Admin has access denied

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Guest

I am using XP software, I was trying to set-up a new user and was prompted to
create an Administrator first. well I did that and the new user, but i cannot
open my old administrator folders / files. how can I go back and get my
files.
 
DM said:
I am using XP software, I was trying to set-up a new user and was prompted to
create an Administrator first. well I did that and the new user, but i cannot
open my old administrator folders / files. how can I go back and get my
files.
Click to expand...

Your post is a bit difficult to follow, but I'm going to guess that 1)
you are using XP Pro; 2) you were using the built-in Administrator
account for your daily work - bad idea; 3) you created a new user
account with administrative privileges (we'll call this "User Account
A") and were unpleasantly surprised to no longer see an icon for
Administrator on the Welcome Screen.

Is this a correct guess? If yes, then the answer is that this is by
design. The built-in Administrator account will be hidden after you do
#3 above because it is bad practice to use the built-in Administrator
account for daily work. It should be saved for emergencies.

If this correctly describes your situation, create another user account
with administrative privileges because you will need it to work from.
We'll call this "User Account B". Log into User Account B and copy your
data from the built-in Administrator account (which you were using) to
your "User Account A". Here are instructions:

Copy a User Account - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

If the above does *not* describe what is happening, please post back
after taking a look at this link to see what details you need to include:

http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


Malke
 
Hey Malke, thanks for the response. as for your asumption yes I was using the
built-in Administrator, and yes it looks like it really was a bad idea. I
created a new user "Admin" with Administrator privileges. I followed the link
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151) and did exactly what
it asked to do in (Copy Files to the New User Profile). NO LUCK! it still
wont let me copy. I opened explorer, in my C:\Documents and Settings, the
folder Administrator I clicked to open and it says "C:\Documents and
Settings\Administrator is not accessible access denied". When I used the
procedure from the link to copy files, it says "Cannot create or replace
Administrator: Access is denied. Make sure the disk is not full or
write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.

Any help would be good.
Thanks
DM
 
DM said:
Hey Malke, thanks for the response. as for your asumption yes I was using the
built-in Administrator, and yes it looks like it really was a bad idea. I
created a new user "Admin" with Administrator privileges. I followed the link
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151) and did exactly what
it asked to do in (Copy Files to the New User Profile). NO LUCK! it still
wont let me copy. I opened explorer, in my C:\Documents and Settings, the
folder Administrator I clicked to open and it says "C:\Documents and
Settings\Administrator is not accessible access denied". When I used the
procedure from the link to copy files, it says "Cannot create or replace
Administrator: Access is denied. Make sure the disk is not full or
write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.
Click to expand...

You're doing something wrong. Let's try again.

1. Create a new user (computer administrator) and call it "DM" -
anything except "Admin".
2. Create a new user (computer administrator) and call it "Charlie" -
anything except "Admin".
3. Log into the DM account once.
4. Log into the Charlie account once.

Let's assume that you are going to keep the DM account for your daily
use. You are still in the Charlie account.

5. Now, first make sure you can see all hidden files (View tab in Folder
Options). In XP, there are four checkboxes to deal with:

a. Check "Display the contents of system folders".
b. Check "Show hidden files and folders".
c. Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types".
d. Uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" and click "OK" to the
dialog box.

6. Start>Run>control userpasswords2 [enter]

You will see where you can change the built-in Administrator account's
password. Change it to a blank. You can change it back to something later.

7. Double-click My Computer and navigate to C:\Documents and
Settings\Administrator. Press and hold down the CTRL key while you click
each file and subfolder in this folder, except the following files:

Ntuser.dat
Ntuser.dat.log
Ntuser.ini

On the Edit menu, click Copy.

8. Now navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\DM. On the Edit menu, click
Paste.

9. Log out of Charlie and into DM. All your stuff should be there. You
will have to make some small adjustments since this is a new account but
not many.

