Permissions Problem/Access Denied

[Sophy]

First I need anyone who reads this to know that I am a novice. I just experienced a crash and with the help of a Dell technician had to reinstall Windows XP Home w/SP2. Dell sent me this disk and then led me through the reinstall. Now I'm getting various signs stating such things as "Access denied, you do not have rights to do this" -- or "You aren't authorized to do this. Check with the administrator."

I have only one account set up and it is an administrator's account. My name and picture appear on my start menu but do not appear on the Welcome screen when the computer boots, which the help files say it should.

I have searched and read until I'm dizzy from it. I either can't find an answer or it was there and I didn't understand it. I started my computer in safe mode so that I could click on a file and access the Security tab in following Microsoft KB article instructions to "take control of my computer."

For example's sake the name of my computer is SAM-EC839. When starting in safe mode and getting to the place where you have to select an account I was given two options. One was Administrators and the other was SAM. But SAM is supposed to be the administrator's account. The first time starting in safe mode I clicked on Administrators and I didn't even have access to any of my files with that so I restarted in safe mode again and selected SAM which did give me access to my files.

When I click on a file and go to the security tab there are three entries:

Administrators (SAM-EC839\Administrators)

SAM (SAM-EC839\Owner)

SYSTEM

With each one I highlight, "Allow" is checked for everythng except "Special Permissions." It also shows Full Control for all three of these listed accounts. But, are there supposed to be three?

Tonight I was trying to copy my Outlook Express Address Book to a CD-RW and was told I didn't have permission to copy this file and I should check with the administrator!!! Also, after copying a file to a CD-RW and then later opening that file I get a sign that tells me this is a read only file and that if I want to make any changes to it I have to save it with a new name, but when I try to do that I'm told I don't have permission. Is there a way to copy them so they aren't "read only"?

I don't know what all information is needed. I have a Dell Dimension 4600 running Windows XP Home w/SP2, use IE 7. I have a 60 GB hard drive, 2 GB RAM.

I've tried to explain things as clearly as I can. This is causing me problems and I can't get any more free help from Dell or Microsoft as my system is 3 years old. I am hoping someone out there has the courage to tackle this.

Thanks,

Sophy

[joverby540]

Hey, this is my first post, im kinda advanced with xp so I thought I would try to help you out. This is just a guess, but when you went to take ownership of the files, you should have clicked on the security tab, clicked on advanced, clicked the owner tab, then where it says chance owner to, click the username that you're using. Before you click apply, did you check the box "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects?" I remember that was a problem when I was trying to take control of some files when my computer crashed. And you said when you do copy the file to a cd-rw, it says read only? It should... Whenever a file is on any type of rewriteable cd, even though its rewriteable, you cannot save data to it from a normal program; you have to save the file on a hard disk, and then burn it to the cd with cd burning software. If you copy it to a hard disk, then you can right click, go to proporties, and uncheck read only, so then you can modify it without resaving it.

James

Edited June 13, 2007 by joverby540

[Ponch]

"Administrator" is a built in account, you did not create it, XP installation comes with it. You can change its name after installation but most people don't bother.

Wether SAM which is the account you created has the adminisrator's rights is an other concept, but understand that SAM is not the administrator account. In MS's view, people are not supposed to use the Adminisrator account as a normal user's account but only for computer administration, that's why they let you create a new account during installation. That first account does have administrative rights.

A 3rd problem is taking ownership of the files that were created before the reinstallation as I guess most your problems come from that. Did you do it yet or did you just read the article and get stuck (this is not very clear from your post) ?

The first time starting in safe mode I clicked on Administrators and I didn't even have access to any of my files with that so I restarted in safe mode again and selected SAM which did give me access to my files

Do you mean they did not appear in "My Documents" or you could not open your files ?

[submix8c]

Hey, all :

Woohoo!! Bag of worms!!!

Agree with both of above; but do a "google" (or search in this forum) for "Repair Install". Dumb Dell technician should have led you through that instead. I have used this method twice before (on other's PC's) and my own and it works! But... it may be too late now; can't remember if the data/files in the "Windows\Repair" folder get wiped or not. And it can get a bit complicated when you want to add you "latest" user-id's (etc) back; you can get "replicated Documents And Settings" folders/files.

I know, I know; little or no help here. But hang in there... a solution must be there somewhere!

Edited June 13, 2007 by submix8c

[Sophy]

I gotta' tell ya' all that I feel about as dumb as a post right now but am hoping I'll eventually learn something.

