Audacity Forum

When I try to convert Audacity recording to another format I get the message 'You don't have permission to save in this location. Contact the administrator to obtain permission. I have downloaded LAME, but get no further than this message.

cathB wrote:When I try to convert Audacity recording to another format I get the message 'You don't have permission to save in this location. Contact the administrator to obtain permission. I have downloaded LAME, but get no further than this message.

Does the message also say "Would you like to save in the Documents folder instead"? In that case you are probably on Vista and trying to save to a drive that is formatted under the older FAT32 system. Run Audacity as administrator or save to your own user space such as your Documents folder and then move the file where you really want it to go. Provide the administrator password when asked for it. For instructions see:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931277

If you don't have admin rights, ask your admin for help.



Gale

hello- thank you for this reply. Yes I have got Vista and a fairly early version of it- sigh! The thing is I can save the recording easily- and play it back on audacity, but I can't convert it to MP3 or anything else that would enable me to send it to someone else in a usable way. I tried to follow the directions on the weblink you gave me, but when I tried to reformat the hard drive it it just told me I couldnt' do that, and I don't understand what it means to run the program as the administrator. Is there just a version of Audacity that works ok with this version of Vista? It doesn't link up with LAME.

cathB wrote:hello- thank you for this reply. Yes I have got Vista and a fairly early version of it- sigh! The thing is I can save the recording easily- and play it back on audacity, but I can't convert it to MP3 or anything else that would enable me to send it to someone else in a usable way. I tried to follow the directions on the weblink you gave me, but when I tried to reformat the hard drive it it just told me I couldnt' do that, and I don't understand what it means to run the program as the administrator. Is there just a version of Audacity that works ok with this version of Vista? It doesn't link up with LAME.

Did you install Vista on that computer and are you sole user? Then you are the administrator, but if you chose a password you will need to provide it if you want to format the drive.

The simplest thing to do is hit the Windows button and then somewhere by "Shut Down" you will be able to "switch user" and log in as administrator (if you have any required password). If you do that, you can save where you like and reformat what you like.

This is not an Audacity problem. If you are not an administrator and the administrator can't give you the admin password, you will have to be content with exporting the MP3 to your Documents folder (say "yes" when Windows asks you if you want to save to the Documents folder instead).

To export as MP3 (to any location) you need to add the LAME library to your computer. Or you can export as WAV, obtain iTunes then use iTunes to convert the WAV to MP3.



Gale

thx GAle- yes I had gathered it was a vista problem not an audacity one, plus a problem with me not knowing a lot about this stuff. Thx for all your advice, I'll try and work it out.