"Access Denied" Error Message When You Try to Use a Network Drive to Modify Windows 2000 Permissions (281663)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server

This article was previously published under Q281663

SYMPTOMS

When you do both of the following:

You modify the access control list (ACL) on the root partition of your Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft NT computer by using a network drive that is connected to one of the built-in administrative shares.
You select the Reset permissions on all child objects and enable propagation of inheritable permissions check box.

all the following results occur:

You can no longer access the drive.
You receive an
Access Denied
error message.
You cannot access the drive to view files or change permissions.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if you use an administrative share from a computer running Windows 2000 to change the permissions for the root. The Windows 2000 Access Control List (ACL) Editor writes an empty data access control list (DACL) to the root of the drive, thereby denying access to all users.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, configure root partition permissions locally instead of remotely.

You can also create a new shared folder off the root partition and manage the permissions for that shared folder independently from the root partition permissions. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

301198 HOW TO: Share Files and Folders Over a Network (Domain) in Windows 2000

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Windows 2000.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about administrative shares in Windows 2000, see the "Special Shares" topic in Windows 2000 help.

Modification Type:	Minor	Last Reviewed:	10/13/2004
Keywords:	kbBug kbpending KB281663