recognize any connected files.

Anyways, any assistance and input would be most helpful! Thanks =)

</Eric>

Addendum:

So it's working fine now. For whatever reason, some of the permissions editing didn't seem to work before. So, in order to get around that, I found that I could run the game program as an administrator. When I did so, none of the save files were there, however, by saving a game it created a folder to allow saved files. Exit out, start the game again normally, save a game, and now it's appearing in the folder that the administrator created.

Still a bit strange, but I think I can get this to work now? Going to try to see if this will work with the other games I have.

[kairozamorro]

Hello hyrulistic,

Some of your games appear not to be UAC/Vista friendly. Perhaps this well help?

[hyrulistic]

With a bit more time and experimenting, I found the files through a more extensive search (haven't used Vista search much before). Apparently, a number of programs have created separate files in the user's folder instead of the main Program Files folder. The files were in (User)/AppData/Local/VirtualStore/Program Files. Always fun to learn something new!

[kairozamorro]

Yep, glad you figured out what happened.

[Terry60]

Sorry, I was going to ask if you'd looked in your User/userid folder structure (where the MS Games folder is), but stopped myself because I didn't wan't to be accused of stating the blindingly obvious (It's happened to me before).
It's hard to make the judgement remotely about a new member's experience level. Sometimes's you'll make a basic point and get a "Sorry I don't understand", and another time you'll make the same point and get an irate "I'm an IT pro, don't treat me like a child !"
Guess I'll make the obvious point in future and take the risk of getting my knuckles rapped. Sorry I didn't save you a few hours work, though knowledge gained by such research generally sticks better than just being told something.