Old NVMe in Caddy tried in new PC - Permissions problems

Gepetto · 19 Jul 2025 at 22:27

I built the Mrs a new PC with a new Windows 11 installed, and bought a caddy from the MM to transfer the files from her old NVMe.

She only wants some of the files from her old PC, but couldn't access them due to lacking permissions. This applies to pics, MS Office files and PDF's.

I've now taken the NVMe out of the caddy, put it back into her old PC, and we're now having the same permissions problems on her old PC as well.

I've tried refreshing the User permissions, and now I'm getting "Failed to enumerate objects in the container"

Now I'm completely stumped, and any help would be really welcome.

I'm in the box of the dog with the Mrs at the moment!

rp2000 · 19 Jul 2025 at 22:48

Can you see the existing permissions at the top level of the drive? Either in the old pc or via usb caddy in the new one?

edit: like this

rp2000

Philtor · 19 Jul 2025 at 23:19

Look into ‘take ownership’ of files. I used to have a registry hack back in the day that allowed this through the context menu.

Gepetto · 20 Jul 2025 at 13:45

rp2000 said:
Can you see the existing permissions at the top level of the drive? Either in the old pc or via usb caddy in the new one?

edit: like this

rp2000

Hi @rp2000

Yes, the permissions are listed in the properties and Full Control is allowed. I've ensured that is the case for the Mrs as a user and on the Administrator as well.

rp2000 · 20 Jul 2025 at 13:48

Gepetto said:
Hi @rp2000

Yes, the permissions are listed in the properties and Full Control is allowed. I've ensured that is the case for the Mrs as a user and on the Administrator as well.

Have you tried to take full ownership of the drive/folders/files and propogate permissions from pressing the advanced button?

Edit: also try to give the ownership/permissions to the "everyone" group.

rp2000

Gepetto · 20 Jul 2025 at 13:56

Thanks @Philtor I'm looking into that now.

Gepetto · 20 Jul 2025 at 13:59

rp2000 said:
Have you tried to take full ownership of the drive/folders/files and propogate permissions from pressing the advanced button?

Edit: also try to give the ownership/permissions to the "everyone" group.

rp2000

Cheers @rp2000

I've managed to apply "Take Ownership" as mentioned by Philtor and yourself. That did work for the file I had open.

I'm now trying to apply that to "everyone". She has so many files on her desktop that I really don't want to have to go through the process for all of them!

Gepetto · 20 Jul 2025 at 14:17

This is what I've tried this morning, and I've applied this successfully to two individual Word files. I can't get the same routine to work on her C Drive.

Properties> Security> Advanced> Change> Advanced> Find Now

Select her User> Press Ok> Press Ok

Ticked the boxes for "Replace owner on sub-containers and objects" and "Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object."

And Apply.

Works beautifully for the couple of Word Docs I've tried, but not on PDF's or JPEG,'s and I can't get it to work on the C Drive.

Thank you for your help BTW. it is really appreciated. :cool:

rp2000 · 20 Jul 2025 at 14:19

Edit: same method you describe

Try it on her whole desktop folder. And also try making it everyone permissions, Instead of her account.

rp2000

Gepetto · 20 Jul 2025 at 19:19

rp2000 said:
Edit: same method you describe

Try it on her whole desktop folder. And also try making it everyone permissions, Instead of her account.

rp2000

Cheers. I tried it on her desktop and on the everyone user.

All the MS Office documents on her desktop are now fine, but the Pics and PDF's actually appear to be missing.

How on earth that has happened, I do not know.

darael · 21 Jul 2025 at 23:24

Try your method on the user's profile folder - ie: C:\Users\MrsGepetto.

It could be that some files are elsewhere on the drive, or possibly another drive if another one was installed alongside the OS.

Try using WizTree to help find any large folders, or even any that might contain the files.

If all else fails, then I hope either the sofa or dog's bed is comfy.

aaronyuri · 22 Jul 2025 at 00:37

You can use the takeown.exe executable via command prompt/PowerShell/terminal to do this. Alternatively, you can use the Set-Acl cmdlet in PowerShell natively. No need for the context menu shenanigans.

Gepetto · 22 Jul 2025 at 20:50

aaronyuri said:
You can use the takeown.exe executable via command prompt/PowerShell/terminal to do this. Alternatively, you can use the Set-Acl cmdlet in PowerShell natively. No need for the context menu shenanigans.

Thank you @aaronyuri and @darael

Trying everything, some of her files just appear to be missing from the drive.

I've retrieved enough to salve my conscience, and luckily she had important files backed up to USB sticks, so whilst I'm still in trouble, we're not headed for divorce just yet.