Member Avatar for shriphoot

HI,

I recently purchased a dell tower from State surplus because my computers MB and PS
blew up. I installed my recovery disk onto the new tower and installed an audio card, ethernet card and the old hard drive. The system is working well. However, I cannot access my Documents/default. When I click on the defaut on documents and settings I get a message that the folder cannot open.. I think it has something to do with the administrator and password on the old HD. How do I fix the problem so that I can access the old hard drive totally. The system recognizing the old hard drive as E and I can access the programs but cannot get into my documents... Thank You SKIP

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

Dani AI

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Situation summary and likely causes (for ): the new tower sees the old drive as E: and program files are readable, but the per-user folders under E:\Documents and Settings\... are blocked. Two common reasons are NTFS permissions (the old profile is owned by a different user/SID) or EFS file encryption (files tied to the old account's private key). was correct that working from the original system can make things easier, but which action is needed depends on which of those two issues you have.

How to regain access when it is a permissions/ownership issue:

  1. In Explorer on the new XP install, enable the Security tab (Tools -> Folder Options -> View -> uncheck "Use simple file sharing (Recommended)").
  2. Right‑click the problem user folder on E:, Properties -> Security -> Advanced -> Owner. Change the owner to the local Administrators group (or your current account) and check "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects".
  3. After taking ownership, grant Full Control to Administrators (or your user) and then copy the user data (Desktop, My Documents, Favorites, etc.) into the new profile.

How to handle encrypted files (EFS):

  • Encrypted files usually show as green in Explorer and Properties -> Advanced will show "Encrypt contents to secure data".
  • EFS files require the original account's certificate/private key. If the old machine still boots and you can log into that user, export the EFS certificate (use certmgr.msc -> Personal -> Certificates -> All Tasks -> Export, include private key to a .pfx) and import it on the new system, then decrypt or copy files.
  • If the original certificate/private key is not available (no backup and old system truly inaccessible), EFS‑encrypted files are effectively unrecoverable.

Additional notes: prefer copying data to an external drive before changing or deleting anything on the old disk. If unsure whether files are encrypted, check the Advanced Attributes first; if recovery looks risky, consider a professional data‑recovery / forensics service.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

yeah its because there was a password on the old drive when it was the main drive .try this might work .I had this problem with customers hdd and only was i got the folder open was to boot it back up in old computer and remove password .i was lucky there motherboard was still working ,just being upgraded .
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Member Avatar for shriphoot

thanks for the input.... I may give it an attempt... Wish Me LUCK

Member Avatar for caperjack

may

good luck

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