Retrieve my documents

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jonathan Kessel-Fell
  • Start date Start date
J

Jonathan Kessel-Fell

I have just had to reload Windows XP.
My user account was password protected and now I cannot
open my the 'owner' folder with my data in it.
I have tried creating a new user with the same name and
password but this has not helped.

Any ideas on how to open this folder?

Thanks in advance

Jon
 
Hi Jon,

You did a reinstall rather than a repair installation. The latter would have
preserved your user account. Now, all you can do is save the data from it.
You will need to take ownership of the files. Right-click the folder, select
properties. Go to the security tab and click advanced. You can take control
of the folders on the owner tab. For the security tab to appear in a WinXP
Pro system, you must disable simple file sharing in the control panel/folder
options/view tab. For a WinXP Home system, you must restart in safe mode and
logon as administrator. More details here:

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP [Q308421]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

An additional note for WinXP Pro users: This procedure will not help you
recover data if the files are encrypted. All you will be able to do is
delete them. To recover encrypted files you will need the original
encryption certificate or a Recovery Agent from the installation under which
they were encrypted. Without one of these, the files are not recoverable.

Next time, do a repair installation instead. See details on this procedure
here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
Back
Top