You can go to the User Accounts applet afterwards and delete the Charlie
account if you like, or simply keep it for an extra.


Malke
 
I appreciate all the time and help. I just followed your steps exactly and
still i cannot access my old Administrator folder.

all the steps you gave me worked fine, however when I get to step 7 I cannot
open the Administrator folder to see the files to select, and it wont let me
copy the complete folder. There must be a way to get my documents out of that
folder.

Note:
When I go into user accounts it says "Pick a task" this would be for home
edition there is no advance tab. is the procedure for Home edition the same
as Pro edition.

Again thanks for any help you can give
DM

Malke said:
DM said:
Hey Malke, thanks for the response. as for your asumption yes I was using the
built-in Administrator, and yes it looks like it really was a bad idea. I
created a new user "Admin" with Administrator privileges. I followed the link
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151) and did exactly what
it asked to do in (Copy Files to the New User Profile). NO LUCK! it still
wont let me copy. I opened explorer, in my C:\Documents and Settings, the
folder Administrator I clicked to open and it says "C:\Documents and
Settings\Administrator is not accessible access denied". When I used the
procedure from the link to copy files, it says "Cannot create or replace
Administrator: Access is denied. Make sure the disk is not full or
write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.
Click to expand...

You're doing something wrong. Let's try again.

1. Create a new user (computer administrator) and call it "DM" -
anything except "Admin".
2. Create a new user (computer administrator) and call it "Charlie" -
anything except "Admin".
3. Log into the DM account once.
4. Log into the Charlie account once.

Let's assume that you are going to keep the DM account for your daily
use. You are still in the Charlie account.

5. Now, first make sure you can see all hidden files (View tab in Folder
Options). In XP, there are four checkboxes to deal with:

a. Check "Display the contents of system folders".
b. Check "Show hidden files and folders".
c. Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types".
d. Uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" and click "OK" to the
dialog box.

6. Start>Run>control userpasswords2 [enter]

You will see where you can change the built-in Administrator account's
password. Change it to a blank. You can change it back to something later.

7. Double-click My Computer and navigate to C:\Documents and
Settings\Administrator. Press and hold down the CTRL key while you click
each file and subfolder in this folder, except the following files:

Ntuser.dat
Ntuser.dat.log
Ntuser.ini

On the Edit menu, click Copy.

8. Now navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\DM. On the Edit menu, click
Paste.

9. Log out of Charlie and into DM. All your stuff should be there. You
will have to make some small adjustments since this is a new account but
not many.

You can go to the User Accounts applet afterwards and delete the Charlie
account if you like, or simply keep it for an extra.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Click to expand...
 
DM said:
I appreciate all the time and help. I just followed your steps exactly and
still i cannot access my old Administrator folder.

all the steps you gave me worked fine, however when I get to step 7 I cannot
open the Administrator folder to see the files to select, and it wont let me
copy the complete folder. There must be a way to get my documents out of that
folder.

Note:
When I go into user accounts it says "Pick a task" this would be for home
edition there is no advance tab. is the procedure for Home edition the same
as Pro edition.
Click to expand...

This information is in direct contradiction to your answer to my very
first post. In my first post I guessed that you had XP Pro and you
confirmed this. Now you are saying that you have XP Home, which puts an
entirely different light on what you did and what you have.

I have no idea what you did and I don't want to spend any more time
guessing. If you have XP Home then you never logged into the built-in
Administrator account because that user account is only available in XP
Home. Perhaps you made your files private in whatever account you were
really using. If that is the case, then see this:

http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/private.htm - making stuff private

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/books/homeandofficeuser/tips/040402.asp
- How to make My Documents Private in XP Home
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/undoprivate.htm - Ramesh - How to undo "Make
this folder private" option"

If you can't figure it out from there, then I suggest you have a
knowledgeable friend (someone who is really knowledgeable and not just
saying he is) or a computer professional take a look at the machine.


Malke
 
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