To submix8c -- yes, it's too late for a repair install now. But thank you for taking the time to comment. The answers make me feel like there is some blue on the horizon. Ha!

To Ponch -- I read the article, went into that security tab (visible only when starting in safe mode) and got stuck. What I meant by the quote you highlighted is that there were no files there at all. I'm not trying to take ownership of files created before the reinstall. These are new files I'm creating with data in them and then trying to backup, or backing up data from a program like RoboForm so that if this happens again I haven't lost everything. As to the accounts, before I had to do this reinstall all I ever had was an administrator's account and I never had any problem. I tried setting up a guest account once and it seems I was always doing something that required administrator's rights so I deleted it and just went back to my administrator account.

To joverby -- I didn't take any actions within that security section at all other than to look around because I had no idea what I was doing and was scared to. I am going to try starting in safe mode again and following through with the various steps you outlined. You said "did you check the box "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects?" As I said, I didn't check anything, but if I go back and try this do you mean I am supposed to check this box or I'm not supposed to? On the CD thing, I saved a file to my hard drive, unchecked the read only box and then copied it to the CD and that didn't make any difference.

Now, as long as we are on the subject, why will my computer now NOT read some CDs that I had copied data to on this same computer with the same operating system before this reinstallation? Initially I had 6 CDs with data on them and it wouldn't read a single one of them. I just kept trying and for some reason it read 4 of them but will not read these last two. The one I am most concerned about is a CD with probably around 300 family photos on it that were copied to the CD from my Kodak EasyShare program. I have reinsalled EasyShare and all that but it will not read the CD. Is there any kind of a program one can purchase to read this CD?

I really appreciate these responses and the help and I'll wait to hear from any or all of you.

Thanks!

Sophy

[Idontwantspam]

I've had similar issues, so I know how you feel.

It's somewhat hard to tell what exactly is wrong here, in part because it appears you aren't entirely sure. So let me sumarize what I think your problem is, and give you what I think a solution could be.

• You had to reinstall Windows XP. Some id*** Dell technician was "helping" you.
  
• You have a bunch of files that you aren't "allowed" to have full control of
  
• You've poked around in security, but not really done anything but look
  
• There was only ever one account. It's name was Sam and it was a member of the Administrators group.
  
• You are trying to
  • Burn some outlook files to a CD
    
  • Read some old CDs
    

right?

OK, first off, let's talk about ownership. Basically, some user account "owns" each file. Yes, each file got 0wn3d when it was created. That goes for folders, too. The owner is the user who created the file, in other words, Sam. But, the thing is, in Windows NT (and thus XP), when ownership is concerned, the OS doesn't look at the user NAME, I.E. Sam, it looks at your SID, which is another can of worms. Basically, it's a unique number representing your account, and even if you were to delete Sam and create a new Sam, it would have a different SID, and not own those files. So, your account, or really, your SID, which we will call 1001, needs to either own the files to open them, or have permission from the owner to open them. Taking ownership is actually pretty easy, and I'll make a quick walkthrough with screenshots and all when I get a chance but that won't be until the weekend. Finals in school Basically, log on to an account that is a member of the Administrators group. Now you could try this, and I would if I were you, but I have not done anything like this in a while. Also, I've never tried to take ownership of a whole user directory before, but it could work. Go to Run and type %userprofile%, which will take you to somewhere resembling C:/Documents and Settings/Sam, but use the former just to be safe. Now, press the UP button in Explorer, the green arrow. Right-click on the folder with the username, probably Sam. Click properties, go over to Security, and now for the fun. Click on Advanced. Go over to the Owner tab. Do you see yourself? If not (or even if you do), highlight your username and then click OK. Make sure to check or say OK to anything that says apply this to all sub-anything or something like that. I don't remember exactly what, it's been a while. So, you should now have ownership. Your whole user profile just got 0wn3d by you. Now, click OK in the security box. Next, open the security box again, with the same right-click procedure and all. Find the username "Authenticated Users". If it's not there, click Add, click Advanced, Click Find Now and select Authenticated Users, and click OK, click OK again. Now, select it. Put a check under the Allow column for Full Control. Now find your username and make sure you have full control, too. Click OK, and then see if that helps. You should own all your files now.

I'm too tired right now to talk about the CDs, but I might drop by tomorrow to try and help there. In the mean time, good luck, I hope this helps.

Oh, and since I don't think anyone ever said this: Welcome to MSFN!

