My Documents folder locked out

[Mark C]

Greetings,
After mistakenly letting Norton try to defrag while Outlook was running
and checking mail, I think it corrupted something in the boot record beyond
repair, I kept getting "failure at DMI" message when booting and could go no
further.
I stuck the hard drive in another machine and copied what I could to
another drive. I could not access the my documents folder. I reinstalled
Windows XP Pro to a different directory, hoping to be able to save what was
in the my documents folder and be able to retrieve some settings. When I
click on the old my documents/my name folder, it still tells me it's
inaccessible.
I tried starting in safe mode but that didn't help. Is there a way to
unlock or re-access that folder so I can retrieve the data I have there?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
--Mark

 

[purplehaz]

This information can be found in Help and Support by searching for
ownership.



To take ownership of a file or folder

Open Windows Explorer, and then locate the file or folder you want to take
ownership of.

Right-click the file or folder, click Properties, and then click the
Security tab.

Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.

In the Change owner to box, click the new owner.

(Optional) To change the owner of all subcontainers and objects within the
tree, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.



Notes:

To open Windows Explorer, click Start, point to All Programs, point to
Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.

If you are not joined to a domain and want to view the Security tab, see To
display the Security tab.

You can transfer ownership in two ways:

The current owner can grant the Take ownership permission to others,
allowing those users to take ownership at any time.

An administrator can take ownership of any file on the computer. However,
the administrator cannot transfer ownership to others. This restriction
keeps the administrator accountable.

In Windows XP Professional, the Everyone group no longer includes the
Anonymous Logon group.