Greetings,
Cautiously suggesting i have an answer to a strange and irritating issue.
Background Brief: last fall I had to do a complete (from the ground up) reinstall. My mirrored backup was corrupt, so manual rebuild joy
Then, Directory Opus would not "function" as expected. Explorer replacement did not work (double-click a desktop icon=no result. The "this PC" icon returned a couldn't find DO executable. My anti-virus was greyed out and had less options listed in the context menu).
The very unsatisfactory "solution" was to not use the explorer replacement option. Manually start DO as a standalone file management utility and suffer unusual drag -n- drop denials. No one else seemed to complain about this, or care about. I assumed I was uniquely cursed due to the order/type of installs I had done, plus maybe starting "fresh with a windows 8.1 install.... etc.
I ran into a frustrating and apparently unique problem, as no one really seemed to have experienced it, nor have a useful response. See this previous post of mine... Re: Explorer Replacement Broken with Windows Update I came here to find out if this was an issue. For me also. Windows 8.1 pro. Successfully using DO for +2years. It now is broke. 1. First noticed I could not context select my Anti-Virus "scan Now". It did not appear as an option. My "standard windows shortcuts do not activate any file.. I didn't help by referencing the "context menu" issue.
The issue was really that DO and some other programs (to a much lesser degree) didn't have proper access to perform full functionality. I ran through all sorts of insane attempts at fixes. user account hacks, registry tweaks, permissions/ownership, creating new user accounts... looking at all sorts of arcane forum tips.....
Despite all my focused searching I just stumbled on a "fix" while doing my usual end of day random reading on the net.
I enabled the "super user" administrative mode Which despite my computer experience didn't even occur to me.
Directory Opus Windows integration works flawlessly. I assume when I first installed it way back when, my OS was all ready running this elevated administrator mode. The anti virus context menu is still greyed out, but I am now going to try and re-install DO to see if that gets it fixed.
Maybe Opus was being running elevated before, with UAC on. That would break Explorer Replacement and drag & drop to Opus from non-elevated apps. (There's a FAQ with more details.) This was mentioned in the previous thread about broken context menus.
It's also possible that the file and folder permissions are messed up on your C drive, which would stop non-admin processes seeing things but maybe not admin processes (so the things trying to launch Opus couldn't find the folder before, but can now they are all running with more permissions).
It seems like something went wrong with the way the system was restored after the OS reinstall you did. I'd still be suspicious of this causing other problems.
As for Norton's context menu, it's confirmed to not work in anything but Explorer.exe (even Notepad.exe's File Open dialog won't work with it), which is an explicit choice on Symantec's part and not something anyone but they can change (other than by creating your own context menu item to do the same thing, but they also have a habit of changing their EXE path every update, which makes that a bit of a pain).
Thanks for the reply,
I agree that something in the install went wonky. It was a "pure" install in that I did OS, OEM driver installs, windows updates and then progressed to applications. I had followed all the troubleshooting I could find. Initially around just the issues you point to (UAC, elevated permissions, etc) none of that fixed it. Actually this has not really fixed it, as while now DO runs as explorer replacement, I have to switch that off to get access to certain windows functions. An example being if I right-click to select personalize settings I get a "there was a problem sending the command to a program". This is almost an inversion of the problem I had.
What allowed DO explorer replacement to function, was running the "net user administrator /active:yes" command (not great).
The only thing I can guess might have caused the initial freakout.... I did not install as a local account user, but boldly joined the cloudy world i.e. I setup with an @outlook.com user account.
Any troubleshooting expertise that might help to balance the still odd Directory Opus world I live in would be appreciated. I don't really think of this as resolved, just a big clue as to the problem(s)..... Right now I am doing the "take the red pill, or the blue pill" approach.
I am not sure what that is. It isn't the name of any standard Windows feature or mode.
To be honest, if I was seeing all the problems you were seeing on my machine, I'd be considering a Windows reinstall. It sounds like there is an issue with the account, permissions or UAC elevation states between the desktop/shell and applications running on top of it, such that they can't talk to each other unless you start elevating things which aren't meant to be elevated (which then causes more problems, as now normal processes cannot talk to them and you have to elevate even more things).
In reference to "not sure what that is"
A slopply nickname for this:
Activate Windows 8 / 7 / Vista Super Administrator Account
from "www.thewindowsclub.com/activate-windows-super-administrator-account"
In Windows XP and the earlier Windows versions, there was only one Administrator account and most single users used it as their main account. But Windows Vista and later, i.e.. Windows 7 and Windows 8, have another Administrator account, what may be referred to as a secret super administrator account. It is hidden & turned off by default, and is similar to the ‘root’ account in Unix. The use of the Administrator account is being phased out in Windows Vista, and there’s actually seldom a need to use it, instead of another administrator account. On installation of Vista, the Administrator account is disabled; but if you upgrade from Windows XP and Administrator is the only active local administrator account, then Administrator remains enabled. In this situation, it is placed in Approval Mode, for purposes of UAC. Since it is not subject to UAC prompts and runs with full administrative privileges, it’s rather risky, to run it on a regular basis. Any application could then have full control of the computer. So I suggest using it sparingly, only when you need to perform several administrative and don’t want to be bothered by UAC prompts. Initially, this ‘super’ Administrator account does not have a password, a serious vulnerability for a full-fledged administrator account. Best to assign a strong password to this account at the earliest opportunity.
If I had thought of this at time of re-install and not used the default windows 8 setup routine
i.e. setup your user account, and then used @outlook.com instead just using the usual local account routine, none of this would have happened.
I have confirmed that other user accounts I set up now work completely normal.
The problem was directly the result of a fresh setup and using a "microsoft account" sign in. It caused a crippled "administrator account experience. Enabling the above referenced administrator account, addressed the problem, but a microsoft login account still jacks with permissions in a complex manner. I liked the idea of an all in one place for syncing. Just not worth the cost if I want to hot rod the machine.
Thanks for your response,
Kevin
P.S. a casual reference to a new windows install does not work for me. To zap the drive and re-install takes roughly 6 days. I am going to make a new mirror once I migrate operations to a new user account.
Using a Microsoft account or local account shouldn't change anything here, just the way some settings are synched offline. Lots of people use both types of accounts without problems.
i.e. I setup with an