Accessing a folder in Windows Explorer

[Gordon Biggar]

I am using Vista (64-bit) on a desktop, and I am attempting to
access/salvage folders on a hard drive from my laptop (that is no longer
bootable) in order to copy these files to another device. The old hard
drive ran on a Windows 2000 platform, and I am attempting to access a User
folder under Documents and Settings. My Vista system tells me that I do not
have permission to access this folder. I have right-clicked on this folder
to bring up Properties, and it appears that I do have authority. In Windows
2000 one was able to log on as an Administrator, but in Vista I go straight
to the desktop at the time of boot. I am sure that this must be handled in
User Control, for example, but I am not certain of the procedure.

Any help is appreciated.

Gordon Biggar
Houston, Texas

 

[+Bob+]

I am using Vista (64-bit) on a desktop, and I am attempting to
access/salvage folders on a hard drive from my laptop (that is no longer
bootable) in order to copy these files to another device. The old hard
drive ran on a Windows 2000 platform, and I am attempting to access a User
folder under Documents and Settings. My Vista system tells me that I do not
have permission to access this folder. I have right-clicked on this folder
to bring up Properties, and it appears that I do have authority. In Windows
2000 one was able to log on as an Administrator, but in Vista I go straight
to the desktop at the time of boot. I am sure that this must be handled in
User Control, for example, but I am not certain of the procedure.

Any help is appreciated.

Try Taking Ownership of the folder and all files in it. If you don't
know how to do that, google "take ownership" and Vista (although it's
roughly the same procedure since NT came out). Note that Vista can be
a little funky and you might need to reboot after taking ownership to
get it to release the protections on the files.

 

[Gordon Biggar]

After changing the ownership (in Properties/Security/Advanced) and hitting
Apply, the administrator name is highlighted. But, when I return to the
previous screen, I am told that the Ownership can still not be identified.

GB

 

[Gordon Biggar]

Managed (after numerous attempts) to change the ownership of this folder.
However, when I double-click on the folder to expand it, I receive the
message, "You don't currently have permission to access this folder."

Something is still hanging me up .

GB

 

[Gordon Biggar]

Sir David --

I can assign ownership to myself as a User with Full Control, but I cannot
assign Ownership to the Administrators group. After hitting OK, the message
under Current Owner says "Unable to display current owner."

If I leave myself as the User with Ownership, which the system accepts, when
I go to expand the folder, I receive the message "You don't currently have
permission to access this folder."

Somehow, I believe that the problem is related to my trying to access a hard
drive (using a hard drive adaptor) from another computer system (Windows
2000), which failed to boot. I can access certain folders/files without a
problem, but it's the Documents and Settings folder (under which are all the
Excel and Word files) that I can't expand.

Very frustrating.

GB

Managed (after numerous attempts) to change the ownership of this folder.
However, when I double-click on the folder to expand it, I receive the
message, "You don't currently have permission to access this folder."

Something is still hanging me up .

GB

[File/folder permissions ]

Right-click > Properties > Security.
Click on the 'Advanced' button.
Select 'Owner' tab.
If you are not the owner click on 'Edit'.
Select your name (or Administrators).
Apply, then back out of all the boxes

Once you own the file you can give yourself full control.

Right-click the file > Properties > Security.
Click on your account in the top box and see if you
have full control as shown in the lower box.
If not, click on 'Edit...' , make sure you are highlighted
in the top box and select 'Full control'
OK your way out. You should have full control now.

 

[Gordon Biggar]

At Control Panel/User Accounts, I am shown as the only user, and it says
"Administrator" under the user name. (In Windows 2000, I could manually log
on as an administrator at the time of start-up, if I so chose.) At start-up
under Vista (64-bit), I go directly to the desktop. If I am the only user,
am I by default also the administrator?

Out of frustration, I even attempted to format the disk (going through
"cmd"). The system came back and told me that "Access is denied; you do not
have sufficient privileges," and that I must run this utility "in an
elevated mode." This would also seem to confirm that I do not have
administrator privileges.

Dumb question: what start-up instructions do I have to alter in order for me
to log on as an administrator? Sorry for such simplistic stuff!

