Recovering private files

[Kev42]

I hope someone can help.

XP crashed so I installed (with help!) a new HDisk, reinstalled XP on the new HD and made the old a slave. The purpose was to allow me to copy accross all my files and then use the old disk as a back up. However, I had marked the original 'my documents' file as 'private' and not to be shared. Becuase I now log in through a new install of XP, I can no longer get to these files. How can I get access to these files? I have administrator access but that does not seem to make any difference. Does anyone know how to get around the seciurity settings that is preventing this access? Thanks

[Miz]

Try the steps in the MS KB article, How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP.

[Kev42]

Thanks for this - but unfortunately something is not right. When I follow the instructions there is no securtity tab in order to be able to amend the settings. Neither is there an ownder tab. Basically all I get when looking at properties is 3 tabs - General / Sharing and customise. Trying to share the file does not work either - access denied!

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

[Kev42]

I would appreciate any help on this - nothing suggested by anyone I talk to seems to be helping!

Thanks

Kev

[bbeard67]

You need to turn off simple file sharing to get the security tab

Double-click My Computer on the desktop.
On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
Click the View tab, and then select the Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended) check box to turn on Simple File Sharing. (Clear this check box to turn off this feature.)

[Kev42]

thanks for trying to help

I feel really thick but there is no 'use simple file sharing' in the view tab - do I have some odd version of XP that is different to everyone elses? its just normal XP home.

Help still appreciated

Thanks

[bbeard67]

simple file sharing is always on in xp home

A work around

You can set permissions in xp home to shared folders etc.

1. Simply just go to Start > Run and type "SHRPUBW" no quotes. Click on the browse button to choose the folder you want to share. Type in a share name. Type in a share description if you want one. Once complete hit NEXT

2. The first 3 choices are quite obvious. If you really want to customize the way the permissions are set choose the last option, and click CUSTOM

In the CUSTOM screen you will see a screen just like the one you see in XP Pro.

You can select groups, users, etc. And set the permissions to your liking.

The drive must be formatted in NTFS for this to work

[Kev42]

Thanks.

Went through the wizard etc

I guess the drive is not NTFS cause that did not work either!

Access still denied!

It is calling the lead folder 'owner' if that helps ie

F:\docs and settings\owner\my docs I can get to all the other directories under owner just not my docs - where all the files are of course!

[bbeard67]

You need to reboot and press F8 just
as the boot screen comes up, then select a safe mode and enter the Administrator password, if you didn't set a password leave it blank

Open Windows Explorer and right-click your "My Documents" folder that is giving access denied. Then select the Sharing and Security option and click the security tab. You
should see Administrators group, SYSTEM, and owner listed with full control, but likely you won't see owner listed and if owner is not part of the Administrators group, then that explains why you can't access the folder.

Click the advanced button and click the owner tab. If the owner is
Administrators, then leave it alone, but if the owner is some long
string of numbers, you need to click Administrators and the checkbox that says to apply this to all subfolders. Then click OK. Now the folder belongs to a real account (and if you reinstall again, it won't be an unknown account, it will continue to be Administrators group).

If owner does not appear in the list of accounts, then add owner and give owner "full control". Make sure that this is applied to all
subfolders and files.

Reboot to normal mode, logon as owner and try to access the folder again.

[Kev42]

All files recovered - thanks for all your help - really appreciated.

think I might go off and do a backup now.....