Seek Help on a folder that is password Protected

[Guest]

One of our workstations a Windows XP home Compaq system took some bad
lightning and killed the motherboard, mem, and CPU the hard drive works and
that is good because it has data on it that I need to get back.
The problem is booting up in any other system it just reboots after post. If
I force the drive to slave I can see the hole drive and all folders. The
folder I need is at†E:\Documents and Settings\Owner†and when I try to enter
the folder I get an access is denied error. I know and the end user that was
using it knows that there is data in their.
I was wondering if there is a way to reset the password or remove the
password, or any other way for me to get this data back I would appreciate
the help. --

Al Dzina
IT Manager for
Quality Life Center of Jacksonville

 

[Dave B.]

You need to take ownership of the folder.

 

[Guest]

Well that sounds good but I dont know where to find that utility. I know how
to do that from windows nt 3.51 or 4.0 but I have not seen this in windows xp.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

You simply need to take ownership of those folders and files.
You can also copy all of the previous users programs and settings to the new user profile.
The following articles will guide you.

MVP Rick Rogers has a good explanation of the step by step process.
Taking Ownership:
http://rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Taking_ownership

Here is the Microsoft reference for taking ownership.

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308421

Here is the Microsoft Reference for transferring programs and settings to a new user profile.

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151

 

[Dave B.]

Your an IT Manager?
Right click the folder, sharing and security.

 

[Guest]

ok you are very helpful the two of you , but I don't think I mad my self very
clear about that I can not boot from the drive I can only see it if it is a
slave in a different system will all of those links still help or are we in a
different problem. I will review the links to learn more and wait to see if
there is more to come thank you.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

You were very clear.

You basically have 2 choices here.

1. If you want the drive to be able to boot in another system, you will need to move the drive to the new system and perform a Repair installation. The drive has all of the information for the hardware profile from the old system so it will not boot into a new system unless it recognizes the hardware on that system. The Repair installation will build a new hardware profile for the new system.

2. The best strategy would be to simply install the drive to another system as a slave drive. Take ownership of the files and folders that you wish to save and copy those files and folders over to the Master drive in that system.

This drive is not to be trusted since it was in a system that died from a lightning strike. It is subject to fail at any time.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Al

I missed the fact that you are using XP Home in the original message.

In XP Home version, you will need to boot the system into Safe Mode, and log on with an Administrator account, to take ownership of the files and folders. The articles that I referenced in my previous message address this issue.

 

[Guest]

Thank you Mr. Vernon your responce was very helpful, the first link told me
just what I needed to do and I have recovered the lost files and all is good
here.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Great! Glad this helped. Enjoy.

 

[Guest]

Mr. Vernon,

I have a similar problem except that my new machine is running Windows XP
Media Center. The old machine was running Windows XP Home. I can access all
files except those that were under my passwod protected user, such as My
Documents, My Music, My Pictures, Desktop, etc. I have all of my baby's
pictures and mine and My wife's portfolio information as well as other
important info in these folders. The old drive will not boot, but will run
as a slave, i just can't access those certain protected folders. Will the
links you provided help me? Thanks. Jason

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

JG

Yes, you simply need to take ownership of the files on the slave drive, while logged on with the current user profile. Your current profile must have administrator privileges.

 

[Guest]

Mr. Vernon,

I was able to take ownership of the documents and settings/owner folder,
(following the instructions in link #1), but the folders within are still
unaccessible (same message I had been getting earlier) even though I thought
I had made the changes apply to the subfolders within the folder I was taking
ownership of. I have tried the same procedure on the files within, but I get
an error message and am told that they are still unaccessible. What should I
do now? My marriage lies in the balance. Not really, but I might be
sleeping on the couch for a few weeks if I cant recover all our baby's
pictures and all of our work history. I promise to back everything up in
multiple locations if I could only get this info back. Please help.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

JG

Sorry for the delay.

Make sure that the folder/file that you are taking ownership of does not have a duplicate somewhere else on the slaved hard drive. If you are working in the old user profile folder, also check the All Users profile folder or any others where a duplicate of the file may exist.

You can also try to copy the folders/files you are trying to access to the master hard drive on that system.

If none of this is working, you may also be able to create a new account (user, with administrator privileges), on this system and then copy the user data and files to this new account. Use the following article for the step by step procedure.

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151