Information being saved in C:\Users directory?

[Aradar]

Why would my WoW be doing this? It tries to put my patches in there as well as my Interface directory among other things. I had this problem previously but ignored it and worked around it; however, having now cleared my computer and reinstalling everything (for other reasons), its doing it again. I install original WoW and update it no problems. When I upgrade to TBC it reinstalls all the patches once again but sticks them in the Users directory and starts messing with my Interface directory. I've now erased everything WoW and am going to attempt to install normal WoW and TBC and then update to see if it makes a differance but any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks.

Edit: I run on Vista if it matters.

[Apollo127]

Question, are you posting because you can't play wow, or your trying to figure out why you have that odd problem?

[Aradar]

It plays fine, just trying to solve the odd problem. Only reason I really care is I what to implement symbolic links between my folders which is kind of hard if stuff isn't being stored in the correct location.

[mikekim]

It's the way Vistas' security model works - because they have tried to protect certain file locations from being overwritten (to prevent malicious programs being installed).

Best way around it is to install a fresh copy on an XP machine and just copy over the complete wow folder to your vista machine and run it from the newly installed location (after making launcher and wow run as admin)

[dirjax]

what stuff is being put in your c:\users ?
ever since vista i've seen wow putting it's patch data in the users\public folders, but nothing else.
and tbh, if you have various users on your computer, and each has his own install of wow.... this will save you bandwith, so not too bad after all.

[Slayde]

My brother had the same issue with Vista, so I had him move his WoW folder outside of the protected Program Files directory. This allowed his settings/patches to be saved to the WoW folder again. I have all my copies of the WoW directory under C:\Games\ and that works without any issues on Vista.

[moosejaw]

My brother had the same issue with Vista, so I had him move his WoW folder outside of the protected Program Files directory. This allowed his settings/patches to be saved to the WoW folder again. I have all my copies of the WoW directory under C:\Games\ and that works without any issues on Vista.Sound advice. I have done the same thing with no problems on Vista. :)

[dirjax]

I installed my wow this weekend out of the program files directory, but my patches still get to go in the users' dir.
tbh i don't mind that a bit, i know what happens now :)

[Sarduci]

My brother had the same issue with Vista, so I had him move his WoW folder outside of the protected Program Files directory. This allowed his settings/patches to be saved to the WoW folder again. I have all my copies of the WoW directory under C:\Games\ and that works without any issues on Vista.Sound advice. I have done the same thing with no problems on Vista. :)This is the key to fixing 90% of the Vista issues. Until they write a Vista UAC compatible version of the game, this makes patch days EZmode.

[Aradar]

what stuff is being put in your c:\users ?
ever since vista i've seen wow putting it's patch data in the users\public folders, but nothing else.
and tbh, if you have various users on your computer, and each has his own install of wow.... this will save you bandwith, so not too bad after all.

It will sometimes resort to creating other directories there as well such as Interface, Cache, WTF, etc.









My brother had the same issue with Vista, so I had him move his WoW folder outside of the protected Program Files directory. This allowed his settings/patches to be saved to the WoW folder again. I have all my copies of the WoW directory under C:\Games\ and that works without any issues on Vista.Sound advice. I have done the same thing with no problems on Vista. :)This is the key to fixing 90% of the Vista issues. Until they write a Vista UAC compatible version of the game, this makes patch days EZmode.

Well after trying to install basic WoW and TBC and then do updates I ran into more errors so tonight I will try this suggestion. I figured out last night it probably had to do with administrator privileges and was going to try to make sure I ran everything as administrator which I will still do but under this directory. Thanks.

[Jafula]

I also had the same issue with Vista putting items into C:\Users\...VirtualStore\... Rather than move my installs to a different location; I gave "Everyone" "Full Control" permissions on the "Program Files\World of Warcraft" folder. This way any process that runs has access to that folder. Wow patches come down as .exe's and unless you manually run them as administrator; I suspect a lot of patched files end up going into your C:\Users\...VirtualStore\... .

You can set up your user up to be an Administrator and automatically get elevated priviledges ('http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-user-account-controluac-for-administrators-only/') when required (normally the UAC bugs you for these elevated priviledges).

This is how I run and I have also turned off UAC ('http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/user_account_control.htm') as well as the "Everyone" permission on my wow folders. Absolutely nothing in my C:\Users\...VirtualStore\... folder and no annoying UAC popups and everything inherently runs as administrator (the run as admin checkbox is disabled). Don't do this if you care about security ...

[Aradar]

Well after reinstalling everything again last night in the C:\World of Warcraft folder I began patching and the first patch went right in to that folder; however, the subsequent patches went in the C:\Users folder again. Oh well, as long as nothing else goes there I will be happy especially now that I have symbolicly linked some of the folders.