XP pro won't let me copy files

[Perryg114]

For some reason XP won't let me copy or move files. I had some trouble getting this machine to boot and was getting errors or can't find system files. It sorta fixed itself and I did a disk scan and the computer works but I can't move files. Is there something missing still or what?

I get cannot copy error message



Perry

 

[Aluvus]

All files? Files in someone's My Documents folder?

 

[MrChad]

How old is the hard drive? Do you have a diagnostic CD you can boot to and scan it with? Intermittent boot errors and file access errors may be early signs of a failing drive.

 

[piasabird]

Sometimes if usernames have been deleted or changed the system that controls the user ID's will lock out access to files. There may be some way to get around this. Maybe as system administrator you can copy the files. XP can be kind of aggravating about this. Might look at the flle and folder propreties. Maybe try to open the folder for sharing or something like that. I know I have a habit of storing everything important under My Documents.

Could be also that someone simply deleted a few system files or some kind virus rewrote your system files. Maybe just replace the system files. Sometimes you can go back to a previous save point and fix things like this. I have never tried this but you could try a repair install. You have to have an install disk or image to do this and Admin Rights. It might also be possible that some ini file inside of windows XP is pointing to another folder to misdirect the operating system. If I was a virus I might just rewrite or replace some system files.

 

[VirtualLarry]

easiest way is just to boot ubuntu. it copies files from ntfs volumes without worrying about ntfs permissions.

 

[Perryg114]

All of the files have an A attribute which I assume means archive. Will this keep them from being copied?

I ran the disk cleanup wizard but I don't think I told it to archive of compress anything.

Perry

 

[mikeymikec]

No, the A attribute won't prevent files from being copied. It might be worth taking a look at the log from the disk check, maybe post it here.

Event Viewer > Application Log:
Look for an entry matching the date/time that you ran the check, the event source on XP will be 'winlogon'.

Did the error message say anything more than 'cannot copy'?

Are you getting lots of disk/ntfs errors in the event log's "system log" as well, since the disk check?

If you start the machine in safe mode, does file copying/moving work any better in that mode?

 

[Perryg114]

I moved the drive to another machine and it still won't let me copy the files. This is strange. What directory are the log files kept in on the Hard Drive? The use to be in the root but I don't see them there.

Perry

 

[mikeymikec]

The event log files on XP are in %SYSTEMDRIVE%\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG, then system.evt, application.evt and security.evt. You'll need Event Viewer to read them.

 

[Perryg114]

Well when I right click and go to properties it says that my files are read only. However, when viewing them with explorer with the attribute column it says A. The drive is now in another machine and C : is F: and D: is in G: drive. So I went to the command prompt and when to F:

I then used attrib -r *.* /D /S and it went through every file on the system and it would not change the attributes on hidden files. I went back into file explorer and windows would still not let me copy the files. I did run disk cleanup wizard and I wonder if that screwed something up. I did not tell it to compress the drive but maybe it did anyway. If it did compress the drive how do I uncompress it?

The files are on the desktop for this particular machine which is administrator account.

Perry

 

[Perryg114]

Well I could get it to copy to some extent by copying sub directories but then it would crash with some BS like file name too big. Window file copy utilities just suck. Why stop the copy process if there is an error. Skip that file and go on and at least you have most of your data.

Perry

 

[dawks]

Sounds like the harddrive might be on its way out.. See if you can get a copy of Spinrite and scan the disk.. It works on data at the sector level. You'd be surprised how many problems it can fix.

 

[mikeymikec]

Try robocopy instead (comes with Vista/7).

ROBOCOPY source destination /MIR /R:0

Will mirror the contents of the source path with the destination path, and won't retry and files that failed. I use it all the time for customer data backups. It has a tonne more options such as customising the output to show only the files that failed to copy, and also has a summary of the operation when it completes. If you were to run it again after deleting or editing a couple of files, those changes will be reflected onto the destination.

I normally do CHKDSK driveletter: /f /v /r from a command prompt with admin privs on Vista/7 to do a full filesystem check, which ought to pick up bad sectors etc and attempt to recover data. If you're running Win7, be aware that a full disk check will consume all available RAM until it has finished, and as one might expect in a situation like that, system responsiveness goes to pot. Microsoft tells us that this is a feature, not a bug. Of course.

 

[Level_1]

Should be a ownership issue. In XP Pro (home version need to be done in safe mode), open folder options -> view tab -> under advance setting, uncheck "Use simple file sharing (Recommended)" -> ok. Then right click the drive that you want to change, select Sharing and Security... -> Security tab -> highlight "Everyone" (if you see that click add and type Everyone) -> check Full Control box -> apply. Should take awhile depend on how many file you have.

 

[Perryg114]

Can I run Robocopy in XP?

Perry

 

[Perryg114]

So what am I looking for in event logs. I don't see any disk related errors in the event logs. Should they stand out?

Perry

The event log files on XP are in %SYSTEMDRIVE%\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG, then system.evt, application.evt and security.evt. You'll need Event Viewer to read them.