Member Avatar for Element150

I had my hard drive removed because the mother board doesn't work anymore. It's now in an external housing case. I pluged it in to this computer and tried to access my files. All other folders and files are accessable, but when I go to Document and Settings - wizard (my account name) it says it is not accesable, access denied. I did have a password on that account. So that may be it. So now, how can I access my files in that folder?

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This is a classic NTFS permissions situation after moving a Windows drive to another machine. As found, restoring access usually comes down to ownership and ACLs (what and were pointing toward). Below is what actually causes the problem, when ownership won't help, and practical alternatives to recover data safely.

Why the files are locked: NTFS permissions use security identifiers (SIDs), not the visible account name. Copying a disk to a new PC leaves ACLs pointing at SIDs that don’t exist on the new system, so Windows shows “Access denied” even to an Administrator. The original account password doesn’t affect file ACLs — it only affected login to that old account.

When ownership won’t fix it: files encrypted with EFS are protected by the user’s certificate/private key, not just ACLs. Encrypted files will need the original user’s encryption key to be opened. If there’s no exported certificate (no .pfx backup) and you can’t boot the old OS to export the key, decryption isn’t feasible.

Practical recovery checklist:

  • Work on a copy first: image or copy the entire drive before changing anything.
  • If ownership/ACLs fixes access (as in this thread), stop — copy the needed data to another drive.
  • If ownership fails and files look encrypted, search for any certificate backups from the old machine or try to boot the original Windows install to export the user’s certificate.
  • If ACLs are the only problem and you prefer a non-Windows route, boot a Linux live USB with ntfs-3g and copy the files (Linux ignores NTFS ACLs but cannot decrypt EFS).
  • For automated fixes on modern Windows, command-line tools exist to reset owner/permissions; for older XP-era systems use recovery/backup tools that run with SYSTEM/backup privileges.

Avoid changing permissions on system folders globally. If uncertainty remains after these checks, professional data‑recovery services can advise on encrypted profiles and certificate recovery.

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Member Avatar for DenisOxon

Are both machines same operating system ?

Assuming they are then

If you log on to new machine as administrator then you should get access.

However you may need to take ownership, right click on folder and go to properties and if my memory serves me right you will find it.

Hope this helps

Member Avatar for Element150

still can't access it. it already says the owner is the administrator of this computer and I am logged into the adminstrator account. I've tried going to properties and changing it to shared, but it doesn't let me and again says access denied shared resourse not created.

I talked to a tech guy at Fry's and he said the files are probably in a restricted area and that I need software to backup the files in order to access them.

Member Avatar for MidiMagic

It may be looking for the adminstrator account from the other computer.

Member Avatar for Element150

I got it. A friend showed me how to change the permissions and take ownership.

Member Avatar for DenisOxon

Good news - thanks for letting us know.

Member Avatar for stefoodie

I got it. A friend showed me how to change the permissions and take ownership.

Could you post how to do this? I'm having a PC repaired right now and the computer guy just called saying they can't access my files because access is denied. The way he described it it sounds like your original problem.

Thank you for any help.

Member Avatar for nanosani

Right click the folder you want to change permissions, go to properties --> security --> Advanced --> owner --> select your username and check "Replace owner on subcontainer and objects". Click OK --> OK. Most probably you'll be able to access your files now. Otherwise right the folder again, go to properties --> security and assign yourself full control.

Note: This only applies to NTFS folders.

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