Can't Find Files In Vista

With User Account Control (UAC) turned on (Vista default), it won't allow
you to write directly to the "Program Files" and other protected areas of
your file system. Certain programs, such as installation apps, are given
rights to those folders, but as a general rule, you don't have those rights.

So, what Vista is doing is redirecting those files to a place under your user
account (Users\<username>\AppData\VirtualStore), and I gather that programs
that don't respect UAC are able to see those files as if they were in their
original intended location.

If you need to place these kinds of files in those protected areas, you can
turn off UAC from Control Panel -> User Accounts, either just for the
duration of the time that is necessary to copy them there, or permanently, if
you desire. Doing so disables all Vista features that are intended to
protect your file system, etc. from potentially malicious processes.

Additional Info

The only time files are virtualized in Vista is if a legacy installation
program is not completely compatible with Vista. Vista compatible
installation programs will include a manifest file which automatically
enables the program to install all of the needed files to the Program Files
folder without the need for virtualization. The manifest file will also set
the proper permissions for these files so that they can be routinely
accessed by the program.

Another drawback to doing what you describe here, that we have seen in
testing.

A legacy installation program will register the location of a programs
configuration files when they are placed somewhere in the Virtual Store
folder. If you turn UAC off and relocate those files back to the Program
Files folder, the program will usually lose track of these files.

This could result in the need to either re-configure all of the optional
settings in the program, or even require a complete
uninstall/re-installation of the program.