Can't access specific user folder on HD I took outta laptop . . .

[Kirosia]

Okay, I took the HD outta of the crap lappy my cousin gave me, and I can't seem to access the user folder. It's in Documents and Settings. I'm thinking it was damaged or something, cause it shows no contents, even though I should have lots of files inside. It just says access denied when I try to get in. The other folders and partitions work fine. What do you guys think?

 

[Vashin]

Where'd you put the HDD? Do you have administrator access?

 

[Stephonovich]

Yeah, that's a user access issue. Try logging in as 'Administrator' (no quotes), no password. Hopefully your cousin never bothered changing it.

If that doesn't work, Google is your friend.

 

[Kirosia]

Well, right now it's hooked up via USB to my desktop. (HDD is under XP, the desktop XPpro)

So, do I have to boot up from the laptop HD then? There isn't a password IIRC. Ih ope.

 

[Stephonovich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirosia Well, right now it's hooked up via USB to my desktop. (HDD is under XP, the desktop XPpro) So, do I have to boot up from the laptop HD then? There isn't a password IIRC. Ih ope.

To get any access rights, yes, you'd have to boot from it.

 

[Shift]

If you put the HD as a device in your computer, you can "take ownership" of a folder in order to gain access by using an admin account from another Windows install within the same computer (i.e. on another drive).

You cannot access it now because the user had set a password and set the "make this folder private" setting.

Or, you can access the files with a non-Windows install, e.g. Linux. Windows' access controls only fools itself. Now, if the folders were encrypted (the label would be green), then it's a different story...


Edit: see http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;308421

 

[Kirosia]

Yeah . . I can't seem to boot up from the drive, I just get a BSOB each time . . . crud. (same with the other drive I took from, the old desktop)

 

[Talonz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirosia Yeah . . I can't seem to boot up from the drive, I just get a BSOB each time . . . crud. (same with the other drive I took from, the old desktop)

Shift is right, make sure you follow the directions in the link he posted from the microsoft website.

 

[Shift]

You don't need to boot from the drive...see my post above.

 

[Stephonovich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirosia Yeah . . I can't seem to boot up from the drive, I just get a BSOB each time . . . crud. (same with the other drive I took from, the old desktop)

Do as Shift suggested; get yourself a Linux Live CD. Knoppix, SLAX, PHLAK, DSL... boot to it, mount drive, recover files.

 

[Kirosia]

oh okay, I'll try that in a bit. Thanks guys~!

 

[Jasper994]

you shouldn't have to use linux, just use an admin account to "take ownership" like shift said...

 

[zeyus]

In XP pro, to take ownership

Right click on the drive...and then go to permissions...and advanced, and under there you sohuld be able to change the owner to your user account (if its a proper account...not just a plain user)... and make sure you tick the box that says apply changes to all subfolders and files.

Also you can add your user name to the permissions tab...and give yourself full access...
Same thing...make sure you apply to all subfolders + files

 

[gpalmer]

zeyus is perfectly correct, you can boot off your normal drive so long as you can hook them both up. When the drive is connected to the local machine and you are the administrator you have full control over the drive so all you have to do is take ownership of the files or assign full permissions to all...

 

[Kirosia]

Okay I'm lost . . I right click on the drive I don't see permissions. And I can't find it anywhere. I've tried to useHELP but things don't add up. I'm in the computer management thing right now. Also, it says that my account is a member of the admins, that means I have admin rights, eh?

EDIT: Your advice helped guys! I couldn't see the security tab cause I had to change the folder viewing options, but after that, I screwed around with the ownership stuff and I got in! Wooooo