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recovering Desktop folders from XP Home


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my Dell computer was running a 120GB HDD loaded with XP Home and a 40GB HDD running Linux (it was a dual boot system). i decided to turn the 120GB drive into a music drive, and load XP Home on the 40GB drive i ran Linux on. i backed my stuff up (all of it i thought), and removed the 120GB (i didn't format it, it's intact). i installed XP on the 40GB and that went fine. i come to realize i forgot a desktop folder or two on the 120GB, so i slaved it thinking i could just copy & paste. well, i can't. it says access denied. i tried installing the 120GB as the master again and run XP. that didn't work, it was looking for the Linux dual boot. i tried repairing XP with my Dell XP disc but it kept asking me for my admin password. i don't ever remember setting one.

so now i'm stuck. i need to get those folders back, one of which is all of my niece's pictures since birth. help. :(

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Try hooking the 120GB drive back up as a slave. Then follow this MS article. It just explains how to take ownership of the drive.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...Ben-us%3B823306

i tried it and was able to get into my old account folder on the old drive. :D

however, that's where my access stopped. i can't open any of its sub folders. :( i tried repeating the process, but i was stopped once again at the account folder; i couldn't apply the same treatment to its sub folders. :(

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Try opening a command prompt (Windows+R, type cmd, hit enter). When the black box pops up type "cacls D: /T /E /C /G %username%:F" without the double quotes and press enter. You should be an administrator when doing this. The D: in the command is the external drive. The %username% will get replaced with the user name of whoever is logged in, which should be the administrator.

If that command doesn't work try this one...

cacls D: /T /C /P %username%:F

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Try opening a command prompt (Windows+R, type cmd, hit enter). When the black box pops up type "cacls D: /T /E /C /G %username%:F" without the double quotes and press enter. You should be an administrator when doing this. The D: in the command is the external drive. The %username% will get replaced with the user name of whoever is logged in, which should be the administrator.

If that command doesn't work try this one...

cacls D: /T /C /P %username%:F

in safe mode? or regular bootup?

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What happens if you click on the drive and drag it to the Shared Documents folder? Can you use your Linux cd as a boot/live cd? With a live cd you can access your ntfs partition without any access restrictions. They are very good for troubleshooting when you can't boot.

its weird. i can open/drag one user's folder to my current drive, but the other 2 i can't. one gives me a 'Cannot copy LLServer: Access Denied.' the other gives me a 'Cannot copy ntuser.dat: Access Denied.' it then copies an empty user folder to my Shared Docs folder.

how do i go about using a Live CD?

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Are you sure you followed the steps exactly here - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823306

You have to perform the steps for every folder you want. Perhaps you have not set permissions on one of the sub-folders.

what i did was i rebooted in Safe Mode w/ Networking, opened C: (my slaved drive; for whatever reason, the new XP installed on F:, F: is the master), opened Documents and Settings on my old drive C:, then set the permission for the Douglas folder and its files and sub directories. i could not open it at that time, so i reboot and repeated the process. i can open /Douglas now, but when i try to open is subs, i get access denied again. so i try to add full control to the sub directories and i get, "You do not have permission to view or edit the current permissions settings for Desktop (the folder i need), but you can change ownership or change auditting settings."

what do i do now? :(

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You may need to be logged on as an Administrator to get into those folders permissions, not just your own personal user. (I mean administrator on the new machine).

I seem to recall a warning that would pop up when trying to change ownership, saying that "this will replace the current owner, are you sure" you have to click yes on this warning.

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You may need to be logged on as an Administrator to get into those folders permissions, not just your own personal user. (I mean administrator on the new machine).

I seem to recall a warning that would pop up when trying to change ownership, saying that "this will replace the current owner, are you sure" you have to click yes on this warning.

i just tried both opening and editing the folder permissions in both the Admin account and my new Doug account (thats the permission i added), and still nothing.

lesson learned, do a better backup and don't store so much important s*** on the Desktop. :P

anything else i can try?

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