I want to access locked XP Pro files on an external drive

[McQualude]

I have a hard drive from an old system that had XP Pro installed. The drive is attached via a firewire external hard drive box. I want to access the files from my old account but the account is locked and I can't gain access. My current machine is running XP Home and I can't take ownership of the files.

I thought of trying Knoppix, but the last time I played around with Knoppix it didn't support external firewire drives. Any thoughts?

 

[mrbill14]

If you're an admin on your current machine, you should total access to any/all hard drives attached to this machine.

Short of that (or if that's not the problem), check the permissions on the hard drive.

If you can't change permissions or take ownership, copy the files/profile you want to look at onto a FAT32 drive/partition. As FAT32 partition doesn't have any security built into the file system, so you effectivily strip the permissions out.

Otherwise, Knoppix is an option, but I would go with Bart's PE disc or a Windows Ultimate Boot CD (google either one).

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: McQualude
I have a hard drive from an old system that had XP Pro installed. The drive is attached via a firewire external hard drive box. I want to access the files from my old account but the account is locked and I can't gain access. My current machine is running XP Home and I can't take ownership of the files.

I thought of trying Knoppix, but the last time I played around with Knoppix it didn't support external firewire drives. Any thoughts?

http://www.is-it-true.org/nt/atips/atips171.shtml

(Sorry - the link doesn't have a downloadable file - I'll try to google for a command line cacls utility...)

When you go start/run/cmd<enter> and then type cacls and press enter what happens?

Or download this:

http://www.microsoft.com/windo.../existing/xcacls-o.asp

 

[McQualude]

Thank you for the links, I'll read up on them tomorrow and give them a try.

 

[McQualude]

Originally posted by: mrbill14
If you can't change permissions or take ownership, copy the files/profile you want to look at onto a FAT32 drive/partition. <snipped>
Otherwise, Knoppix is an option, but I would go with Bart's PE disc or a Windows Ultimate Boot CD (google either one).

I've been sent several links to MS knowledge base and none of the suggestions for changing permissions or taking ownership have worked.

I tried the Ultimate Boot CD and none of the utilities would access an external firewire drive. I sent Bart an email to see if his CD will. I don't know if the current version of Knoppix will.

 

[dclive]

Can you detail exactly what part of the XCACLS utility didn't work for you?

 

[mrbill14]

Bart's PE does have a plug-in for USB/firewire... I haven't tried it (yet), so I can't attest to it's functionality.

(Sorry, forgot that it was an external HD.)

If you haven't made a PE disc before, it's a little daunting, but if you're even a little technical (or know your way around Windows), you should be fine.

 

[McQualude]

Originally posted by: dclive
When you go start/run/cmd<enter> and then type cacls and press enter what happens?

It list examples of proper syntax.

This utility look promising if only I could figure out the syntax. Almost no matter what I type, I get the same help display that explains the purpose and syntax.

Here is the command line I am trying to use:

xcacls k:\Documents and Settings\User 1\*.* /G User 1

 

[McQualude]

Originally posted by: dclive
Can you detail exactly what part of the XCACLS utility didn't work for you?

Ok, I did something. I copied xcacls to the external drive. Apparently it didn't like my user name so I used Administrator instead and it asked me to confirm, I did and it did something. I still can't access the files. I need to look up how to log in under Administrator on the Home version and see if I have access.

Here was the syntax:
xcacls *.* /G Administrator:F

 

[McQualude]

Update: To log in as Administrator in Home edition you have to boot into safe mode. When booting into Safe Mode, Windows does not load firewire drivers, so I can't access the drive.

Knoppix does have support for firewire drives, however, Knoppix will not, or cannot, bypass XP's file security. So Knoppix will let me view the directory structure on the drive, but will not let me see or access the files.

It seems I only have 2 options: 1) install XP Pro or 2) remove the drive from the firewire enclosure and install it as an IDE drive. I tried #2 before and for some reason the drive wasn't readable, even though it is an IDE drive, it used to be my primary drive.

 

[Abzstrak]

Two things:

Just install the damn drive as an IDE and stop screwing around with the firewire drivers, its more of a pain in the ass than its worth.

2nd, did you by chance encrypt the files? or just set permissions on them? if you encrypted them, your screwed and will never get them back.

 

[McQualude]

I had thrown this drive into a pile of junk because it wasn't readable as an IDE drive when I got the new machine. I was goofing around one day after buying the firewire enclosure and the drive worked through the enclosure. Maybe I'll try it again as an IDE, maybe not.

Much of my success in my personal and business life has come because I've been willing to try new things and not always accept the easy way as the best or only way. Many people will give up if the easy way doesn't work, I don't. If that offends you or convinces you that I'm stupid, don't expect that I'm going to lose sleep.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: McQualude
I had thrown this drive into a pile of junk because it wasn't readable as an IDE drive when I got the new machine. I was goofing around one day after buying the firewire enclosure and the drive worked through the enclosure. Maybe I'll try it again as an IDE, maybe not.

Much of my success in my personal and business life has come because I've been willing to try new things and not always accept the easy way as the best or only way. Many people will give up if the easy way doesn't work, I don't. If that offends you or convinces you that I'm stupid, don't expect that I'm going to lose sleep.

Can you respond to his question about encryption, please? If you've encrypted it, you won't be getting those files back. If this is just an ownership issue, XCACLS should have resolved the problem.

 

[McQualude]

No, they weren't encrypted.

I've posted all the information I have about xcacls. It definitely changed ownership because I cannot access any directories on the drive whereas before it was only one directory that I couldn't access.

As I posted before, I think that xcacls might be the answer but it won't change ownership to my account, only to the Administrator account. I don't know why. I do have administrator privledges but the only way I know to log into the actual Administrator account (XP Home) is through safe mode, which doesn't load drivers for the firewire drive.

If there is another way to enable the Administrator account then that would be helpful.

I really do appreciate the help I've received and any help that I might still receive, but it isn't mission critical and it isn't worth people getting upset about.

 

[dclive]

I'd try XCACLS again:

xcacls *.* /G Joe:F /T

assuming Joe is your user ID.

What happens then? What is the actual output?

If that won't work, just do xcacls filename, where filename is a file that you wish to get control of, and post the resulting output.

 

[Abzstrak]

Originally posted by: McQualude
I had thrown this drive into a pile of junk because it wasn't readable as an IDE drive when I got the new machine. I was goofing around one day after buying the firewire enclosure and the drive worked through the enclosure. Maybe I'll try it again as an IDE, maybe not.

Much of my success in my personal and business life has come because I've been willing to try new things and not always accept the easy way as the best or only way. Many people will give up if the easy way doesn't work, I don't. If that offends you or convinces you that I'm stupid, don't expect that I'm going to lose sleep.

I wasnt saying you were stupid, just that the way your doing it is going to be ALOT more frustrating due to firewire drivers.... your casuing yourself alot of unnecessary heartache , thus I said to just put it in the computer as an IDE drive.


don't be so sensitive man.

anyway, if their not encrypted xcacls will work. If you've already changed permissions for admin only and can't figure out how to change them for your account, then install it as and IDE, boot into safe mode and get the files off.