Problem:
(On Windows 10) Can’t create vaults in Documents folder or my user profile folder (the folder that contains Documents, Desktop, etc.). When I try to do so, I get an error that begins: “Error: EPERM: operation not permitted” and then lists a particular subfolder as the issue (some hidden folder, depending on where I’m trying to add the vault).
Things I have tried
- opening vaults in unaffected folders (has the expected result; unaffected folders can be opened)
- opening affected folders in an elevated instance of Obsidian e.g. Open as Administrator (doesn’t make a difference)
What I’m trying to do
(In Windows 10)
Create a vault using the following existing user folders:
- C:\Users\[my profile name]
- C:\Users\[my profile name]\Documents
What happens
When I try to create a vault using the aforementioned existing folders, I get errors such as “Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, scandir 'C:\Users\[…]\AppData[…]” and “Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, watch 'C:\Users\[User name]\Documents\My Music”…
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Edit: I noticed that “Documents\My Music” is a weird path. I turned on the option to view hidden files and folders in Explorer and didn’t see any such path. I tried to write the path to navigate to it and got an Access Denied error. I found the Explorer setting to “Hide protected operating system files” and turned that off, and found some kind of link (like a symlink or something like that) to My Music in the Documents folder. I looked at the properties for that folder and basically all permissions for that link are nonexistent–as I’m sure is intended.
So I think my questions is, how can I get Obsidian to work in this very commonly used folder (Documents), when Obsidian throws an error because there are subfolders in this folder that Windows does not want a user to access?
References:
How to See Hidden System Files in Windows 10 (techbout.com)
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Edit #2: Reported a bug here: [Windows 10] Cannot open the Documents folder or user profile folder as a vault - Bug reports - Obsidian Forum