Member Avatar for truephobia

Hello, I am new to the forum, hope you guys can help. I know a decent amount about computers but have been stumped on this problem for about a week. I also couldn't find any info on past threads anyway my previous computer died (the motherboard did) and so I inherited a decent workstation. I took the hard drive from my old computer and installed it into this one, the old hard drive never had any problems and still doesn't...
I plugged it in correctly, and the computer detected it and has labeled it E: in my computer as I thought it would. It initally would not let me access anything in it until I right clicked, did Properties, did the Sharing tab, and clicked "Share this folder on the network" and "Allow network users to change my files". It then let me go in and I can now access my Program Files and Windows folder, but when I go to Documents and Settings and my username, it says access denied. I tried right clicking and doing the same properties but it says access denied still.
All I want to do is access my desktop so I can listen to my MP3s folder but it won't let me in my own harddrive! Help please!

Edit: In similar threads, everyone suggests rebooting and booting from the slave disk, which I have tried. It won't boot from it for some reason... it just goes in a loop endlessly restarting itself. I have to boot from the primary drive.

  • 3 Contributors
  • 6 Replies
  • 342 Views
  • 1 Month Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by truephobia

Dani AI

Generated

Short diagnosis: this is almost certainly an NTFS ownership/ACL problem — the OS is blocking access to the profile folder even though the disk is visible and you can browse other folders. ’s report (changing the owner via an XP Pro security tab) matches that pattern: taking ownership and resetting ACLs is the reliable fix for this situation. (learn.microsoft.com)

Quick, safe steps (prefer this if the goal is just to recover MP3s):

  • On a working Windows machine open an elevated Command Prompt.
  • Take ownership, then grant full control and copy the files.
takeown /F "E:\Documents and Settings\<username>" /R /D Y
icacls  "E:\Documents and Settings\<username>" /grant Administrators:F /T

If the old system is XP and takeown/icacls are unavailable, use Microsoft’s SubInACL (install it and run from an admin prompt):

subinacl /subdirectories E:\*.* /setowner=Administrator
subinacl /subdirectories E:\*.* /grant=Administrator=F

SubInACL is the recommended command-line choice for older XP installs. (ss64.com)

If command-line changes are inconvenient, boot a Linux live USB (Ubuntu, SystemRescue, etc.), mount the NTFS volume with ntfs-3g and copy the Music folder — Linux ignores NTFS ACLs for copy operations (encrypted files are the exception; see next note). Example mount:

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /mnt/old_drive
sudo cp -a /mnt/old_drive/"Documents and Settings/<username>/My Documents/Music" /media/usb/

ntfs-3g is the common tool for this. (wiki.ubuntu.com)

Why the disk won’t boot by itself: moving a Windows XP install to different hardware commonly fails because the required mass-storage/HAL drivers aren’t present on the new motherboard (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE / restart loops). If booting is required, set the BIOS SATA mode to IDE/Compatibility (if available) or do a repair install with correct drivers; otherwise focus on file extraction instead. (learn.microsoft.com)

Cautions: back up the raw drive first (image or copy). If files show as EFS-encrypted (green names / padlock icon), resetting ACLs won’t decrypt them — the original EFS certificate/private key is required to read those files.

Recommended Answers

All 6 Replies

Member Avatar for nutral

im having the exact same problem, help would greatly be appreciated!

Member Avatar for dcc

Did you set this up as a slave to the hdd that was in there first, and if you did have you set the jumper to the slave setting and the other to master?

Member Avatar for nutral

well, im not the most advanced computer user when it comes to system and hardware stuff... so ill explain my problem right now, cause i guess its not 'exactly' the same as the other poster... but very very similair.

i was working on my computer late one night a few days ago and as i was shutting down my pc, the power went out. the next morning when i woke, my computer was stuck in this infinate loop (like the other user explained). the pc would boot up, show the xp loading screen, followed by the "loading settings" (or what ever the screen says right before it shows your different user accounts to log into) but thats as far as it gets and it restarts and repeats.

so the next thing that i did was restart in "the last working windows settings" or whatever the option is... still the same results... then i tried again in safe mode... same thing.

then i talked to my bro and he told me to try to go through the recovery consol and run the chkdsk. so i did that and still the same thing. then he adviced me to run a windows repair installation from the cd. so i did so, and as it is in its completing stages of the installation it restarts.. just like the problem before.

after this i tried to take out the Hard drive and but it into my brothers portable USB harddrive case and access it that way.. when plugged into his computer, everything is accessable, except my user account folder (Owner). It says "access denied". I figured this was some sort of security feature that incripts the owners login so others cannot access those files when logged in or whatever.

The next frantic thing i tried was calling up an old buddy who was a pretty decent techy to help me. He told me since i couldnt access the files from my brothers PC, but i could log into the administrator in the recovery consol on my pc, that i should try (on my pc, so i put the drive back into my computer) to make a new folder on the c: using the mkdir function and then use copy to copy all the files to that location. then they would no longer be in that unaccessable folder from my brothers pc and i could copy them to his harddrive then format mine, reinstally windows and then copy it all back over.

it seemed like an awesome idea, but then when i tried it it says "access denied" in the recovery consol... yet when i go 'dir "c:\documents and settings\owner"' all the sub folders show up and i can do the same thing to view all the files in each folder, so all the data is still there.. i just cant get it for some reason.

i think thats everything thats going on right now... i hope that helps explain my situation... help... please :(

Member Avatar for dcc

nutral...I wasn't asking you, my question was for truephobia.

You would be better served if you posted your own thread, more people would see it. What you are doing here is hijacking the thread...not cool.

Member Avatar for nutral

sorry, wasnt trying to do so. just thought we might be having the same problem and have a similiar or same solution to the problem.

anyways, i managed to fix my problem by installing xp pro onto an old pc and then putting my harddrive in it and then by accessing the security tab in its properties (only available on xp pro) and changing the owner ship i managed to unlock my folder. By doing this it also stopped the 'restart' loop that was happening.

hope that can help the users thread that i hijacked, sorry again.

Member Avatar for truephobia

Did you set this up as a slave to the hdd that was in there first, and if you did have you set the jumper to the slave setting and the other to master?

Hello, dcc - Just to clarify, I have a SATA and a regular hard drive. The SATA is the hard drive I am currently on in the new computer I have inherited. My old hard drive in my old computer was set as the master, and I had a slave that is now garbage. In this new computer, my old hard drive should still be set to master and yet it cannot boot by just itself. I am still having the same problem after repeatedly trying to access it. I can see the darn thing just can't access only certain folders.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.