I had my laptop set up with 2 users - personal, and business. I deleted one
of the users so I could go back to just booting up without clicking on one of
the user names. I assumed that my files would just go into the other user
name. I was wrong.

Now, when I click on any of my files, I get one of these 2 messages:

The file ' xxxxxx ', as specified in the execution parameters, cannot be
opened.

or

Access denied: you do not have rights to do this.

The files are all MS Word or MS Excel files. I have tried granting "full
control" permissions to all the registry hives, which didn't work. I still
get the same errors. I also tried to upgrade QuickBooks Premier 2006 with
Premier 2007, and got a similar error - something about not having
administrator privledges (which I do - my persona is set to Administrator).

What can I do to get access to all my files? I am running Win XP Home,
service pack 2, with all the updates available.

Thanks for any advice!

-Wes-

wesreeves wrote:

> I had my laptop set up with 2 users - personal, and business. I deleted
> one of the users so I could go back to just booting up without clicking on
> one of
> the user names. I assumed that my files would just go into the other user
> name. I was wrong.
>
> Now, when I click on any of my files, I get one of these 2 messages:
>
> The file ' xxxxxx ', as specified in the execution parameters, cannot be
> opened.
>
> or
>
> Access denied: you do not have rights to do this

Do a search in Help and Support for "taking ownership of files and folders"
(without the quotes....)

HTH

You probably need to go to the other profile-folder under "C:\Documents and
Settings" and take ownership of it as the present user - including files and
subfolders.

(right-click and select 'security' tab)

"wesreeves" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>I had my laptop set up with 2 users - personal, and business. I deleted
>one
> of the users so I could go back to just booting up without clicking on one
> of
> the user names. I assumed that my files would just go into the other user
> name. I was wrong.
>
> Now, when I click on any of my files, I get one of these 2 messages:
>
> The file ' xxxxxx ', as specified in the execution parameters, cannot be
> opened.
>
> or
>
> Access denied: you do not have rights to do this.
>
> The files are all MS Word or MS Excel files. I have tried granting "full
> control" permissions to all the registry hives, which didn't work. I
> still
> get the same errors. I also tried to upgrade QuickBooks Premier 2006 with
> Premier 2007, and got a similar error - something about not having
> administrator privledges (which I do - my persona is set to
> Administrator).
>
> What can I do to get access to all my files? I am running Win XP Home,
> service pack 2, with all the updates available.

I'm not sure why you would assume that deleting a user account would
automatically move files to another account. What if you had three accounts
and deleted one, how would it decide where to move those files?

In any event when deleting at user account it gives you the option to also
delete the files or retain them. Seems you chose to retain them. Now to
access those files it's an issue of ownership.

See this article:
HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308421

If it's XP Home you'll need to boot into safe mode and login to the
Administrator account to do this.

Lastly you didn't need to delete a user account to set up auto login to a
given account. That can be done no matter how many accounts are there.
Here is how to do that.

1. Go to Start | Run and type in: control userpasswords2 | Ok.

2. On the Users tab, clear the Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To
Use This Computer check box and then click OK.

3. In the Automatically Log On dialog box that appears, type the user name
and password for the account you want to be logged on each time you start
your computer.

You can accomplish the same thing by:

Download and install tweakui for xp and use its auto logon feature.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p.../powertoys.asp

Lastly you can add the Dialog box that comes up when running control
userpasswords 2 to the Control Panel with the following tweak:

Add Control User Passwords2 to the Control Panel (Line 1)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]