Recovering data from XP user profiles

[ayeates]

Hi,

I used to be a bit of a regular on these forums a few years back when i researched my last pc build. Since building the pc, which has run smoothly from day one thanks to the useful advice i received, i been more of a infrequent lurker than a poster - so much so i can't even remember my login details!

However, i have a problem and if anyone knows it'll be someone on here. So here goes.

After deciding to buy a new computer, the old ones dies - typical!. By dies, i mean won't even post - no hardware had been touched. As the new ones on it's way i can't be bothered trying to fix it just want the data from the hard discs.

I've just got myself a external hd caddy to retreive the data. This works fine but i can't access the folders that are based around the user profiles in documents and settings. I can access all users but not my area or my girlfriends. Presumably this is something to do with the XP user management settings. Do you guys know of anyway of getting the data from these folders?

I'd really appreciate your help.

Cheers,
Andy

 

[Geiser34]

Try plugging it into a with another OS, such as Mac or Linux?

 

[ayeates]

I don't have access to another o/s. If all else fails i'll try find one but i'd ideally like a windows solution. Good idea though, cheers.

 

[Mutilator]

When you created those profiles I assume you then created passwords for them, when you did that it would have asked you if you wanted to make the folders private or not - in this case you said yes. It's a permissions problem, you should be able to take ownership of the folders and then give yourself full control permissions and then you'll be able to access the data.

Or you could download a bootable version of linux such as Knoppix or Ubuntu and burn it to a CD and recover the data that way.

There's also a way that you can actually use those profiles again in their original form... but the directions would take me a while to type up... I think I've posted profile migration directions before but to keep things simple for both of us I'd say try fixing the permission problem first.

 

[ayeates]

Thanks Mutilator,

Regarding this sentence of your reponse.

It's a permissions problem, you should be able to take ownership of the folders and then give yourself full control permissions and then you'll be able to access the data.

Do you have any idea how i would change the ownership of the directories and files. Is it a case of modifying the folder properties?

 

[Mutilator]

Are you using XP Pro?
If so then do this in normal mode (if not you can do it thru Safe Mode in XP Home)

Right click on folder in question and go to properties
Click on Security tab
Click the Advanced button
Click the Owner tab
Change the owner to your user account (or Administrators) and check the replace owner on subcontainers and objects box. Click OK.
Back on the main properties window add your user (or make sure Administrators has full control if you're a local admin)
Click Advanced again
Check the Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects and then click OK.

That should give you the ability to set and then take over permissions for those folders and allow you to get in and copy out what you need.