I had my hard drive removed because the mother board doesn't work anymore. It's now in an external housing case. I pluged it in to this computer and tried to access my files. All other folders and files are accessable, but when I go to Document and Settings - wizard (my account name) it says it is not accesable, access denied. I did have a password on that account. So that may be it. So now, how can I access my files in that folder?

Are both machines same operating system ?

Assuming they are then

If you log on to new machine as administrator then you should get access.

However you may need to take ownership, right click on folder and go to properties and if my memory serves me right you will find it.

Hope this helps

still can't access it. it already says the owner is the administrator of this computer and I am logged into the adminstrator account. I've tried going to properties and changing it to shared, but it doesn't let me and again says access denied shared resourse not created.

I talked to a tech guy at Fry's and he said the files are probably in a restricted area and that I need software to backup the files in order to access them.

It may be looking for the adminstrator account from the other computer.

I got it. A friend showed me how to change the permissions and take ownership.

Good news - thanks for letting us know.

I got it. A friend showed me how to change the permissions and take ownership.

Could you post how to do this? I'm having a PC repaired right now and the computer guy just called saying they can't access my files because access is denied. The way he described it it sounds like your original problem.

Thank you for any help.

Right click the folder you want to change permissions, go to properties --> security --> Advanced --> owner --> select your username and check "Replace owner on subcontainer and objects". Click OK --> OK. Most probably you'll be able to access your files now. Otherwise right the folder again, go to properties --> security and assign yourself full control.

Note: This only applies to NTFS folders.

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