Gaining access to Documents folder from another winxp install?

Frost · 20 Jul 2007 at 23:31

Hi there!

Looking for a bit of help, i'm sure there is a way to do this but I can't remember how.

My cousin managed to rip out the power socket from his laptop and he has some work in his documents folder he needs access to fairly quickly, i've taken the HD out and put it into a caddy, and windows won't allow me access to the folders.

Is there a way I can get around this at all :confused:

or will he just have to wait until we can fix the laptop ( if it can be fixed

)

Cheers for any help

Dappy · 20 Jul 2007 at 23:39

On the working xp machine, you'll need to be logged in as the Administrator or a user with administrative rights and then follow this guide from MS on how to take ownership of a file or folder:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

ns400r · 20 Jul 2007 at 23:40

Not a common request this but try reading - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421 :rolleyes:

ns400r · 20 Jul 2007 at 23:41

Oh, beaten to it while I was SEARCHING the forum for the link.

Frost · 21 Jul 2007 at 02:17

Didn't realise there would be an official fix from MS on that :eek:

was expecting it to be some kind of hack in windows or a workaround.

Cheers for that, I feel mucho stupider

Energize · 21 Jul 2007 at 02:46

Frost said:
Didn't realise there would be an official fix from MS on that was expecting it to be some kind of hack in windows or a workaround.

Cheers for that, I feel mucho stupider

Indeed it's worryingly easy to bypass xp's security.

stoofa · 21 Jul 2007 at 03:09

No, not really.
You aren't doing anything special - you are simply taking control of the documents, there is nothing worring here at all.
If I give you direct access to the file system on any computer, be it running any flavour of Windows, Linux or whatever then I can "get around" the file security.
Now if the files had actually been encrypted then you wouldn't now be retrieving the data.
You would instead be looking at the loss of all your data.
However thankfully for your cousin he didn't use file encryption.

stoofa · 21 Jul 2007 at 03:12

Energize said:
Indeed it's worryingly easy to bypass xp's security.

Never miss an opportunity to attack Windows eh?

This time there is nothing to attack - there is no security going on here to compromise.
Once local access has been gained to any machine running any OS the data is no longer safe.
Only by encrypting data do you actually add any form of data security.

bledd · 21 Jul 2007 at 09:44

Frost said:
Didn't realise there would be an official fix from MS on that was expecting it to be some kind of hack in windows or a workaround.

Cheers for that, I feel mucho stupider

it's not a fix, just a standard feature

Frost · 21 Jul 2007 at 10:10

Cheers again.

Just tried and it works a treat, i'll hopefully remember it for next time