Desktop not accessible

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Guest

I am running XP Pro on a laptop, and my user account has administrative
rights. All of a sudden, when I log on, my computer will not display my
desktop icons. I received a message stating "C:\Documents and
Settings\user\Desktop is not accessible." I receive the same message when
trying to access "My Documents". I have tried restoring from an earlier
time, and contacting the manufacturer. Restoring did not work, and the
manufacturer stated the only thing that could be done was restore and recover
the entire operating system, but was unsure what could have caused this
problem. The files are still there, but I cannot access them. Has anyone
ever seen this problem before? I have not recovered the system yet, hoping
someone might be familiar with this issue. I would appreciate any advice.
Thank you!
 
You appear to have made some changes to you PC and thus the user doesn't have
access rights to that particular folder or file.

How to take ownership of a folder

You must be logged on to the computer with an account that has
administrative credentials. If you are running Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition, you must start the computer in safe mode, and then log on with an
account that has Administrative rights to have access to the Security tab.

If you are using Windows XP Professional, you must disable Simple File
Sharing. By default, Windows XP Professional uses Simple File sharing when it
is not joined to a domain.

To take ownership of a folder, follow these steps:
1.Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click
Properties.
2.Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one
appears).
3.Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
4.In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are
logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to
take ownership of the contents of that folder, select the Replace owner on
subcontainers and objects check box.
5.Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:
You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do
you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you
Full Control?

All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.
Note folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership
of.
6.Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you
want for the folder and its contents.

How to take ownership of a file
Again, as with folders, you must be logged on to the computer with an
account that has administrative credentials.

To take ownership of a file, follow these steps:
1.Right-click the file that you want to take ownership of, and then click
Properties.
2.Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one
appears).
3.Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
4.In the Name list, click Administrator, or click the Administrators group,
and then click OK.

The administrator or the Administrators group now owns the file. To change
the permissions on the files and folders under this folder, go to step 5.

5.Click Add.
6.In the Enter the object names to select (examples) list, type the user or
group account that you want to give access to the file. For example, type
Administrator.
7.Click OK.
8.In the Group or user names list, click the account that you want, and then
select the check boxes of the permissions that you want to assign that user.
9.When you are finished assigning permissions, click OK.
 
sc2515 said:
I am running XP Pro on a laptop, and my user account has administrative
rights. All of a sudden, when I log on, my computer will not display my
desktop icons. I received a message stating "C:\Documents and
Settings\user\Desktop is not accessible." I receive the same message when
trying to access "My Documents". I have tried restoring from an earlier
time, and contacting the manufacturer. Restoring did not work, and the
manufacturer stated the only thing that could be done was restore and recover
the entire operating system, but was unsure what could have caused this
problem. The files are still there, but I cannot access them. Has anyone
ever seen this problem before? I have not recovered the system yet, hoping
someone might be familiar with this issue. I would appreciate any advice.
Thank you!
Click to expand...

Did this help? My daughter has just had a similar problem with her laptop.
She cannot see any of her desktop icons, just the ones that were there
originally when she bought the computer. But all her photos, files, etc, are
still in My Documents.
Tried a restore to two earlier dates, no change. Don't reaslly want to have
to do a system restore unless absolutley neccessary, and would also lke to
know what caused this problem!
 
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