Re-installing Office problem

[Guest]

I had Office XP prof. installed on my computer running XP with no problem. I
then had some problems with Windows running slowly and bogged down system
resources, so I wiped it clean and re-installed Win XP. I wanted to format
the drive, but it seemed to leave a lot of files on, just cleaned up the
Windows aspects by repairing.

Now, I am going to re-install Office but am getting an error half-way
through stating that I don't have access to the OLD user folder in Common
Files (documents and folders/common files/microsoft shared/'username').

I cannot delete this folder either b/c it says that I don't have privileges.
I would know the password for my old username, but I am never prompted.

Does anyone know how to either gain access to the old username folders or to
"hard" delete these folders and bypass the error messages?

I would be most appreciative. Thanks.

 

[Nepatsfan]

You might want to take a look here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421&sd=tech

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

Your first paragraph makes no sense, "You wiped clean and reinstalled XP,"
next sentence, "You wanted to format the drive but it seemed to leave a lot
of files on, just cleaned up the Windows aspects by repairing." Hence, we
really have no idea what you did.

As to the problem, try taking ownership of the folder in question as
follows:

Note, file ownership and permissions supersede administrator rights. How
you resolve it depends upon which version of XP you are running.

XP-Home

Unfortunately, XP Home using NTFS is essentially hard wired for "Simple File
Sharing" at system level.

However, you can set XP Home permissions in Safe Mode. Reboot, and start
hitting F8, a menu should eventually appear and one of the
options is Safe Mode. Select it. Note, it will ask for the administrator's
password. This is not your administrator account, rather it is the
machine's administrator account for which users are asked to create a
password during setup.

If you created no such password, when requested, leave blank and press
enter.

Open Explorer, go to Tools and Folder Options, on the view tab, scroll to
the bottom of the list, if it shows "Enable Simple File Sharing" deselect it
and click apply and ok. If it shows nothing or won't let you make a change,
move on to the next step.

Navigate to the files, right click, select properties, go to the Security
tab, click advanced, go to the Owner tab and select the user that was logged
on when you were refused permission to access the files. Click apply and
ok. Close the properties box, reopen it, click add and type in the name of
the user you just enabled. If you wish to set ownership for everything in
the folder, at the bottom of the Owner tab is the following selection:
"Replace owner on subcontainers and objects," select it as well.

Once complete, you should be able to do what you wish with these files when
you log back on as that user.

XP-Pro

If you have XP Pro, temporarily change the limited account to
administrative. First, go to Windows Explorer, go to Tools, select Folder
Options, go to the View tab and be sure "Use Simple File Sharing" is not
selected. If it is, deselect it and click apply and ok.

If you wish everything in a specific folder to be accessible to a user,
right click the folder, select properties, go to the Security tab, click
Advanced, go to the Owner tab,
select the user you wish to have access, at the bottom of the box, you
should see a check box for "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects,"
place a check in the box and click apply and ok.

The user should now be able to perform necessary functions on files in the
folder even as a limited account. If not, make it an admin account again,
right click the folder, select Properties, go to the Security tab and be
sure the user is listed in the user list. If not, click add and type the
user name in the appropriate box, be sure the user has all the necessary
permissions checked in the permission list below the user list, click apply
and ok.

That should do it and allow whatever access you desire for that folder even
in a limited account.




--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

 

[Guest]

thank you for your reply. sorry about the first paragraph, what i meant to
say was that my intention was to wipe the drive clean, but i only
re-installed windows leaving a lot of files remaining on the hard drive. i
then erased programs and files that i didn't need. i realize that this is a
pretty ugly way of doing it and next time i would not do it this way.

I have XP prof. and I did as you told me and turned off the Simple
File-Sharing. As for your solution there seem to be three problems:

1. The username (the 'limited' that i assume you are talking about) that the
folder belongs to is no longer around, so switching the privilages on that
one, then logging in using that name doesn't work.

2. When viewing the folder in question (opening, exploring, attempting to
erase, or just selecting) the drive significantly slows. All programs seem
to work fine, but you can hear the drive spinning and thinking tremendously
hard, searching for this folder. It took me 15 minutes just to be able to
pull up the properties.

3. When I finally got the properties up, there was no Security tab or
Sharing tab, only General and Customize. I know the security tab you are
speaking of, but it just wasn't there.


let me know what you think, and thank you.

---------------------------------------

 

[Guest]

just to clarify i changed my username, the above reply is me. thanks.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

Inline below:

--
In memory of our dear friend, MVP Alex Nichol.

Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

thank you for your reply. sorry about the first paragraph, what i meant
to
say was that my intention was to wipe the drive clean, but i only
re-installed windows leaving a lot of files remaining on the hard drive.
i
then erased programs and files that i didn't need. i realize that this is
a
pretty ugly way of doing it and next time i would not do it this way.

No problem, I just wanted to let you know I didn't really understand that
paragraph.

I have XP prof. and I did as you told me and turned off the Simple
File-Sharing. As for your solution there seem to be three problems:

1. The username (the 'limited' that i assume you are talking about) that
the
folder belongs to is no longer around, so switching the privilages on that
one, then logging in using that name doesn't work.

Try taking ownership of the folder in question in your user account as
opposed to the previous user.

2. When viewing the folder in question (opening, exploring, attempting to
erase, or just selecting) the drive significantly slows. All programs
seem
to work fine, but you can hear the drive spinning and thinking
tremendously
hard, searching for this folder. It took me 15 minutes just to be able to
pull up the properties.

Not sure what the issue might be, it may be related to the type of files in
that folder, there may be viruses or malware involved or the some files or
file types might simply be unrecognized or corrupted.

3. When I finally got the properties up, there was no Security tab or
Sharing tab, only General and Customize. I know the security tab you are
speaking of, but it just wasn't there.

If the drive is formatted fat32 as opposed to NTFS, there is no security and
the issue of ownership does not apply. If the drive is fat32, the files and
folders should be accessible unless there's something else that was done to
them of which I'm unaware.