GB

 

[+Bob+]

At Control Panel/User Accounts, I am shown as the only user, and it says
"Administrator" under the user name. (In Windows 2000, I could manually log
on as an administrator at the time of start-up, if I so chose.) At start-up
under Vista (64-bit), I go directly to the desktop. If I am the only user,
am I by default also the administrator?

Out of frustration, I even attempted to format the disk (going through
"cmd"). The system came back and told me that "Access is denied; you do not
have sufficient privileges," and that I must run this utility "in an
elevated mode." This would also seem to confirm that I do not have
administrator privileges.

Dumb question: what start-up instructions do I have to alter in order for me
to log on as an administrator? Sorry for such simplistic stuff!

GB

You should create a second account and make it an administrator. Never
have just one account on a Windows machine.

That said, I suggest you enable the built-in "real" administrator
account and use that to fix your file ownership problems. Start a
command prompt, type this:

Net user administrator /active:yes
Net user administrator password-you-want

Log off. You should now have the ability to log on as the real
administrator and do what you want.

FYI - formatting C: won't help. The files on that adopted drive are
owned by another used ID that is not on your system. You need to take
ownership. Go to the root of the drive (e.g. D and do the take
ownership operation. Be sure to check the box that says "apply to sub
folders and files:.

 

[Gordon Biggar]

Sir Robert --

I set up another User Account (also as an Administrator), and rebooted the
computer. Went straight to the desktop (under my original User Name)
without giving me the chance to log on as the new administrator. There must
be a default setting somewhere?

Went into Windows Explorer to change the ownership of the folder in question
to the new administrator. It was not listed among the selections for
changing to.

Went to the DOS prompt (via cmd) and typed in "Net user administrator
/active:yes." System came back with a "system 5 error; access is denied."

GB

 

[+Bob+]

Sir Robert --

I set up another User Account (also as an Administrator), and rebooted the
computer. Went straight to the desktop (under my original User Name)
without giving me the chance to log on as the new administrator. There must
be a default setting somewhere?

Went into Windows Explorer to change the ownership of the folder in question
to the new administrator. It was not listed among the selections for
changing to.

Went to the DOS prompt (via cmd) and typed in "Net user administrator
/active:yes." System came back with a "system 5 error; access is denied."

GB

Can you start a command prompt with a right click and "run as
administrator" ?

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

There are two kinds of accounts referred to as administrator. Sort of.
Thanks go to Microsoft for the confusing terminology.

1. A user account with Administrator privileges.

2. THE Administrator account (i.e., the real one).

The first has only a subset of the privileges the second has (and I suspect
even the real one doesn't give absolutely all privileges).

+Bob+ is trying to help you get into the second, but you say your login is
automatic. I think if you switch users instead of restarting, the real
Admin logon will appear. If you've never given it a password, the password
is empty. Clear that field and click the arrow in the switch user screen.
If the Administrator logon doesn't show there, I have been told that
Ctrl-Alt-Delete will bring it up.

An alternative is to track down the automatic login and disable it for now.
You'd also have to follow +Bob+'s suggestion about making the Administrator
active.

Since I don't have quite enough experience with all this (and don't want
to break continuity by rebooting or switching now to experiment), I'll have
to rely on someone with more definitive knowledge to correct any errors in
the above. The books I have don't help all that much :-(

 

[Gordon Biggar]

Here's what worked: my daughter sent me the following link:

http://maximumpcguides.com/windows-vista/logon-windows-vista-as-administrator/

Earlier, I was not able to get the command line ("Net user administrator
/active:yes") to work, because I did not open the Command Prompt (via
Start/All Programs/Accessories) with "run as administrator." (I had typed
"cmd" directly into the Start Search field.) Once I did this, I was able to
set up an Administrator account. It's all been downhill since then.

These forums are invaluable to folks, such as myself, and I thank those who
offered suggestions. I stayed with Windows 2000 up until last fall, because
the User Forum for 2000 was outstanding over the years.

Again, many thanks to those of you attempting to drag me into the 21st
century...

Gordon Biggar
Houston, Texas