TortoiseSvn and Windows Server 2008 user account control

tortoisesvnuacwindows-server-2008

Here is the question:
Can TortoiseSvn work on Windows 2008 without turning off User Account Control?

Here is the story:
I just moved my test server to Windows 2008 and I am having problems with TortoiseSvn. I am logged on as an administrator, but when I go to update some code from the Subversion repository, I get a message saying:
Error Can't set file 'C:\dev\trunk.svn\entries' read-write: Access is denied
So I have seen messages like that and I know to run cleanup. But when I run cleanup I get:
Cleanup failed to process the following paths: C:\dev\trunk

So further investigation convinces me that I have a permissions problem. Running svn status from a command prompt shows me that the directories are locked and running svn cleanup fails just like the tortoise cleanup did. But when I launch the command prompt as an administrator, I can run svn cleanup with out a problem and I can run svn up and get my files updated.

UPDATE:
This is a windows UAC permissions problem. Turning off UAC fixes the problem. But I would like to find a solution that doesn't require turning off UAC. Since Tortoise is a windows shell extension, I don't know how to make it run as administrator.

Any suggestions?

Best Answer

right-click on your working copy c:\dev folder, select "properties" from the context menu. In the properties dialog, go to the security tab. You will notice that the Admin user doesn't have full access (the user is not listed there). Add the Admin user and give it full access rights.

Yes, the Admin user usually has full access rights to all folders, but only after the UAC prompt. Applications usually don't provide the UAC prompt but get an access-denied error instead. To give the Admin user full access to that folder without the UAC prompt, you have to add that user manually.