Accessing Blocked User Accounts

antibrow

I hooked up my old harddrive to as a slave to my PC.

I can access the HD and run programs etc from it. However I cannot access my documents. There are several accounts on the slave drive and I can access all of them bar my own due to password protection etc. Is there any way of unlocking these documents??

I know how to do it from an admin account but that won't work because the slave drive accounts aren't recognised by the master's OS.


Thanks in advance for anything you guys can do,

Drew.

majiktripp

As long as the computer your using is windows XP Professional you can take ownership of the locked out user accounts by right clicking on them (Im doing this from memory now so bear with me...)->sharing and security->Security->Advanced->Owner - and select administrator from the list.It will then make you (the administrator) the new owner and allow you access to the files.

antibrow

this is as a far as i got.

My computer-> F:\ (this is the slave drive) -> Documents and settings -> right clicked the folder of the account I want to access-> sharing and security. the only tabs there were "general", "sharing" and "customize".


For some reason now though i can access the folder. If it makes life easier, folder is called "drew". If I try to open any folders in there such as desktop or my documents, it tells me that access is denied. If i hover over any of the folders inside the "drew" folder, a little bubble appears saying the foloder is empty....is this just because access is denied?

majiktripp

You must have XP home installed,Im not sure if you can do it then if its only Home you have,you could try booting into safe mode (press F8 during startup before the windows logo appears,log in as "Administrator" and the options maybe available to you that way) Sorry I cant be of more help!

Saruman

Do not think you can do it with home....
like maji said.. im pretty sure safe mode will give you the option though.
You may also have to dissable simple file sharing.. do that fromany explorer window.. tools, folder options, view and untick the box.... not sure if you need to do this in xp home in safe mode.. you will find out.

antibrow

i tried pressing f8 from the time i hit the power button onwards and it still loaded up windows normally....like not press and hold,but kept pressing it....

majiktripp

When you turn on your computer you'll probably see a picture like "Dell" or "Packard Bell " etc whoever makes your computer,when that disappears off the screen , just before the windows logo appears..press F8 repeatidly like you were doing and hopefully it should work.Its all about the timing it right and its tricky enough so keep at it!

Saruman

holding F8 usually works too.

Do you have a USB keyboard though? It might not be working till it gets into windows if it is USB.

antibrow

that didn't work.


i can access all the accounts on the master drive. but not the password protected ones on the slave drive.

Saruman

Sorry.;. cant help.. if you cant press a button on the keyboard during boot to get into safe mode then there is nothing you can do short of using an NTFS boot disk and using command lines... your technical level is not enough to explain how to do that so sorry.. try a mates pc with a real OS like XP pro.

the_syco

The following will get you into Safe mode in various PC's: F5, F8, F9, F10, F12. You start clicking them about 5 to 10 seconds before you see the XP logo.

antibrow

i ran it in safe mode. i just cant get at the User account files (like my documenhts etc) on the slave drive.

Stephen

When in safe mode, you need to "take ownership" of the folders you're getting access denied to. You can do this from the security tab. Once you have ownership of them, just give the "everyone" group full control and you should then have access.

I'd be much easier if you had the slave drive in an XP Pro or Windows 2000 machine.