Member Avatar for BullHorn

"Failed to set Security on the Destination Profile. Error - Access is denied."

This is the error that I'm getting when I try to use the User Settings wizard to get all the stuff from the user "Administrator" by "Copy to"-ing into the new user "BullHorn".

I've followed the "How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP" and it all went fine, I restarted and I still have problems. :/

Some general info so you don't have to ask silly questions:

-I restarted.
-The user I'm doing this from has administrative rights.
-Windows XP Pro so there's no need to go into safe-mode.


That's all I think, I'd really appreciate some help.

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Dani AI

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The error "Failed to set Security on the Destination Profile. Error - Access is denied." usually means Windows couldn't change ACLs on the destination because the source profile (Administrator) was loaded or some files were locked. has already tried the ownership route and restarted, and 's suggestion to copy specific user folders by Explorer is often the safest, because copying an entire profile (including registry hives) while it's in use is what trips this error.

Safe, practical workflow:

  • Create a temporary admin account (example: TempAdmin) and log completely out of the Administrator account. The source profile must not be the logged-in session when copying.
  • From TempAdmin, either use the User Profiles "Copy To" (System Properties -> Advanced -> User Profiles) selecting Administrator as the source and BullHorn as the target, or copy only the user data you actually need via Explorer: Desktop, "My Documents", Favorites, Contacts and selective items from Application Data\Roaming (for specific app settings). Do not copy registry hive files (ntuser.dat, ntuser.dat.log) or entire Local Settings—those often contain machine- and SID-specific stuff that breaks profiles.

Post-copy fixes and recovery:

  • After copying, set the owner of C:\Documents and Settings\BullHorn to the BullHorn account and Administrators, check "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects", then grant Full Control so permissions are clean.
  • If Copy To keeps failing with Access Denied it means some handle is still held; repeat from a different admin session or perform the copy from Safe Mode.
  • If Administrator now behaves oddly, rename C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator to Administrator.old from another admin account, log into Administrator once (Windows will recreate a clean profile), then copy back only user data. Always make a full backup before renaming or deleting profile folders.

For migration of settings with fewer permission headaches, the built-in Files and Settings Transfer Wizard (migwiz) is a safer alternative than blindly copying an entire profile.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

all what stuff

Member Avatar for BullHorn

All the User information. The whole C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator folder into C:\Documents and Settings\BullHorn

Member Avatar for gemini4

Don't do it through the system properties.

Navigate with Windows Explorer to c:\documents and settings\administrator and copy from there; the Desktop the My Documents folder and the Favorites.

Member Avatar for BullHorn

This was the first thing I wanted to do... That's when some guy over IRC changed my mind and told me how to do it "right". :/

Thanks to that, now the User "Administrator" is somewhat currupted (I'm getting an error but pressing "OK" gets me back into Windows without any noticeable problem).

Thanks for the help, I shall give it a try when I come home.

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