Member Avatar for stupidfly

I just got an external enclosure so i can get info off two of my old hard drives. It is working great, but i can't access my old documents (Documents and Settings\Owner). I think I might have had a password required at login on my old computer. is there a way around it?

Both drives have XP.

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Dani AI

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Short expert summary and extra options (builds on and ): the common cause is NTFS ownership/ACLs left on the old XP profile (ACLs are stored by SID, not by the old login password). If the files were encrypted with EFS they remain cryptographically protected and can only be read with the original user certificate/private key. (learn.microsoft.com)

Alternative recovery approaches (no GUI steps copied from replies):

  • Modern Windows (Vista/7/10+): an elevated command prompt can take ownership and then grant Administrators full control. Example pattern (run from an Administrator prompt and target the external drive letter):

    takeown /F "E:\Documents and Settings\Owner" /R /D Y
icacls "E:\Documents and Settings\Owner" /grant Administrators:F /T

    These are the standard commands for taking ownership and changing ACLs. (learn.microsoft.com)

  • Copy-first / backup-mode options: if the goal is simply to rescue data without repairing ACLs, use a tool that runs in backup mode (SeBackupPrivilege) or copies EFS data raw. Example using Robocopy on an admin account:

    robocopy "E:\Documents and Settings\Owner" "D:\Rescue\Owner" /E /B /COPYALL /R:0 /W:0

    Robocopy’s /B bypasses ACL checks (requires backup privilege); /EFSRAW copies encrypted files in raw form (it will not decrypt them). (learn.microsoft.com)

  • Linux live media (safe read-first): boot a Linux live USB with ntfs-3g, mount the NTFS partition read-only and copy the files off the disk. This bypasses Windows ACL enforcement but will not decrypt EFS-protected files. Example mount (identify device first with fdisk/blkid):

    sudo mkdir /mnt/olddrive
sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o ro /dev/sdX1 /mnt/olddrive

    This is a low-risk rescue path when permission fixes are awkward. (howtogeek.com)

EFS caution and detection: encrypted files require the original EFS private key (or a designated recovery agent). Exporting the key from the original account is the safe route (for example cipher /x <name> creates a backup PFX). If the key cannot be obtained, encrypted files cannot be decrypted. Backups should be made before changing ACLs or ownership. (learn.microsoft.com)

Practical cautions: avoid bulk ACL/owner changes on system folders, keep a byte-for-byte backup of the drive if data is valuable, and treat any EFS-marked files as unrecoverable unless the certificate/private key is available. As noted by and , the root problem is ownership/ACLs — the methods above provide safe, alternative ways to recover or copy the data when the GUI approach is inconvenient or unavailable.

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Member Avatar for stupidfly

Help? Don't let me down daniweb.

Member Avatar for stupidfly

I posted this a long time ago, but I never figured it out. Can anyone help me?

Member Avatar for Coconut Monkey

Here's something I prepared earlier.... (you need to have admin rights)

Turn off simple file sharing under Tools->Folder Options->View (although I think this is WinXP Pro only).

Right click the folder in question->Sharing & Security->Security Tab->Add. Type in either your username or "Administrator" and click the "Check Names" button. It should complete the proper user for you. OK out, then give the new addition full access rights.

If there are numerous sub-folders (and there will be in Document and Settings) you will need to go into the advanced section and look into the "Permissions" and "Owner" tabs (e.g. Replace owner on subcontainers and objects checkbox for the Owner tab).

Member Avatar for DJCZer

Here's something I prepared earlier.... (you need to have admin rights)

Here's something I noticed. On my external hdd, it had some indexing type name ({S1xxx-) ownership set under security settings -> Advance -> Owner. I assume this was left after the HDD was disconnected accidently. I changed this in root of the drive to grab all affected child files and folders. Hope this helps in grabbing your "Access Denied" Files in Windows XP SP2.

Cesar Ramirez
Systems Engineer
http://www.DJCZer.com :eek:

Member Avatar for erik_ervin

I know this is old but thank you so much for your help on this Coconut Monkey! I was having the same problems and your suggestions were right on the money for me! :o)


p.s. I joined just so I could give my props to you!

Edited by erik_ervin because: n/a
Member Avatar for usahomegoods

You need administrator rights. You can try doing it on safe mode as you will easily get admin rights then.

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