Member Avatar for Topemup

I have an 80gb drive that has screwed up and will not go into the log in screen for users. If I put this drive into another machine I can access all the files except those that were under my log in (administrator) as they were password protected. I know the password but cannot get to these files as I presume these can only be accessed via the original operating system/setups
does anybody know a way round this as I am desperate to get to some old photo's.

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Two different protections look like “passworded” data under XP, and the recovery path depends on which one you actually have: basic NTFS permissions (fixable by taking ownership) or EFS encryption (requires the user’s private key/certificate). A quick check: Explorer will show EFS-encrypted files in green, and Properties -> Advanced will show “Encrypt contents to secure data” if EFS was used. If that box is not checked, it’s almost certainly just NTFS ACLs.

If it’s an NTFS-permissions issue, attach the drive to a working Windows box (XP Pro or later), make a full image or copy first, then take ownership and grant access. GUI method: right-click the folder -> Properties -> Security -> Advanced -> Owner -> change owner to the local Administrators group or your admin account, check “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects,” apply, then grant Full Control. If the Security tab is missing on XP Home, turn off Simple File Sharing or use an XP Pro/Windows 7 machine to do this.

If you prefer the command line, run an elevated prompt and (adjusting drive letter and path) use cacls to grant Administrators full control recursively:

cacls "E:\Documents and Settings\<username>" /E /T /C /G Administrators:F

EFS-encrypted files are different: they are tied to a certificate/private key stored in the user profile. Knowing the Windows password alone is not enough unless the original profile and keys are available. If you have an exported .pfx (certificate backup) or a profile backup, import the certificate into Certificates -> Personal and the files can be decrypted. If you do not have the private key, common password-reset tools or SID changes can permanently destroy the ability to decrypt. For valuable photos, preserve the disk image and consider a specialist EFS recovery service before attempting destructive fixes.

For : if you want, note whether file names appear green or whether Advanced Properties show “Encrypt”; that determines which set of steps above applies. For completeness, ’s safe-mode idea is useful for boot recovery, but file-access fixes are done on a working host as described.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

did you try booting into safe mode ,hit f8 on bootup

Member Avatar for Topemup

did you try booting into safe mode ,hit f8 on bootup

Yes I've tried Safe Mode and that also freezes with a blank screen also tried re-installing XP without format and several tries on the repair console. I can retrieve the info off the disk in another machine as a slve drive but can't access password protected files even though I know the password I suspect it's because there is no way of entering a password on a slave drive

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