how to open protected files

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Doc

My computer will not boot so I have moved the hard drive over to my other
computer using a external box. I can see the files but they were password
protected so I can not open or copy them. I can not find anywhere that I
can use my password to open these files which are all located in my
documents on the old drive. I have put the drive in another computer and
tried to boot from it but no success. Have also tried to boot from the safe
mode but also no success. Any ideas Windows XP is the operating system.
 
(e-mail address removed),
Doc said:
My computer will not boot so I have moved the hard drive
over to my other computer using a external box. I can see
the files but they were password protected so I can not open
or copy them. I can not find anywhere that I can use my
password to open these files which are all located in my
documents on the old drive. I have put the drive in another
computer and tried to boot from it but no success. Have
also tried to boot from the safe mode but also no success.
Any ideas Windows XP is the operating system.
Click to expand...

You need to disable Simple File Sharing and take ownership of
the files. Take a look at these articles for more info:

How to disable simplified sharing and set permissions on a
shared folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307874/

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

"Access is Denied" Error Message When You Try to Open a Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810881

Note: If you are running Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, you
must start the computer in safe mode, and then log on with an
account that has Administrative rights to have access to the
Security tab. To start in Safe Mode, reboot your computer and
start tapping the F8 key as soon as you see anything displayed
on the screen. Keep hitting F8 until the Advanced Startup
Options menu appears. Use the up and down arrow keys on your
keyboard to select Safe Mode. Hit Enter.

Good luck

Nepatsfan
 
Doc said:
My computer will not boot so I have moved the hard drive over to my
other computer using a external box. I can see the files but they
were password protected so I can not open or copy them. I can not
find anywhere that I can use my password to open these files which
are all located in my documents on the old drive. I have put the
drive in another computer and tried to boot from it but no success.
Have also tried to boot from the safe mode but also no success. Any
ideas Windows XP is the operating system.
Click to expand...


Windows XP does not "password protect" any files. NT-based versions
of Windows use group permissions, not password. You used some 3rd
party software that uses a password to encrypt the files (into another
file) so you'll need to use that same software against those encrypted
files.

If you are talking about EFS (which is only available on the Pro
version and not the Home Edition version), you must have exported the
security certificate so you can import it again under a different
instance of Windows to decrypt those files. If you didn't export the
EFS certificate, those encrypted files will remain that way.
 
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