I was trying to make a shortcut from desktop to C: and I kept getting the above error code and told I didn’t have the necessary privileges. I’m really getting sick of being told I haven’t got this, or that, and some other entity has, and I’m the sole user of my PC so it seems a bit much. I’m not trying to do anything particularly difficult, I never am as my skills don’t allow, but quite often there’s another factor and I’m starting to realize that despite buying the operating system that doesn’t necessarily mean I have control of it. If I’m about to do something rash, and amateurish that might bring about doom and misery I could understand it, but my little scheme for a shortcut surely can’t endanger the health of my machine, can it?? There was a fix-it-quick I saw on fixerrors.com, something like that, but it seemed like a bunch of 2nd hand car dealers sort of vibe so I thought I’d throw it out amongst you lot, who have always been more than helpful in the past. Any ideas would be gratefully received, all the best.
![]() |
Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don't do it. |
SIGN IN | Not a member? | REGISTER | PLUS MEMBERSHIP |
-
0x80070522
Home » Forums » AskWoody support » Windows » Windows 7 » Questions: Windows 7 » 0x80070522
- This topic has 12 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 10 months ago.
Viewing 2 reply threadsAuthorReplies-
WSruirib
AskWoody LoungerJuly 26, 2014 at 8:25 am #1460726As part of the security improvements in Windows 7 when compared to previous versions (mainly XP), there are some security restrictions regarding C:, but that shouldn’t affect your ability to create shortcuts to the root folder.
One quick way to do it is to right click the C: drive, choose copy and then go to the destination folder, right click and choose Paste Shortcut. I have just tried this in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 and had no issues in both cases, though I can’t be sure that I haven’t messed with permissions before.
-
WSKritzX
AskWoody LoungerJuly 26, 2014 at 8:32 am #1460728As part of the security improvements in Windows 7 when compared to previous versions (mainly XP), there are some security restrictions regarding C:, but that shouldn’t affect your ability to create shortcuts to the root folder.
One quick way to do it is to right click the C: drive, choose copy and then go to the destination folder, right click and choose Paste Shortcut. I have just tried this in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 and had no issues in both cases, though I can’t be sure that I haven’t messed with permissions before.
I think the OP meant that he wanted to place a shortcut of the Desktop in the C drive. Atleast, that’s how I interpreted it.
-
WSruirib
AskWoody Lounger -
browni
AskWoody MVP -
WSKritzX
AskWoody Lounger -
WSSiCo
AskWoody LoungerJuly 28, 2014 at 5:42 am #1461027Hi, wanted to thank you all for your input, I’m sure with all of your guidance I’ll have my shortcut and with all the time I’ll save I can embark on some other seemingly straightforward plan only to be told it ain’t happening. Also, is it cool to just knock up a general thank you, like this, to all the folk who replied, or do you do it individually?? Don’t know protocol for forums yet, or least not on the thank you side of things, so if someone could put me straight on what’s expected I’d be grateful. And for the 2 blokes who were debating what exactly I was going on about, I wanted a shortcut that I could hit and be taken from the desktop to C: (the page that shows you all the folders etc, where I can then just hit Prog Fi’s x86 and off I go) You get me? Hope so…. Thanks again to all of you who replied, appreciate your time.
-
WSruirib
AskWoody LoungerJuly 28, 2014 at 5:55 am #1461032Hi, wanted to thank you all for your input, I’m sure with all of your guidance I’ll have my shortcut and with all the time I’ll save I can embark on some other seemingly straightforward plan only to be told it ain’t happening. Also, is it cool to just knock up a general thank you, like this, to all the folk who replied, or do you do it individually?? Don’t know protocol for forums yet, or least not on the thank you side of things, so if someone could put me straight on what’s expected I’d be grateful. And for the 2 blokes who were debating what exactly I was going on about, I wanted a shortcut that I could hit and be taken from the desktop to C: (the page that shows you all the folders etc, where I can then just hit Prog Fi’s x86 and off I go) You get me? Hope so…. Thanks again to all of you who replied, appreciate your time.
Ok, so my advice should work with very little effort :).
As to the thanks, you can do it the way you did it, which would apply to everyone, or you can just go to the specific posts made that you find helpful and click the thanks button (first button at bottom of each post with a thumbs up icon).
-
WSKritzX
AskWoody LoungerJuly 28, 2014 at 10:56 pm #1461180Hi, wanted to thank you all for your input, I’m sure with all of your guidance I’ll have my shortcut and with all the time I’ll save I can embark on some other seemingly straightforward plan only to be told it ain’t happening. Also, is it cool to just knock up a general thank you, like this, to all the folk who replied, or do you do it individually?? Don’t know protocol for forums yet, or least not on the thank you side of things, so if someone could put me straight on what’s expected I’d be grateful. And for the 2 blokes who were debating what exactly I was going on about, I wanted a shortcut that I could hit and be taken from the desktop to C: (the page that shows you all the folders etc, where I can then just hit Prog Fi’s x86 and off I go) You get me? Hope so…. Thanks again to all of you who replied, appreciate your time.
Erp, guess I was wrong after all *hangs head in shame*. Guess that goes to show why you’re the admin and I’m just a Lounger, eh Rui?
