win8 Can not update MP3 ID3v2 tags since installing Windows 8

[Elliot B.]

e.g. in Winamp, if I try to update an ID3v2 tag, I get:

"Cannot save metadata: Error opening file."

This was never an issue in XP, Vista, 7 etc.

I also can't alter the registry in any way. That isn't what I want solving here, but I presume it's related.

Any ideas?

EDIT: Just checked, Windows Explorer also won't let me edit the file information. I could in Windows 7.

[[xan]]

Disabling UAC in Windows 8 doesn't in fact fully disables UAC :D.

You need to set this key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\EnableLUA to 0 and reboot. Note that after this metro apps won't work anymore (they need this option set to 1).

[Elliot B.]

' timestamp='1357483567' post='595436226']

Disabling UAC in Windows 8 doesn't in fact fully disables UAC :D.

You need to set this key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\EnableLUA to 0 and reboot. Note that after this metro apps won't work anymore (they need this option set to 1).

That solved it!

Thank you :)

God, Windows 8 is awful. Can't even change MP3 tag data.

[Azies]

Strange behavior from Windows 8, did you by any chance run an upgrade from 7 to 8, or did a fresh clean install?

[Dutchie64]

Running JRiver MediaCenter on my W8 laptop, no issues here with mp3's whatsoever.

I even still can see and upload music to my iPod Classic.

So... there must be something else going on there....

[Elliot B.]

Strange behavior from Windows 8, did you by any chance run an upgrade from 7 to 8, or did a fresh clean install?

Fresh :)

Running JRiver MediaCenter on my W8 laptop, no issues here with mp3's whatsoever.

I even still can see and upload music to my iPod Classic.

So... there must be something else going on there....

Hardly. It's a clean install.

[Dutchie64]

I tried several mp3 tag changing apps, big and small. No issues here.

Heck, even Zune does the job....

rob

[Nashy]

No problems on my install. Windows 8 still sucks though.

[ITFiend]

EDIT: Just checked, Windows Explorer also won't let me edit the file information. I could in Windows 7.

Its because you always relied on UAC being disabled. You should fix your directory security rights rather than fully disabling UAC. Odds are your actual problem is that your user doesn't actually have full access to the directory holding your media. If you rely on the Administrators group to gain access to folders, UAC elevation is required before the group grants any rights to its members.

To fix your directory access level: Get properties on the root folder of your media directory, go to the security tab, and add ?everyone? granting ?full control?. If you reset inheritance at the same time it should resolve the problem. You can also disable security inheritance on this folder if it?s not part of Windows so the only group is Everyone.

Security rights changes like this will exist beyond one install of Windows, and can move with the folder, but will not survive being merged with another folder or if the folder is duplicated through Explorer. If you have a drive dedicated to data storage, you can grant Everyone full control at the drive level instead.

[remixedcat]

Does something like mp3tag work???

[Elliot B.]

Does something like mp3tag work???

Check the third post. It was solved :)

[Pam14160]

Does something like mp3tag work???

Yes been using it since DP.

[remixedcat]

hmmm never had any problems with that in Server 2012 though.

[georgevella]

Disabling UAC is not the correct solution (albeit, some here tend to think otherwise). Make sure that the folder containing your files has the correct permissions for your user account. This will need to be done every time you format. I tend to simply add the music folder (located on a different partition) to my library and that seems to automatically set the correct permissions + makes the folder searchable.

[Elliot B.]

Disabling UAC is not the correct solution (albeit, some here tend to think otherwise). Make sure that the folder containing your files has the correct permissions for your user account. This will need to be done every time you format. I tend to simply add the music folder (located on a different partition) to my library and that seems to automatically set the correct permissions + makes the folder searchable.

Effort. It's my PC, I want full control over it from the start :)

[+BudMan MVC]

"Effort. It's my PC, I want full control over it from the start"

UAC does not take control away from you - Clearly you do not understand UAC if your disabling it. If you are admin you still have just as much rights with UAC on. Its just that the processes you start don't have the admin token enabled unless you elevate that task to have it.

