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So, following on from my other thread about my old pc deciding to implode …
The hard drive is ok, it was starting up and shutting down and making all the usual noises just nothing on the screen. I've tried the hdd in the portable drive I've got and I have some access, but there doesn't seem to be as much on there as I remember seeing on the pc, but also when I try to access my documents and some other folders, which is where hopefully everything is, it says "you don't curranty have permission to access this folder", I'm hooked up to my work laptop, then it goes to an admin sign in box, is this something to do with the work laptop as I don't remember having any log in thing for my documents? Also on my pc I just had a 'my docs' icon to go to my documents but now all I can see is my name under documents and settings, I thought it would just open as a folder and not need any else, is there any way around this?
Thanks
The credentials will be the one you used to log into Windows on your old PC.
Alternatively if you're local admin on your work laptop then (slap your IT department) you might be able to take ownership of the folder - right click/properties/security/somewhere in there.
"My Documents" is legacy. You want c:\users\[your name]\Documents
The credentials will be the one you used to log into Windows on your old PC.
Are you sure? If the disk isn't encrypted then surely it is just admin credentials of the machine he is on which is unfortunately a work machine so he might not have them
Edit: I think you beat me to it there
Are you sure?
I'm not, actually. It's forever since I last had to do this so I might well be talking out the top of my head. You're probably right about it being UAC prompting for local admin instead.
Thanks Cougar, but I don't know what you mean, what's meant by legacy?? I never had a login on my old pc, it just started up. I don't have a 'users' folder to open. How do I find where all my documents are? When I hover over my documents it says 'folder empty' - that's the one I can't open.
Ah, just read your edit and replys, so it might be the work laptop causing issues as they tend to lock everything down, but I'd have thought I'm just trying to open a folder rather than trying to install anything? Might have to try it on the other halfs laptop … thanks.
I plugged in my portable hard drive before fitting the hard drive from the pc and that worked fine, came up with all my saved documents, what's different on the hard drive from the pc - I still saved stuff to my docs on there but I don't seem to have access to it?
Oh, cock, this is from your XP machine isn't it. Doh!
So I'm talking tripe then, it is My Documents you'll need. I expect the problem is that your documents are "owned" by a user which only exists on your PC, not on the laptop. As such you don't have rights to it, which is why you're being prompted for local admin creds - so you can override this.
You might get away with giving it the default creds which for XP Home is usually "Administrator" and a blank password (within My Documents you should see an "All Users" folder, one with the username, and possibly one named Guest, I can't remember exactly now as I've not touched XP in years).
Failing that, you'll either have to ask a tame IT bod to help you or do this on a different machine where you have local admin rights.
Yeah, it's the xp machine.
I have a folder 'documents and settings'
and under that I have 3 folders: All Users, my name and Updatususer
I can access everything under all users, but there's not much there, and it's the other 2 I can't access - but if I hover the pointer over those files it says folders empty which is a bit worrying.
I'll try on another pc when I can and hope it's the work laptop causing this. Just noticed the laptop antivirus scan has been running a while saying scan is running but doesn't say if it's scanning the hard disk, think it might be as that's buzzing away too
if I hover the pointer over those files it says folders empty which is a bit worrying.
That's probably also because you don't have the access rights, I wouldn't worry unduly at this point.
and under that I have 3 folders: All Users, my name and Updatususer
Try your name as per that middle folder and a blank password. Probably won't work but worth a punt.
Just noticed the laptop antivirus scan has been running a while saying scan is running but doesn’t say if it’s scanning the hard disk, think it might be as that’s buzzing away too
Probably. The AV will have system-wide access rights even if you don't, and scanning new external devices is a wholly sensible thing to do. Doubly so if it's come out of an XP machine. (-:
I can access everything under all users, but there’s not much there, and it’s the other 2 I can’t access – but if I hover the pointer over those files it says folders empty which is a bit worrying.
Don't worry that's normal when you don't have access to view folder contents.
Right click the folder with your name, then go to the 'security' tab, and tell us what is under 'group or usernames; in the box.
It will be ntfs permissions restricting access, basically the use you're currently logged in with on your pc doesn't have access to the folder. You might be able to change the owner of the folder but don't worry about that yet!
It also sounds like you don't have an admin account on the work laptop, if you did it wouldn't ask for credentials when you click on the folder, at worse you'd get a UAC prompy with yes or no.
User folders are normally locked down so that only that user can view/access the folders (or else you could log on as anyone and read anyone's private files), and as you're not logged in as the same user as your old machine, you don't have access. Simples! The key here is accessing the drive from a PC with a local admin account, i.e. not a work laptop.
Again, it's been a fair while since I last did this, but isn't the user from the previous machine just going to be a GUID?
The key here is accessing the drive from a PC with a local admin account, i.e. not a work laptop.
Agreed.
Thanks for all the help. I haven't tried anything else with it as I disconnected it from my back up hard drive unit, I've got a caddy on the way for the old hard drive then I'll try it on a different pc.
Another (probably idiot) question as a non-IT person - as my software is already installed on the old hard drive is it not just as simple as running it from that on a newer PC, or is it more complicated than that?
I already answered that on your other thread. The short answer is "no."
Look, I've said this a couple of times now so I'm just going to be blunt.
You really need to let go of your obsession with all this legacy shite and move on. It'll be a pain in the arse to get working, assuming it's even possible, and there are modern versions or alternatives for everything you've mentioned thus far (which again we went through on the other thread). That's before we consider the potentially massive security implications of running Photoshop 1.0 or whatever in 2019, there will be more holes in that software than a colander.
If you don't and in six months time you post a "help, I've got a virus and lost all my data from the last 15 years" thread, you're on your own for that one.