How to disable folder (and registry) virtualisation in Vista

Question

I'm sick of being caught out with this, looking at a file in the program files directory and wondering why it is not the same as the data in my application, only to remember after much head scratching that the file has been virtualized for security reasons.

I know the ultimate problem is the applications fault - but because I can't change that, is there a way to switch it off at an OS level?

Answer 1

Found the answer withing a few seconds of posting the question. You can disable it by doing the following:

1. Run secpol.msc and navigate to Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options
2. Set the User Account Control: Virtualize file and registry write failures to disabled

Wish I could find answers to all my problems so quickly :)