I can't access a folder ("Access Denied") NTFS/XP security? HELP!

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126
A friend of mine that is not on these forums (But should be posting this himself) has been using 9x for years. He got XP at the same time I did and finally kissed 9X goodbye, or maybe not. He hated XP so much, he wanted to get rid of it & reinstall the OS. He did it the same way he used to because he had no way to backup his files: He booted with a floppy and deleted every Windows file & every folder that didn't contain his stuff and then proceeded to reinstall. However, this is NTFS, so he couldn't install ME like he wanted to. I told him he'd need to delete the partition & do a fresh format, so we connected it as a secondary drive in one of my PCs to back up the files. He has GBs of his stuff in the My Documents folders and we could only get a fraction of his files that happened to be in the "Shared Documents" folder because when trying to access his user folder, we would get "Access Denied." We tried reinstalling XP over it with the same user and all it did was make the new user's folder as "Username.Username" instead of using the old "Username" folder.
Is it lost for good?
Is there any program that can get the data off (Breaking NTFS's security I'd imagine)?
How can I set up NTFS in the future with NO security settings?
How can I get it to act like a single user machine like 9x so we don't have to deal with all this multiple Start Menu & Documents Folder crap?
Thnx!
 

Saltin

Platinum Member
Jul 21, 2001
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<< so we connected it as a secondary drive in one of my PCs to back up the files >>



Is your computer formatted with NTFS as well? What OS are you running on your box? It matters.
If you are running 2k or XP pro and it is formatted in NTFS, then you should have no trouble at all recovering the files. It would involve you taking ownership of them and assigning yourself the requisite permissions. I wont go into that untill you fill in the blanks for us though
 

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126
Yes, I'm running XP & NTFS on the box we connected it to. After reinstalling XP on the drive and booting it too says "Access Denied." Thnx for the input...
 

Saltin

Platinum Member
Jul 21, 2001
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SO first things first. Log in as an Admin on your box.
1) Open up My computer, and select the Tools menu, then Folder Options
2) Click on the View tab, and scroll to the bottom of the Window. There is a box called "Use Simple File Sharing". Make sure it is unchecked.
3) Now navigate to the folder you stored all you pals data in. Right click the folder and select Properties.
4) Click the security tab, and then the Advanced button
5) Click on the owner tab.
6) You should see your administrator account as an option here, make sure you select it. Also check the box that says "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects". Then hit apply.
7) Go back to the Permissions tab
8) Click the Add button, and Add in your Account to the list. Give yourself Full Control Permissions.
9) Click the "Replace permission entires on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects" box, then hit apply.
10) You should be able to access his files now.
 

Saltin

Platinum Member
Jul 21, 2001
2,175
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0
The concept here is that your friend's files had certain accounts (SID's) and thier permissions associated with them. None of those accounts were on your box however, so you got the Access denied permission.
Remember that, as an Admin, you can always take ownership of any folder/file on your box/domain, even if you don't have any permissions to them. Once you take ownership, you have the right to assign yourself and others whatever permissions you like!