Accessing password protected files in XP

The Funambulist · 05-01-2008, 07:00 AM

I recently was forced to reinstall windows on my computer, and I have important files i need that were in my documents. but when I try to open my old documents folder, it tells me that access is denied. I know the password to the old account, is there any ways to access these files?

patrickv · 05-01-2008, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Funambulist

I recently was forced to reinstall windows on my computer, and I have important files i need that were in my documents. but when I try to open my old documents folder, it tells me that access is denied. I know the password to the old account, is there any ways to access these files?

so i assume you formatted ? then why are you getting access denied. or are you trying to access your old drive in a new computer ?
because as far as format goes (and you didn't give enough details) it's when you erase the drive completely and lose data

Calibretto · 05-01-2008, 01:06 PM

Yeah I don't think you fully reformatted. You might have done system recovery or something. Did you back it up and then restore after reinstallation?

The Funambulist · 05-01-2008, 02:44 PM

An antivirus program deleted all of my .sys and .dll files in the WINDOWS folder, so I reinstalled to OS. It left all the other files alone.

tlarkin · 05-01-2008, 02:50 PM

You most likely made your user folder private, and in doing so encrypted it. Then when you overinstalled you can no longer access your data. This is typical behavior when you make your user folder private.

You will need a third party utility like ERD (which is uber expensive) to boot from and unlock your folder.

Too bad windows doesn't have a powerful enough command line, otherwise you could accomplish this from the CLI.

voyagerfan99 · 05-01-2008, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlarkin

You most likely made your user folder private, and in doing so encrypted it. Then when you overinstalled you can no longer access your data. This is typical behavior when you make your user folder private.

You will need a third party utility like ERD (which is uber expensive) to boot from and unlock your folder.

Too bad windows doesn't have a powerful enough command line, otherwise you could accomplish this from the CLI.

Try booting with a SLAX LiveCD. SLAX has NTFS read/write support, and it can access protected files. I've had to do this on more than one occasion.

The Funambulist · 05-02-2008, 05:36 AM

Never mind, I got it.
It happens to be that although I couldn't open it, I could change ownership of the folder. So I changed it and it let me in.

05-01-2008, 07:00 AM	#1 (permalink)
The Funambulist New Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 13	Accessing password protected files in XP I recently was forced to reinstall windows on my computer, and I have important files i need that were in my documents. but when I try to open my old documents folder, it tells me that access is denied. I know the password to the old account, is there any ways to access these files?

05-01-2008, 01:06 PM	#3 (permalink)
Calibretto Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Indiana, USA Age: 18 Posts: 1,933	Yeah I don't think you fully reformatted. You might have done system recovery or something. Did you back it up and then restore after reinstallation? __________________ Desktop: Cooler Master Elite 330 Case \| AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ \| 1.5GB PC3200 RAM \| XFX GeForce 7900GT Laptop: HP DV6700TSE \| Intel C2D T5750 2.0GHz \| 3GB DDR2 667 \| 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS Winner of Photo Comp: Computer Peripherals CoD4 [CF]Clan Member - Headshot: Applied directly to the head.

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05-01-2008, 02:44 PM	#4 (permalink)
The Funambulist New Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 13	An antivirus program deleted all of my .sys and .dll files in the WINDOWS folder, so I reinstalled to OS. It left all the other files alone.

05-01-2008, 02:50 PM	#5 (permalink)
tlarkin VIP Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 5,944	You most likely made your user folder private, and in doing so encrypted it. Then when you overinstalled you can no longer access your data. This is typical behavior when you make your user folder private. You will need a third party utility like ERD (which is uber expensive) to boot from and unlock your folder. Too bad windows doesn't have a powerful enough command line, otherwise you could accomplish this from the CLI.

05-02-2008, 05:36 AM	#7 (permalink)
The Funambulist New Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 13	Never mind, I got it. It happens to be that although I couldn't open it, I could change ownership of the folder. So I changed it and it let me in.