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I'm hoping someone can give me some tips on how to get into my backup file.

A few days ago my computer suddenly became overrun with viruses so that it wouldn't even let me start it up. I started it in the safe mode and it gave me the option to save everything to a backup file and restore the computer to factory settings. I did this and it then allowed my to download an anti-malware device that found, presumably, all the viruses and deleted them.

Now I'm trying to find my old documents, pics, music, etc, but in the backup file, in an file called documents and settings, the "owner" file says access denied. Before creating the backup file and before all the viruses I had set my computer to private so is that why I can no longer get in to that file? Is there anyway to bypass this?

I appreciate any tips!

Thanks!
Melissa

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Short summary: this is a common outcome when you restore user data from an old Windows install — the files keep their NTFS ownership/ACLs and are still tied to the original account SID, so a rebuilt or different account gets an “Access denied” even though the data is present. Changing the owner and resetting permissions is the usual fix. (learn.microsoft.com)

What helped (taking ownership) is exactly the right approach in most cases. If the Security tab is not visible or the GUI cannot change the owner, the built‑in tools can still make an administrator the owner; Windows documents the purpose of the takeown command and related ownership behavior. If the fix worked once, repeat it for any subfolders you need access to. (learn.microsoft.com)

Important caution about encryption: if files were encrypted with Windows Encrypting File System (EFS) they will remain unreadable even after you take ownership unless you have the original user certificate/private key (or a configured recovery agent). Encrypted files normally show the Encrypt attribute (Explorer can show them in green) and require the original EFS key to decrypt; importing a backed‑up certificate (.pfx) into the user’s Personal store is the supported recovery path. Do not assume ownership changes will decrypt EFS files. (learn.microsoft.com)

Practical checklist (non‑destructive): first copy the backup to another drive so you do not risk further damage; identify the backup type (plain folder vs .bkf/NTBackup archive); if it is a .bkf use the NTBackup/restore utilities or the official guidance for legacy BKF files; if files still refuse access after taking ownership, stop and check for EFS before overwriting anything. For damaged BKF archives there are specialist recovery tools, but always work on copies. Good work for finding a solution — the ownership route is the right place to start. (learn.microsoft.com)

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