This is just plain common sense - why does your browser need to have the admin token to surf the internet? This means if something exploits that process it has rights to anything on the system. With UAC the process is started as just normal user, if you need that process to do something with admin rights it needs to be elevated to that token - simple as that!!

There is not loss of control over you system -- Your still an admin.. The 2 posts above that tell you to correct your permissions on your folders is the correct one!

You never mentioned in you utorrent thread that you have dicked with your system to the extent of disabling UAC.. That could have something to do with your issue with utorrent as well.

I would suggest you enable UAC and correct whatever ntfs permissions you have misconfigured to allow the access you want. This would correct both this issue as well as your registry issue - simple elevation is all that is required to have FULL control over your registry when UAC is enabled.

Not running as admin every time you run a process is not loss of control - its just common security practice.. Same thing with linux, do you login in with root and do everything as root. No you sudo the commands that need root access, or su to root do your thing and then switch back. This is all uac is, its sudo for the windows world.

[Guest]

Sounds like permissions to me.

I know my documents and music folders had to be changed after I installed Windows 8 from fresh. This is indeed a Windows issue in that NTFS is doing its job correctly! UAC is there to prevent the end user, who doesn't know what they are doing, from making changes that can break the OS. Actually, this thread is a good example of why UAC even exists. As the above you should be fixing the issue not working around it.

[Elliot B.]

"Effort. It's my PC, I want full control over it from the start"

UAC does not take control away from you - Clearly you do not understand UAC if your disabling it. If you are admin you still have just as much rights with UAC on. Its just that the processes you start don't have the admin token enabled unless you elevate that task to have it.

This is just plain common sense - why does your browser need to have the admin token to surf the internet? This means if something exploits that process it has rights to anything on the system. With UAC the process is started as just normal user, if you need that process to do something with admin rights it needs to be elevated to that token - simple as that!!

There is not loss of control over you system -- Your still an admin.. The 2 posts above that tell you to correct your permissions on your folders is the correct one!

You never mentioned in you utorrent thread that you have dicked with your system to the extent of disabling UAC.. That could have something to do with your issue with utorrent as well.

I would suggest you enable UAC and correct whatever ntfs permissions you have misconfigured to allow the access you want. This would correct both this issue as well as your registry issue - simple elevation is all that is required to have FULL control over your registry when UAC is enabled.

Not running as admin every time you run a process is not loss of control - its just common security practice.. Same thing with linux, do you login in with root and do everything as root. No you sudo the commands that need root access, or su to root do your thing and then switch back. This is all uac is, its sudo for the windows world.

Mis-configured? I just installed Windows! That is all! And disabling UAC would not affect the uTorrent issue and you know it!

You are the only member here in 11 years that winds me up. Just the way you talk down to people who you believe you're helping. I would even go as far as appreciating it if you would not try to "help" me in the future on here.

SK[' timestamp=1357564919' post='595437946]

Sounds like permissions to me.

I know my documents and music folders had to be changed after I installed Windows 8 from fresh. This is indeed a Windows issue in that NTFS is doing its job correctly! UAC is there to prevent the end user, who doesn't know what they are doing, from making changes that can break the OS. Actually, this thread is a good example of why UAC even exists. As the above you should be fixing the issue not working around it.

When I tried to fix the permissions, Windows 8 wouldn't let me. This is a clean install of Windows 8, I haven't messed around with anything apart from (now) disabling UAC.

We shouldn't have to give ourselves permission to edit the tags. It's fine for us, as we're quite geeky, so we can find a way to fix it, but how does Microsoft expect non-computer literate users to ever be able to do it? I believe Windows will possibly configure the permissions if you use Libraries, but sometimes we don't want to use them!

[Guest]

NTFS will keep existing permissions on files if the disc existed in the previous version of Windows. I assume the files are located on a separate hard drive away from the OS? Taking ownership of the files will most likely resolve the issue without disabling UAC.

Budman can be quite straight with his answers but to be honest you'll find he's right. The guys giving you good advice and I too can see why he wants to put his foot down in that simply turning off UAC is not a suitable answer. TBH is no different from saying my AntiVirus won't let me open this file as it has a virus, turning off your AV would not be an answer.

