ADMINISTRATOR RIGHTS

[fxman777]

one of my computers fried this morning. i installed the main drive (C to another computer as a slave. the
drive seems to be fine thank god. now i wanted to collect my documents from the old drive but cannot access them no matter what. the new computer only has one account: the administrator (the factory setting) and it should have all privileges. how come i cannot access those documents. in particular since they're now on drive G and i'm surprised the computer would even regard those as user accounts.
please someone help me with this. i tried burning a dvd
of the stuff and reading it from there but that account won't burn even.

thanx a million

 

[linney]

Try this MSKB.

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP (Q308421)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/4/21.asp

Or give the current user permission to access the files.

Description of File Sharing and Permissions in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q304040&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[fxman777]

hi linney,
thanx for the reply
learned a lot this morning.

now...i forgot to tell you that the new computer is running windows xp pro.

i read the posts and followed the instructions but i still
cannot change the permissions. i was able to get into
the main folder but the sub-folders and files won't budge.

1. i turned simple file sharing off
2. i right click on a sub-folder name and choose sharing
3. i click the "share" button
4. i get an error message saying i don't have the permission to share.

i looked around in properties etc... everywhere and searched for other pages on microsoft help site but
cannot figure this out.

please help !!


also another thought ... how can i make this old (C drive and make it the boot drive on this other computer.
maybe that'd be the easiest way for me to back up my stuff.

i tried it. made the old drive "master" hooked it up.
it tries to boot and get's to the black screen where
you can choose safe or regular boot. but it doesn't go
beyond that.... ideas ?


again thanx so much

 

[smah]

To get the ownership & permission settings to roll down to the lowere folders you need to select the 'Replace permission entries on child objects......' at the bottom of the Permissions tab or 'Replace owner on subcontainer....' on the Owner tab of the Advanced Security Settings window. You don't need to use the Share button at all.

Trying to boot that drive will probably add another level of problems due to the hardware differences between the machines.

 

[fxman777]

ah ... now this seems to be the root of the problem here.
i never get a permissions (or security) tab ...

in properties or sharing (when i right click) i
do get a sharing window (no security) and there is
a button to set permissions. but when i click on it
nothing happens !! the only reason i used sharing to
get to this point is because i there is no "security"
tab or window.... what am i doing wrong here ?!

 

[smah]

If you followed the link that linney posted & disabled simple file sharing as you posted, the security tab would be visible. Are you sure this machine isn't XP Home instead of Pro? - They behave differently with regard to simple file sharing.

 

[fxman777]

hey smash ...

yeah ...i am sure triple checked it.

i finally did figure a way to fix the situation.
in case anyone else ever has this problem. it's a little
complicated but works like a dream.

1. i downloaded cygwin from

http://wwww.cygwin.com

(it is a unix /linux emulator - i'm old unix hack )
2. install and open the window
3. navigate to the folder where the files are:
in my case: cd g:/"Documents and Settings"/owner/"My documents"
4. login as Administrator
5. then type the following:
chmod -R ugoa+rwxXst *

now you have permissions to do whatever you want with the files

after all that hassle you should see my grin

thanx everyone for the ideas

 

[linney]

To see if you can boot of your old drive you try these.

Place a blank floppy in Drive. Right click on Floppy Drive Icon and select Format. Copy ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini (which will require amending to point to the correct drive/partition) to floppy to boot your XP installation. These are hidden and System files (make sure options are set to see them).

How to Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Windows XP (Q314079)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q314/0/79.asp

Q305595 - HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q305/5/95.asp

HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP (Q289022)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q289/0/22.asp

That should give you an inclination of the possibilities.

If you wanted to dual boot permanently then this would be something to check.

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

A Discussion About the Bootcfg Command and Its Uses (Q291980)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q291/9/80.asp

"Smah" has forewarned you of the type of problems you might expect with a clash of hardware, but XP does include a lot of drivers for numerous types of common hardware, so you may be lucky.

There shouldn't have been a need to resort to Linux/Unix to get to the Security Permissions, especially with "Simple File Sharing" unchecked, in any case Safe Mode should always show the Security Tab whether Home or Pro.