-
WSruirib
AskWoody Lounger -
Coochin
AskWoody_MVP
-
-
-
-
-
WSKritzX
AskWoody LoungerJuly 26, 2014 at 8:30 am #1460727From what I know about the error, I think this is a feature of Windows 7 designed to prevent inadvertent access to the root of the C Drive. I tried placing a shortcut on the C drive on my own computer as well, and received the same error. However, there are some solutions I found on THIS MS Answers Forum telling the user to Take Ownership of the entire drive, although I VERY STRONGLY recommend AGAINST doing this (excuse the caps please). The dangers of doing this are way too many. May I suggest creating a folder in the C drive and placing your shortcut there?
-
Coochin
AskWoody_MVPJuly 26, 2014 at 11:33 pm #1460824I was trying to make a shortcut from desktop to C: and I kept getting the above error code and told I didn’t have the necessary privileges…
You should be able to right-click in a clear space on your Desktop, click (left) on “New/Shortcut” and browse to your C: drive.
Alternatively, open “Computer”, right-click on your C: drive then left-click on “Create Shortcut”.
If you still get the error then it is likely you are not running in an Administrator account.
Viewing 2 reply threads -

Plus Membership
Donations from Plus members keep this site going. You can identify the people who support AskWoody by the Plus badge on their avatars.
AskWoody Plus members not only get access to all of the contents of this site -- including Susan Bradley's frequently updated Patch Watch listing -- they also receive weekly AskWoody Plus Newsletters (formerly Windows Secrets Newsletter) and AskWoody Plus Alerts, emails when there are important breaking developments.
Get Plus!
Welcome to our unique respite from the madness.
It's easy to post questions about Windows 11, Windows 10, Win8.1, Win7, Surface, Office, or browse through our Forums. Post anonymously or register for greater privileges. Keep it civil, please: Decorous Lounge rules strictly enforced. Questions? Contact Customer Support.
Search Newsletters
Search Forums
View the Forum
Search for Topics
Recent Topics
-
Migrating from win10 to win11, instructions coming?
by
astro46
4 hours, 13 minutes ago -
Device Eligibility for Apple 2026 Operating Systems due this Fall
by
PKCano
5 hours, 42 minutes ago -
Recommended watching : Mountainhead movie
by
Alex5723
10 hours, 7 minutes ago -
End of support for Windows 10
by
Old enough to know better
7 hours, 26 minutes ago -
What goes on inside an LLM
by
Michael Covington
2 hours, 7 minutes ago -
The risk of remote access
by
Susan Bradley
12 minutes ago -
The cruelest month for many Office users
by
Peter Deegan
6 hours, 46 minutes ago -
Tracking protection and trade-offs in Edge
by
Mary Branscombe
12 hours, 21 minutes ago -
Supreme Court grants DOGE access to confidential Social Security records
by
Alex5723
18 hours, 58 minutes ago -
EaseUS Partition Master free 19.6
by
Alex5723
6 hours, 9 minutes ago -
Microsoft : Edge is better than Chrome
by
Alex5723
1 day, 8 hours ago -
The EU launched DNS4EU
by
Alex5723
1 day, 20 hours ago -
Cell Phone vs. Traditional Touchtone Phone over POTS
by
280park
1 day, 11 hours ago -
Lost access to all my networked drives (shares) listed in My Computer
by
lwerman
2 days, 2 hours ago -
Set default size for pasted photo to word
by
Cyn
2 days, 8 hours ago -
Dedoimedo tries 24H2…
by
Cybertooth
1 day, 20 hours ago -
Windows 11 Insider Preview build 27871 released to Canary
by
joep517
3 days, 7 hours ago -
Windows 11 ad from Campaign Manager in Windows 10
by
Jim McKenna
1 day ago -
Small desktops
by
Susan Bradley
54 minutes ago -
Totally disable Bitlocker
by
CWBillow
2 days ago -
Phishers extract Millions from HMRC accounts..
by
Microfix
3 days, 4 hours ago -
Windows 10 22H2 Update today (5 June) says up-to-date but last was 2025-04
by
Alan_uk
4 days, 11 hours ago -
Thoughts on Malwarebytes Scam Guard for Mobile?
by
opti1
2 days, 6 hours ago -
Mystical Desktop
by
CWBillow
4 days, 14 hours ago -
Meta and Yandex secretly tracked billions of Android users
by
Alex5723
3 days, 19 hours ago -
MS-DEFCON 2: Do you need that update?
by
Susan Bradley
1 day, 7 hours ago -
CD/DVD drive is no longer recognized
by
WSCape Sand
5 days, 5 hours ago -
Windows 11 24H2 Default Apps stuck on Edge and Adobe Photoshop
by
MikeBravo
5 days, 8 hours ago -
North Face and Cartier customer data stolen in cyber attacks
by
Alex5723
5 days, 6 hours ago -
What is wrong with simple approach?
by
WSSpoke36
3 days, 4 hours ago
Recent blog posts
Key Links
Want to Advertise in the free newsletter? How about a gift subscription in honor of a birthday? Send an email to sb@askwoody.com to ask how.
Mastodon profile for DefConPatch
Mastodon profile for AskWoody
Home • About • FAQ • Posts & Privacy • Forums • My Account
Register • Free Newsletter • Plus Membership • Gift Certificates • MS-DEFCON Alerts
Copyright ©2004-2025 by AskWoody Tech LLC. All Rights Reserved.