vista won't let me replace a file in program files

[tynopik]

There is a program that installs in program files\whatever and keeps its database in that folder

i copy over my database from another machine and replace the blank one that gets installed

but the database immediately reverts back to the blank one!

i can delete the file and the whole folder, but if i recreate the folder and copy my database in, again it immediately reverts to the blank one from the install

what's going on?

 

[tynopik]

ok, found the root problem i believe

http://www.runrev.com/newsletter/march/issue21/newsletter3.php

"In Windows Vista even administrator accounts do not have default write access to certain system-wide areas such as Program Files."

"For this Vista provides file virtualization, which is a completely opaque method of allowing a write to Program Files but instead of writing to the actual Program Files it writes to a Virtual Store, which is nothing more than a different (user-based) location in the file system."