Access Denied to My Documents

[DuhCustom]

Howdy! My Windows XP box freezes up whenever I start it. No big problem, because I'll just wipe it and reinstall Windows. However, when I moved a 20 GB HDD into the system and Installed WinXP to boot off of, back up, and wipe the other with, I discovered that I CANNOT access the My Documents folder. It tells me: "E:\Documents and Settings\Mark\My Documents is not accessible. Access is Denied." This is a problem, because the only things I want to back up are in My Documents. I tried Recovery Console from the WinXP install Disk, but it won't let me access the My Documents folder Either, even though it makes me log on as Admin for the box. Both HDDs are formatted with NTFS. I don't recall encrypting ANY of my files at any point. Can anybody help me? Also, if I reinstalled WinXP onto the HDD, would it wipe the info in My DOcuments?

 

[Chop]

The problem is that you are not the same user that created that specific My Documents folder and have security set that only the user on the old machine can access that folder. I had the same problem and it took my ages to figure out but you can sort it out.

The solution depends on your version of XP
For Home you should press F8 when your machine restarts and go into safe mode, then you have to log on as the administrator. You can do this regardless from which drive you boot up.
For professional.
Open Explorer > Tools > Folder Option and select the view tab. Ensure that use simple file sharing is not selected.

Now go to the folder in question C:\documents and settings and right click over the folder. Select file security, or options and the security tab. I'm not 100% sure of how I did this again but I think you first have to take ownership of the folder. Go to advanced and then to the owner tab, select your name or administrator if it's not there. Select "replace subcontainers etc" and apply.

If you made yourself the owner, then go back to the previous screen and ensure you have the correct security settings Modify etc under your name.
If you made the administrator the owner you have to stay in advanced but on the first (general permissions) tab, play around with the settings there. Add your name and ensure that you replace all the settings on the child objects. You'll have to play around with this until it's starts my modifying all the subfolder etc. You can always check under effective permissions (enter your user id) and check if you now have access.

Good luck

 

[DuhCustom]

Thank you so Much, I was at a loss at how to access the detailed Security options that NTFS offers in Windows XP. Its right click-Sharing and Security-Security. Thanx again, this solved my problem.