[Elliot B.]

SK[' timestamp=1357565940' post='595437978]

NTFS will keep existing permissions on files if the disc existed in the previous version of Windows. I assume the files are located on a separate hard drive away from the OS? Taking ownership of the files will most likely resolve the issue without disabling UAC.

Budman can be quite straight with his answers but to be honest you'll find he's right. The guys giving you good advice and I too can see why he wants to put his foot down in that simply turning off UAC is not a suitable answer. TBH is no different from saying my AntiVirus won't let me open this file as it has a virus, turning off your AV would not be an answer.

I respect his knowledge a lot. However, I trust myself 100%. I don't want any messages popping up asking if I want to run things, if I want to edit things etc.

I want complete control at all times.

[Guest]

Ok Prometheus :)

[Dutchie64]

so...... on a OSX or Linux pc you would always run as the uber-admin? Nice and quiet without any login screens to nag you when fiddling with the system innards?

UAC is there for a reason, mainly to keep people out of trouble. Disabling UAC isn't the right way to address certain permission issues.

The fact that you got away with it in W7 doesn't mean you keep running like this in W8.

And please don't use the ancient "It's my PC, I want full control over it from the start" discussion, I'ver heard that way too much in my admin days. Those people were the one popping up at the helpdesk with a regular interval ;-)

You're basically by-stepping the whole security system in Windows, but are complaining it isn't working for you.

Also, as people mentioned, turning off UAC will also disable the Metro apps. And for a good reason.....

rob

edit: woot, lots of comments while I was typing... So some overlap might occur ;-)

[+BudMan MVC]

"I want complete control at all times."

Who says you don't?? If you are in the admin group, then your a freaking ADMIN - period and you have admin rights any time you actually NEED them!!

If you think UAC in any way shape or form is taking away anything from your ability to admin your machine, or access your machine then again you don't understand UAC!!

There is NO reason what so ever that every single process your account starts needs to have the admin token enabled - and anyone that knows anything about security will tell you that you don't run as admin unless your doing admin!

Think about it for 2 seconds - your browsing the web, does your browser need full local admin rights while doing that? What if get exploited?? It could make changes to your registry. What % of time do you think that your doing stuff on your computer that you actually need ADMIN?? To be honest its RARE!!!

UAC is a GOOD thing, it does not take anything away from your access - its just allows your admin access in a more secure manner. Without it you should login with a normal account. And then only login with admin account when your doing admin stuff!! UAC allows you to use 1 account and just elevate it to admin when so required.

[ITFiend]

Effort.

By disabling that so-called "effort", you reduce the security of your machine. All web browsers run under an Administrator account now have full access to damage or change your OS, which is then made drastically worse if you install Oracle's Java.

Also, aspects of Internet Explorer's security require UAC be enabled to function, one such example is the UAC Virtualization Store (disk sandboxing). I'm not sure if it's still true since I don't disable UAC, but IE Protected Mode entirely required it and probably still does. Enhanced Protected Mode within IE10 probably also breaks with UAC disabled.

It's my PC, I want full control over it from the start

How in the world does UAC prevent you from having full control? I logon as a Limited User, I elevate only the bare minimum through "Run as Administrator" with my Administrator credentials. I de-elevate internet facing programs through "Run as Other User" like Internet Explorer and Skype to use an even lesser account that has no access to my data drives. I appear to have full control over everything, without ever logging in directly to a desktop as Administrator. I even use AppLocker to prevent all users from executing games from Steam's program directory except for one user explicitly intended to run Steam titles, because Steam is stupid when it comes to disk security and constantly grants everyone full control over its directories rather than requiring itself to use a system level service broker (Mind, I use AppLocker far more extensively, this is just one example).

Now I?m not saying anyone should do all that, nor am I saying UAC is perfect, but UAC prevents Administrators from doing nothing. Only ignorance over the way your operating system works limits control, and if control is important, the real solution is to disable ignorance.

[MikeChipshop Member]

Effort. It's my PC, I want full control over it from the start :)

Which you have even with UAC enabled.

Also, your install must have gone wrong along the way as i don;t have any of those problems on my system.