Access denied on desktop notebook files

[Guest]

I formated hard drive ntfs reinstalled windows xp pro
and using built in backup I restored my documents and desktop from external
firewire drive. everything is fine except my notepad or txt files on my
desktop say access denied.

I have reformated and reinstalled and installed microsoft updates but still
get the error.

I have taken ownership and I gave given myself as administrator full
permission and still just these few files show access denied.

I have tried restoring to alternate locations with replace files and with do
not keep security etc.

I have even gone into safe mode and tried it all there plus the ms dos
prompt where I get the same response when I try to open the files. I have
even tried changing the permission through msdos.

other newly created txt files are accessible when placed on desktop and all
of the other programs and doc files are accessible just these txt files which
were restored.

I also do not get the option after setting my password in users under
administrator for keeping files private which should be there since it is
ntfs format. I did get the passwords option the first install and used it
then deleted the administrator account since I was also an administrator.
Thinking this glitched it I then reformated and reinstalled and still get
this error.

I just need two of the files which are important but I have found no way to
recover them.

I do have a computer running windows home but it does not have the backup
under system tools so I can not access my files on that computer unless
someone knows a way to restore to a computer running windows xp home


Thanks for taking time to read my lengthy problem analysis.

 

[Galen]

In Michelle had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

I formated hard drive ntfs reinstalled windows xp pro
and using built in backup I restored my documents and desktop from
external
firewire drive. everything is fine except my notepad or txt files on my
desktop say access denied.

I have reformated and reinstalled and installed microsoft updates but
still
get the error.

I have taken ownership and I gave given myself as administrator full
permission and still just these few files show access denied.

I have tried restoring to alternate locations with replace files and with
do
not keep security etc.

I have even gone into safe mode and tried it all there plus the ms dos
prompt where I get the same response when I try to open the files. I
have
even tried changing the permission through msdos.

other newly created txt files are accessible when placed on desktop and
all
of the other programs and doc files are accessible just these txt files
which
were restored.

I also do not get the option after setting my password in users under
administrator for keeping files private which should be there since it is
ntfs format. I did get the passwords option the first install and used it
then deleted the administrator account since I was also an administrator.
Thinking this glitched it I then reformated and reinstalled and still get
this error.

I just need two of the files which are important but I have found no way
to
recover them.

I do have a computer running windows home but it does not have the backup
under system tools so I can not access my files on that computer unless
someone knows a way to restore to a computer running windows xp home


Thanks for taking time to read my lengthy problem analysis.

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

That should do it for you.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/ http://kgiii.info/

"Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its
solution is its own
reward." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

In Michelle had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:


How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

That should do it for you.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/ http://kgiii.info/

"Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its
solution is its own
reward." - Sherlock Holmes


I have taken ownership and set permissions it shows my user name as owner I have tried all combos such as administrators to include me also since I am an administrators.

It shows I have full control and ownership but still returns with access
denied.

 

[Galen]

In Michelle had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

It shows I have full control and ownership but still returns with access
denied.

Under the advanced options - owner tab - set the owner to yourself.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/ http://kgiii.info/

"Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its
solution is its own
reward." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Galen]

In Galen had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

In Michelle had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:


Under the advanced options - owner tab - set the owner to yourself.

It wasn't encrypted with EFS was it?

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/ http://kgiii.info/

"Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its
solution is its own
reward." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

In Galen had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:


It wasn't encrypted with EFS was it?

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/ http://kgiii.info/

"Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its
solution is its own
reward." - Sherlock Holmes


I just found last night that it was encrypted with efs. I do not know why but my desktop folder had the check mark which I never messed with so someone using my computer must have checked it..

I appointed a recovery agent which is working on files I encrypt now on my
newly installed xp pro but the recovery agent does not decrypt the old backup
files after I have restored them.

any suggestions I have searched for the original certificate on my backup by
using the thumbprint fraction that shows in authorized user and I can not
find the original certificate so if there is another way to do this please
help. Why does it decrypt files I encrypted on the new installation with
recovery agent but not my backup files?

Is there a specific way I can restore my ntbackup so that it restores the
original security certificates too. I did a full back up of c drive and
system state.

Thank You I keep thinking I have this fixed and then find it is another
problem.

 

[Galen]

In Michelle had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

I appointed a recovery agent which is working on files I encrypt now on my
newly installed xp pro but the recovery agent does not decrypt the old
backup
files after I have restored them.

any suggestions I have searched for the original certificate on my backup
by
using the thumbprint fraction that shows in authorized user and I can not
find the original certificate so if there is another way to do this please
help. Why does it decrypt files I encrypted on the new installation with
recovery agent but not my backup files?

Is there a specific way I can restore my ntbackup so that it restores the
original security certificates too. I did a full back up of c drive and
system state.

Thank You I keep thinking I have this fixed and then find it is another
problem.