Edited June 14, 2007 by Idontwantspam

[joverby540]

Hey, well that does sound like a good idea to go through those steps, but yes you do need to check the box. If you dont, it will only change the rights the one file or folder that you selected. If you check the box, and say you've selected a folder, it will give you ownership to every file and folder in the folder you selected. This option may take a lot longer, but its really the only logical one.

But I see what you mean about the cd... Were you thinking because it was a rewritable cd you could use it like a floppy or something? The problem is, you have to completely reburn the cd if you want to change the data on it. If you're using something like incd, where you can add and delete files like a floppy, you still have to use the cd burning software to add, remove, or change files; you cannot use something like notepad or ms word and save it on the cd as if it were a floppy. When you look at any file on a rewriteable cd, every file will have the attribute of being read only. This can not be changed on any cd, it must stay that way.

Now about your computer not reading the cd's... What kind of cd's were they? It seems that you might not have finished the cd if it was rewriteable or something like that... If they're cd-r's that'd be something different. Anyway hope this helps.

James

[Sophy]

I just wanted to get back to both of you right away (Idontwantspam and joverby) to let you know I have read both of your replies. I am anxious to try some of the steps outlined previously and tonight for this ownership deal, but I'm waiting until I get my backup device. Before I start messing around in things I want to be able to back up everything I've spent hours and hours getting back after this recent crash and reinstall. I talked with iomega and they helped me choose some kind of external device to back everything up on. I purchased it a couple of nights ago and it's on its way.

On the CD issue. My friend has the same computer I do. I sent the CD with the pics on it home with her and her computer will read it. So you are wondering what's the problem then -- Right? Well, she's pretty green, just like me. Her computer was able to read the CD and if she would just have reburned the pics to a new CD for me maybe I wouldn't be writing this right now. However, she decided to start a slide show and take a look at them and started getting all kinds of signs about drivers and everything, got scared, took the CD out of her computer and said, NO WAY am I messing with this anymore! Those pictures were copied to the CD from my Kodak EasyShare program. She does not have that software and I'm sure that's why she was getting the error messages on drivers ... but be that as it may she now will not put that CD back in her computer and copy it for me because she doesn't want to end up going through what I have with this crash and reinstall. I sure can't understand why her computer will read it and mine won't. It makes me wonder if everything got installed.

When the Dell technician was leading me through the reinstall and we got to a window where it looked like we should set up an account -- it said OWNER -- I asked him about that and he said no, just to click okay. I just happened to remember that and thought that for you guys who know something about how things work it might shed some light.

I'll get back to you and will check to see if you have anything new for me. Thanks again!! And thanks for the welcome too!

Sophy

[Kelsenellenelvian]

Ok I can tell you how to get your files but it will take a little work on your end.

Go here --> http://www.ubcd4win.com/

And build yourself a Ultimate BootCD for windows. (Warning the initial D/L is HUGE might wanna goto a friends and get it downloaded for you)

What this is, is basically a full version of XP on CD after you build it. You provide the windows files so this is perfectly legal. It boots from startup and runs XP from ram and cd.

Allowing you full acces to the systems drives and files. It also upports cd burning so boot with this get all the files together and burn them to a disk.

Then do a full wipe, format and reinstall of XP.

And please never call Dell again.

Also get me on messenger Kelsenellenelvian(at)hotmail.com if you need help setting up your UBCD.

[Idontwantspam]

I have no idea about the CDs, sorry. It seems like there may be some problems with the CDs being screwy, or it's possible that your computer is causing all the trouble. Here's what I would say. First off, can you tell us what happens when you put in these non-functional cds? I think we've made it clear that you can't save data to a CD like you can to a hard or floppy drive, so that may be the problem. Next time you get an error message related to ANY of these problems - access denied or CDs - press Ctrl+C. Then, open up notepad and press Ctrl+V. Copy or save that text, and post it here to show us what exactly the errors you are getting are. It might help us to see exactly what errors you are getting. You can also take screenshots and upload them if that could help. In case you didn't know, to take a screenshot, press the print Screen button on your keyboard, or Alt+Print Screen to capture only the current window. Then open paint or something and paste it in. Upload as a PNG file please, as those work best for screenshots. Also if you still don't have this solved, we could consider having one of us who also has XP doing a remote assistance session and actually connecting to your computer to see what's actually happening on your screen, and if necessary, change things for you. I hope this helps.

Now about when you were reinstalling with the owner screen, if i recall correctly, that's the screen where you just enter all the accounts you want to have, right? Stupid dell tech should've told you more than just click OK. I don't think that's very likely to be part of the problem.

PS: I will be on vacation for a while, so no I'm not ignoring you, I'm just not here. I'll catch up when I get back. Good luck!

