How to access password protected 'my documents'

[Loop2kil]

Working on a friends computer who had it password protected. Well, his motherboard took a dump and now i need to get his pictures, documents, ect off the drive before installing a new board...can't seem to find a replacement board (emachines t1440) that will work with this windows install so i will be forced to use another board and of course kill his existing windows install. But before i do i want to get all his stuff off the drive.. I've tried hooking the drive up to my bench computer and logging in as admin and changing as much security of the folders as possible. Can only get in so far but the files are not retreivable it seems.

Any other options? I've googled for a bit but only came up with the admin/security changes thing that didn't work.
Any hope of saving his files?

 

[Loop2kil]

hmm, i do have an NT password zapper i could zapp the password with it then boot into windows to get the files. might work, gonna give it a try

 

[Loop2kil]

well, i thought i had the password hack but i cant seem to find it...anyone know of a good password reset program?

 

[slick230]

Why not just ask your friend for the password?

 

[Loop2kil]

its not the password that's the problem....motherboard died on his computer so we cant get into windows to retrieve the info which makes the password unneeded at this point. but because it was pw protected, trying to browse his folders on my bench pc isnt allowed.

 

[mechBgon]

It's probably not password-protected, you just need to take NTFS Ownership of the folder. I really ought to just make a quick .WMV of this procedure to save typing it every week... Ok, here ya go:

Originally posted by: mechBgon
If you get "Access is denied" when you try to access the old drive's \Documents and Settings\username directory, then you will need to take NTFS Ownership of the directory.

Quickie directions:

1) restart the computer in Safe Mode (if it's Win2000 Pro, no need for this; if it's WinXP Professional Edition then turning off Simple File Sharing is another option). This allows you to get at the necessary Security stuff for the directory you want into.

2) right-click the directory, choose Properties, go to the Security tab, and click the Advanced button. A new panel appears.

3) on the new panel, click the Owner tab, give ownership of the directory to your present account on your new Windows installation, put a checkmark in the box for Replace owner on etc etc, and apply the change (illustration pic except I forgot to mark the checkbox).

If he encrypted it, then you'd need to get an essentially-similar mobo and get his WinXP installation to boot and decrypt it, or the stuff's gone forever.

 

[ryanv12]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
It's probably not password-protected, you just need to take NTFS Ownership of the folder. I really ought to just make a quick .WMV of this procedure to save typing it every week... Ok, here ya go:

Originally posted by: mechBgon
If you get "Access is denied" when you try to access the old drive's \Documents and Settings\username directory, then you will need to take NTFS Ownership of the directory.

Quickie directions:

1) restart the computer in Safe Mode (if it's Win2000 Pro, no need for this; if it's WinXP Professional Edition then turning off Simple File Sharing is another option). This allows you to get at the necessary Security stuff for the directory you want into.

2) right-click the directory, choose Properties, go to the Security tab, and click the Advanced button. A new panel appears.

3) on the new panel, click the Owner tab, give ownership of the directory to your present account on your new Windows installation, put a checkmark in the box for Replace owner on etc etc, and apply the change (illustration pic except I forgot to mark the checkbox).

If he encrypted it, then you'd need to get an essentially-similar mobo and get his WinXP installation to boot and decrypt it, or the stuff's gone forever.

thanks mech! I have a folder with some stuff that had this same exact problem, works like a charm.

 

[mechBgon]

 

[Loop2kil]

Originally posted by: ryanv12

Originally posted by: mechBgon
It's probably not password-protected, you just need to take NTFS Ownership of the folder. I really ought to just make a quick .WMV of this procedure to save typing it every week... Ok, here ya go:

Originally posted by: mechBgon
If you get "Access is denied" when you try to access the old drive's \Documents and Settings\username directory, then you will need to take NTFS Ownership of the directory.

Quickie directions:

1) restart the computer in Safe Mode (if it's Win2000 Pro, no need for this; if it's WinXP Professional Edition then turning off Simple File Sharing is another option). This allows you to get at the necessary Security stuff for the directory you want into.

2) right-click the directory, choose Properties, go to the Security tab, and click the Advanced button. A new panel appears.

3) on the new panel, click the Owner tab, give ownership of the directory to your present account on your new Windows installation, put a checkmark in the box for Replace owner on etc etc, and apply the change (illustration pic except I forgot to mark the checkbox).

If he encrypted it, then you'd need to get an essentially-similar mobo and get his WinXP installation to boot and decrypt it, or the stuff's gone forever.

thanks mech! I have a folder with some stuff that had this same exact problem, works like a charm.

yep, i was doing this but missed a step in the process...works like a charm and thanks for the missing step....i wasn't checking the box.

yes this needs to be a sticky