Without the original certificate I believe you're in a bind. I haven't any
idea if your backup can (or even will) contain the certificate - I've never
encountered that issue.

If it is OEM then I'd contact the vendor, if it is a retail edition then I'd
contact Microsoft. I haven't ever tried this nor any software like it but;

http://www.crackpassword.com/advanced_efs_data_recovery.html

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/ http://kgiii.info/

"Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its
solution is its own
reward." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

I do have the original certificate. I reformated and restored my backup
again found the certificate and saved it to a cd. I then did a clean install
of windows xp pro restored the encrypted files and installed the certificate
which contains the same thumbprint as the one which deny's me access. I also
created myself as the recovery agent. it will allow me to take off the
encryption (remove checkmark) on the desktop folders and asked to do for all
subfolders and files I say yes but the files are still encrypted but the
folders are not. I try to individually take off the check mark in the files
but am given the access denied error.

What can I do with the original certificate that I know have do I need to
install it somewhere special rather than letting it choose the store?

 

[Galen]

In Michelle had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

I do have the original certificate. I reformated and restored my backup
again found the certificate and saved it to a cd. I then did a clean
install
of windows xp pro restored the encrypted files and installed the
certificate
which contains the same thumbprint as the one which deny's me access. I
also
created myself as the recovery agent. it will allow me to take off the
encryption (remove checkmark) on the desktop folders and asked to do for
all
subfolders and files I say yes but the files are still encrypted but the
folders are not. I try to individually take off the check mark in the
files
but am given the access denied error.

What can I do with the original certificate that I know have do I need to
install it somewhere special rather than letting it choose the store?

That's just it - with what you're telling me above I'm not SEEING any
problem. I've imported, encrypted, decrypted, and moved, taken ownership,
and reformatted, imported, set the key on a server and used it with my
server to ensure that I could do it and keep folders private, etc... I did -
unless I'm missing something - what you're doing.

SOME of them recovered and some didn't? The only thing I can think of is
that the files themselves are bad - they were corrupted during backup??? I
honestly haven't any idea much beyond that. I looked, I re-read all the
posts prior to sending this. I am by NO means an expert on EFS but I've gone
through the process enough times.

You mention thumbprint. Is there a hardware device installed that I should
know about? I don't recall reading about a thumbprint reader being installed
nor any other biometric device. I really think this is going to end up
needing to escalate to Microsoft's support as I'm not seeing anyone else
with a stash of info. I don't /think/ I'm overlooking anything.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/ http://kgiii.info/

"Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its
solution is its own
reward." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

The thumbprint I am referring to is the thumbprint on the details section of
the certificate. I am comparing the one which shows in the box of who can
access this file under advanced detailes by the encryptiion check mark box.
This is how I determined it is the right security certificate plus it was
created over a year ago while any others show creation of course after my
reinstall. There is no recovery agent in the bottom box so windows xp pro
does not default a recovery agent by default one must be assigned right?

I am beginning to think there is a corruption error also it would have to be
these files which are so tiny but important to me. when I fully restore my
backup upon startup it will not restart windows. I did a backup when my
power to my laptop was failing and so I wanted to back up everything while my
batteries were good. The backup was successful and I shut down normally.
Could the power running out on my laptop with an incomplete shutdown affect
and already completed backup on an external drive. That is why I completely
reformated and reinstalled for a clean install and restore.

I am ready to give up and consider it a loss it is the most fustrating
because I do not even know why these are efs encrypted to my knowledge I
never marked it and I find a few folders and pictures etc that were encrypted
also but I got back.

Thank You for your help maybe somthing will work when I get a new system.

 

[Guest]

Okay I managed to get my files to open and took the encryption check mark
off and applyed. now they open but the txt is gibberish. Is there a way to
get the text to show back up as text I tried to encrypt and then take it off
again it didn't work. I am thinking about doing a repair but am scared since
it has taken me a week just to restore the files so that I could open them.

I did try opening in word and the different options to make the text
readable but it still showed up as the programming gibberish as in notepad
its original creating program. I feel like I am so close I hope you can help
me.

 

[Galen]

In Michelle had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Okay I managed to get my files to open and took the encryption check mark
off and applyed. now they open but the txt is gibberish. Is there a way
to
get the text to show back up as text I tried to encrypt and then take it
off
again it didn't work. I am thinking about doing a repair but am scared
since
it has taken me a week just to restore the files so that I could open
them.

I did try opening in word and the different options to make the text
readable but it still showed up as the programming gibberish as in notepad
its original creating program. I feel like I am so close I hope you can
help
me.

It's really looking like the files were corrupted in the backup process.

Two things that I feel strongly about:

Verify the integrity of your backup and keep more than one copy of your
important data. (I recommend keeping the second backup at an off-site
location, even if it just at a friend's or family member's house.)

The original file... Can you try to recover just that file a second time
from the backup?

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/ http://kgiii.info/

"Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its
solution is its own
reward." - Sherlock Holmes