W
who be dat?
Due to a catastrophic system error (i.e. stupid user error), I ended up
building a new system. I went from one system to another with totally
different chipsets. I stayed AMD, but I went from Via to Nforce2. I was
able to keep my harddrives.
I had several very important documents in the "My Documents" folder that was
on my desktop which corresponds to the user in the "Documents and settings"
folder on the harddrive. That user, me, had system admin rights. As such,
I had a password and all files/settings were protected. I've got to get
these files back!!
I was hoping I could boot into safe mode and use the "Transfer Files and
Settings" wizard to save everything. It should work. Be slow as crap since
the IDE drivers won't be loaded but it should work. However, when I try to
boot into safe mode the system reboots when it's trying to load something,
mpu.sys if I recall correctly.
I thought fine, I'll boot off my WinXP CD and go to repair. I get to a
command prompt. I think great, I'll just copy the files to the second
physical disk drive, format the main drive, install WinXP. Once done, I'd
copy the files from my second drive to the My Documents folder. I get to
the promp that asks for a password, I enter it and it's accepted, then I try
to enter the directory and copy the files. Well, everytime I try to access
that directory, it says "access denied" or somethign along those lines. I
can't even copy it.
I've since tried multiple ways to get the files. Primarily, I installed
Windows but to a different directory so no files would get overwritten. I
was hoping same drive, same computer essientially, and same login info (I
used the same login name and password as I did in the past). I can see the
directory on the harddrive, but it won't let me access it. I tried swapping
the two drives, setting the other on to master then setting this to slave,
installed windows on that one. No dice, same problem.
I've got to do one of two things:
1) I need to be able to boot into safe mode (that drive has two versions of
windows on it, the old installation and the one that I installed but to a
different directory). Any suggestions on how I figure out why the system is
rebooting and fix it such that I can get into windows in safe mode?
2) I can boot to the console in repair mode. Is it possible to get into the
"Documents and Settings" folder (the directory on teh harddrive) from here
somehow that's totally escaping me? I'm entering the correct admin password
at the prompt when I go to the console but it's not letting me into that
directory.
It seems to me option one would be the one most likely to work since I'd be
booting into the version of windows (albiet in safe mode) that accessed that
folder. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!
Chris Smith
building a new system. I went from one system to another with totally
different chipsets. I stayed AMD, but I went from Via to Nforce2. I was
able to keep my harddrives.
I had several very important documents in the "My Documents" folder that was
on my desktop which corresponds to the user in the "Documents and settings"
folder on the harddrive. That user, me, had system admin rights. As such,
I had a password and all files/settings were protected. I've got to get
these files back!!
I was hoping I could boot into safe mode and use the "Transfer Files and
Settings" wizard to save everything. It should work. Be slow as crap since
the IDE drivers won't be loaded but it should work. However, when I try to
boot into safe mode the system reboots when it's trying to load something,
mpu.sys if I recall correctly.
I thought fine, I'll boot off my WinXP CD and go to repair. I get to a
command prompt. I think great, I'll just copy the files to the second
physical disk drive, format the main drive, install WinXP. Once done, I'd
copy the files from my second drive to the My Documents folder. I get to
the promp that asks for a password, I enter it and it's accepted, then I try
to enter the directory and copy the files. Well, everytime I try to access
that directory, it says "access denied" or somethign along those lines. I
can't even copy it.
I've since tried multiple ways to get the files. Primarily, I installed
Windows but to a different directory so no files would get overwritten. I
was hoping same drive, same computer essientially, and same login info (I
used the same login name and password as I did in the past). I can see the
directory on the harddrive, but it won't let me access it. I tried swapping
the two drives, setting the other on to master then setting this to slave,
installed windows on that one. No dice, same problem.
I've got to do one of two things:
1) I need to be able to boot into safe mode (that drive has two versions of
windows on it, the old installation and the one that I installed but to a
different directory). Any suggestions on how I figure out why the system is
rebooting and fix it such that I can get into windows in safe mode?
2) I can boot to the console in repair mode. Is it possible to get into the
"Documents and Settings" folder (the directory on teh harddrive) from here
somehow that's totally escaping me? I'm entering the correct admin password
at the prompt when I go to the console but it's not letting me into that
directory.
It seems to me option one would be the one most likely to work since I'd be
booting into the version of windows (albiet in safe mode) that accessed that
folder. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!
Chris Smith