I have Windows XP Home, did a reinstall a while ago. To reclaim my backup
files, I logged in as the administrator through safe mode, then selected the
folders I wanted to reclaim, clicked properties, advanced, owner, etc per
articles 308421 and 810881.

This helped with about half the directories and files within, but the main
one--the backup/owner/mydocuments folder, will not "unlock". To be clear, I
can access all the files when I am in safe mode, logged in as the
administrator--but I cannot access them under my regular user, "owner".
Changing the permissions for each individual file works, but I have over 900
files in there and cannot figure out how to unlock the whole folder, with all
the files in it.

The only thing I can guess at is that after doing this:
"4. In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you
are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you
want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, select the Replace
owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
5. Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:"

the only two options are administrator, and administrators. They both
unlock the file so I can use it in safe mode, but I cannot access them from
the normal "owner" account.

Can anyone help me with this, so I can reclaim all of my documents without
having to unlock them one by one?

Thanks in advance.

Blake wrote:
> I have Windows XP Home, did a reinstall a while ago. To reclaim my backup
> files, I logged in as the administrator through safe mode, then selected the
> folders I wanted to reclaim, clicked properties, advanced, owner, etc per
> articles 308421 and 810881.
>
> This helped with about half the directories and files within, but the main
> one--the backup/owner/mydocuments folder, will not "unlock". To be clear, I
> can access all the files when I am in safe mode, logged in as the
> administrator--but I cannot access them under my regular user, "owner".
> Changing the permissions for each individual file works, but I have over 900
> files in there and cannot figure out how to unlock the whole folder, with all
> the files in it.
>
> The only thing I can guess at is that after doing this:
> "4. In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you
> are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you
> want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, select the Replace
> owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
> 5. Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:"
>
> the only two options are administrator, and administrators. They both
> unlock the file so I can use it in safe mode, but I cannot access them from
> the normal "owner" account.
>
> Can anyone help me with this, so I can reclaim all of my documents without
> having to unlock them one by one?

In the same place where you see the ownership, add your user account and
then you can take ownership of the parent folder. Check the box for
child folders/files to inherit permissions from the parent folder.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User