[Sophy]

Replying to Idon'twantspam:

I still haven't received my external backup device. Hope you have a grand vacation!

Replying to Kelsenellenelvian:

I wish I would have written here before I went through the complete reinstall with Dell. I so appreciate your answer, but I have to be honest and tell you that not being a computer tech by any stretch of the imagination, I'm just not willing to go through a complete wipe and reinstall of this system again. I had to write and beg quite a number of companies that I had programs through to send me my key and allow me to re-download and with the exception of two, they were all very helpful and accommodating. With many I hadn't purchased the CD (an error which I won't make in the future) and even with the key, my download rights were actually expired. They might not be so kindly the second time around. I'm not happy with the problems I'm having and had I gotten advice like this before calling Dell I would have tackled it with the idea that I couldn't hurt things much, but at this point I feel like I've just got to find some other way than another reinstall. I hope this doesn't make me sound ungrateful, because I'm not.

Sophy

[Stoic Joker]

Greetings

It's late so I only kinda skimmed the thread, but the initial post referred to a read only file error, that's an attribute not an NTFS permission. If you want Control of your files back, you'll need to run attrib -h -r -s *.* /S /D at the root of the user acount folder you're trying to recover files from.

On the flakey Cd issue, if it was burned on that machine, and that machine can't read it after the reinstall ... It's most likely a multi session disk that was burned in a propritary (unfinalized) format. Reinstalling whichever burning software the computer came (and the disk was burned) with should make it "readable" again.

I'm tired, and thinking out loud ... So forgive me if I'm off base.

Gnite

[riso]

Can you post a screenshot of the error you are getting please?

Also, what media are the files on? (CD, DVD, External Drive Caddy?)

This can all contribute to the issue you are experiencing

[submix8c]

Sophy :

All good advice/assistance above. And a very good idea to do a full backup before proceeding...

It's most likely a multi session disk that was burned in a propritary (unfinalized) format. Reinstalling whichever burning software the computer came (and the disk was burned) with should make it "readable" again.

True... Also check to see if it was made using some kind of UDF format (unlikely though, if proprietary EasyShare). Although... most MS OS's should be able to read MultiSession if the CD-reader/burner is capable of it (most nowadays have the ability)

If you get IsoBuster (my favorite; it's trial/eval) you can "scan" the CD for errors (although it won't allow fixing without registration). If it is accessible and readable, you can Extract the files on the CD to a HDD folder. Ther are other shareware/trial progs like it that can also do this.

On a side note, if the CD(s) were readable on the friend's PC, then that may indicate some kind of hardware/software (MS) setup issue on yours. Also, if the CD is CD-R (not CD-RW), then there is no way the CD(S) can be "wiped" or screwed-up on the friend's PC. The "reinstall" done (under Dell's direction) may have gonk'd some Hardware settings causing "no access/unreadable" problem.

HTH

Edited June 19, 2007 by submix8c

[Sophy]

I shouldn't even try to comment here tonight because I'm exhausted. Worked all day and been trying to research computer problems all night.

I have another problem now. Sometimes my hard drive won't power up. It did this 10 days ago. Tech had me open hard drive, remove and reinsert memory cards and pull some big white plug and reinsert it and it finally powered up. Haven't had another problem and now tonight it did the same thing. I did all the things the tech had me do before, messed around for 3 hours (including trying a new power cord) and gave it up. A bit later I came back into the office to file some bills and kind of gave my hard drive a disgusted little shove and be darned if the lights didn't start flashing and it booted again.

The only reason I'm mentioning this at all is because I've been researching online and according to quite a few things I read it sounded like this problem "might" be connected to something to do with the CD drives. So I'm wondering if this problem I'm having with CD drives isn't more extensive than I thought.

I plan to try that IsoBuster thing -- thought I might run the Dell Diagnostics.

I assumed that Dell reinstalled whatever CD burning software I had previously but maybe not. I have all my original disks. Would one of those allow me to reinstall whatever software I had originally, and if so, which one? E-Gads! You guys are dealing with a real novice here but I'm thinking I don't have to tell you that!

RE this comment: "If you want Control of your files back, you'll need to run attrib -h -r -s *.* /S /D at the root of the user acount folder you're trying to recover files from." -- It sounds like something to try only I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to do it. If you have time to draw me a map I'd be willing to attempt it.

Well, I'm going to give this computer crap up for tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to power up tomorrow to see if anyone commented -- but the way things are going who knows???

Thanks all!

Sophy