Can't access files

[Rob Cubeta]

Hello, I am a PC technician with the following problem. My
client has a laptop with a dead mobo, therefore no boot. I
have removed the hard drive and attached it to my
diagnostics PC running Win2k Pro. I am simply trying to
archive her "My Documents" folder. There is only one user
account on her drive, "Administrator". I can access all
files on the machine except the directories under
Documents and Settings\Administrator. When I try to get at
them, I get the message box E:\Documents and
Settings\Administrator is not accessible. Access is
denied. Can anyone give me the work around on this. What I
thought would be an easy job has left me pulling my hair
out. Thanks in advance for your time. Rob

 

[Roger Abell]

Rob,
You need to take ownership over the inaccessible areas,
allowing it to set permissions.

Take Ownership see Help and Support, or
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308421

When you do this for an account profile you destroy the
ability of that profile to be used by its account if that build
is again booted. To restore this, after getting the copy,
you need to return Full Control permissions to the account,
which is something you cannot do until that build is booted.
(a catch-22 in your case as you say there is only one account)

Alternatively, use NTbackup to back the profile up to a file,
and then restore to alternate location and specify not to restore
permissions.