Having trouble accessing a username ( I messed up bad)

Ok I had a virus, so i did what it told me to do to get
rid of it and I deleted the system restore points so i
cannot go back to before i did this. I restarted my
computer and i could not get into the windows XP so I had
to reinstall windows XP into a new folder. Now everything
is good EXCEPT my old folder was password protected and i
set it so no other name was allowed to access it. So Now
I cannot access some important files that I need. Is
there anyway I can take down the security on this folder
and access it again?

Oh Yeah and I tried loggin on as admin in safe mode but
the problem is I have 2 different window XPs on my
computer.. and I cant get into the 1st one... so when I
go into admin I only can change the username that I just
created for the new XP folder..

basically what I need to know is if there's a way I can
change a username from another XP program... Or if
there's a way I can convert a username from one XP
program to another...

damn this sounds complicated i hope someone can help me
lol

This sounds like a file ownership issue related to NTFS. Note, file
ownership and permissions supersede administrator rights. How you resolve
it depends upon which version of XP you are running.



XP-Home



Unfortunately, XP Home using NTFS is essentially hard wired for "Simple File
Sharing" at system level.

However, you can set XP Home permissions in Safe Mode. Reboot, and start
hitting F8, a menu should eventually appear and one of the
options is Safe Mode. Select it. Note, it will ask for the administrator's
password. This is not your administrator account, rather it is the
machine's administrator account for which users are asked to create a
password during setup.

If you created no such password, when requested, leave blank and press
enter.

Open Explorer, go to Tools and Folder Options, on the view tab, scroll to
the bottom of the list, if it shows "Enable Simple File Sharing" deselect it
and click apply and ok. If it shows nothing or won't let you make a change,
move on to the next step.

Navigate to the files, right click, select properties, go to the Security
tab, click advanced, go to the Owner tab and select the user that was logged
on when you were refused permission to access the files. Click apply and
ok. Close the properties box, reopen it, click add and type in the name of
the user you just enabled. If you wish to set ownership for everything in
the folder, at the bottom of the Owner tab is the following selection:
"Replace owner on subcontainers and objects," select it as well.

Once complete, you should be able to do what you wish with these files when
you log back on as that user.



XP-Pro



If you have XP Pro, temporarily change the limited account to
administrative. First, go to Windows Explorer, go to Tools, select Folder
Options, go to the View tab and be sure "Use Simple File Sharing" is not
selected. If it is, deselect it and click apply and ok.



If you wish everything in a specific folder to be accessible to a user,
right click the folder, select properties, go to the Security tab, click
Advanced, go to the Owner tab,
select the user you wish to have access, at the bottom of the box, you
should see a check box for "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects,"
place a check in the box and click apply and ok.

The user should now be able to perform necessary functions on files in the
folder even as a limited account. If not, make it an admin account again,
right click the folder, select Properties, go to the Security tab and be
sure the user is listed in the user list. If not, click add and type the
user name in the appropriate box, be sure the user has all the necessary
permissions checked in the permission list below the user list, click apply
and ok.

That should do it and allow whatever access you desire for that folder even
in a limited account.






--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"Brandon Hav" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4c0401c3abb1$6bf27a00$a601280a@phx.gbl...
> Ok I had a virus, so i did what it told me to do to get
> rid of it and I deleted the system restore points so i
> cannot go back to before i did this. I restarted my
> computer and i could not get into the windows XP so I had
> to reinstall windows XP into a new folder. Now everything
> is good EXCEPT my old folder was password protected and i
> set it so no other name was allowed to access it. So Now
> I cannot access some important files that I need. Is
> there anyway I can take down the security on this folder
> and access it again?