recovering from C:/documents and settings/dd/

I recently had a hard drive just die on me, so I got a new one, installed windows on it, and connected the old one to my new one to pull my files off.  I've gotten most of my files off, except for the ones in the "documents and settings" folder.  Like my firefox bookmarks.  I can't get my old hard drive to boot up anymore.  Anybody happen to know how to get through the "access denied" thing of "C:/documents and settings/username/"?

If you are logged in under an admin account you should be able to see those files. Failing that, convert that drive to FAT32 to remove the security descriptors. These are the easiest ways to get at your lost porn - I mean "files".

Or as an admin you can try take ownership of the folder,

right click > properties > security > advanced > owner

probably will work too

>>3 knows best. It's all down to the permissions on the folders and files - if you reinstall Windows, and even if you choose the same user name, you don't get the access permissions back because, to Windows, user names are just a 'front' to an actual user account, which is actually a long, randomly-generated SID (security identifier) number to which the user account is linked but independent of the user name. So yes, take ownership of the folder and all its subfolders.

>>3
how exactly do you take ownership of the folder from there?

Err I hope you're joking or do you have a windows other than XP/2000?
You select your username from list, check replace owner of subcontainers and objects and you press apply / ok.

At least in Windows NT - if your windows has it different you're gonna have to figure it out yourself, it's windows.. it can't be hard. Good luck.

Don't forget than in XP, you have to turn "simple file sharing" off (it's enabled by default which hides the all-important permissions tab from file/folder property dialogues). In any Explorer window, go to Tools > Folder Options > View tab and uncheck the "Use simple file sharing" checkbox.

>>1,5 is too noob to understand WTF >>4 is saying. Ownership of files is a very basic and >>1,5 should already know that.
>>2 offers simple solution but is still over >>1,5 's ugly head
>>1,5 should reformat all hard drives and insert small cock into floppy drive to give it a good boot

>>6
Heh, I figured it out.  >_<.  However, I ran into a problem - I did the "convert all subfolders and files", then decided it wasn't worth it to convert the couple gigs of music I have in my documents, so I canceled, thinking I should just convert the folder, then convert application data inside.

When I tried to access the folder, application data wasn't inside anymore.  Um.... shit?

Lost in conversion?

Should I just say screwit and convert it all to FAT32?  how would I do that?

Is it possible to convert to FAT32? I thought the conversion was only one way.

>>10
Not possible unless using 3rd party utilities as far as I know.. Windows NT by standard only allows >NTFS conversion.

I don't think it got lost, but it might not display for some bizarre reason so you might want to try letting it finish, a couple of gigs or not I doubt it matters, ammount of files should matter... You should try taking ownership over fat32 conversion, converting filesystems is extremely dodgy and can cause more trouble than it is worth... by several miles, actually..

hello dere,
The conversion is a one way one time thing. DO NOT CANCEL IT.
It removes ALL permissions/ownership security bullshit.
It may take several hours to complete.
You may need special software to complete this; Partition Magic is a favorite, but you can get some free tools by googling "Ultimate Boot Disc".

The data is still there, just not accessible to you because you have cancelled it before it could set permissions on the top level folder.

Several options now:
(1) try setting permissions again
(2) convert drive to FAT32
(3) insert cock into floppy drive and give it a good boot as suggested by >>8
(4) chant "BBG" 3x in this thread and hope the problem disappears

Regards,
THERAPIST

hahahaha, I figured it out.  It turns out that the conversion did complete.  Just that /application data/ is a hidden folder, and I had not yet configured my administrator account to show hidden files.  I have my bookmarks back!  Yay!

Thanks, >>3

<3 you all.  Oh, and no floppy drive.  Tis a notebook computer.

np. glad it worked out.