Paging the XPReinstallisti...

Yes, I know, I know... my fault for relying on something so flawed...

I've recently reinstalled XP Professional on my main HD - the problem I now
have is this: Anything I downloaded under my old user profile, is now sat
locked away due each user account being set up not to share access to
anything saved in 'My Documents', with any other users.

I did a full install this time, but didn't format the HD first, as I wanted
to save all the music etc., on it.

The problem now is... when I go into 'Documents and Settings' now, even
though I've reinstalled XP, it's still showing the old users as well as the
currently set up ones, and when I click on my old one to get at said files,
it tells me 'inaccessible'.

'Fine, I'll just have to go into control panel and set all users up so they
allow anyone to look at their documents', I initially thought... but the old
user accounts do not show up, so I can't change the access rights!

So... any advice how to rest the access rights on the now redundant
accounts, given I can't actually access them through control panel,
gratefully received - any comments along the lines of 'LINUX!', or 'Get a
Mac'... heard them all before.

 

JackH says...

With XP home you need to start in safe mode and log on as admin, I
think you need to do that with XP Pro as well, I don't think a user
account with admin rights is sufficient.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;272723

 

JackH wrote:

Log in as Administrator, or a member of the Administrators group, and
change the security on the directories that you need to access to grant
permission to the relevant users.

 

This is normally the case, yes... but unless I'm being even more dense than
usual, this doesn't work - to summarise, when I reinstalled XP, it's asked
me to set up user accounts as part of doing so, but it hasn't removed the
restrictions on the old accounts, that whilst stuff still exists within the
folders associated with said accounts, XP now no longer acknowledges as user
accounts in terms of setting up the access paths etc.

Ok... so now what I've done is 'right click' on said user folders within the
'Documents and Settings' folder, and selected 'Properties'... under sharing,
it tells me to 'drag the folder to the Shared Documents folder'.

If you do this, you get the following: 'Cannot create or replace <folder
name>: Access is denied. Make sure the disk isn't full or write protected
and that the file isn't currently in use'.

I am not logged into the account that corresponds to this folder - as I
said, can't, as XP isn't recognising it as such... and I'm unaware of
anything else running at the mo that would effectively mean it was 'in use',
thus stopping me from shifting it as advised.

I've also gone in to Administrative Tools, and nothing is apparent.

AARGH!

Cheers for the advice anyway.

 

You didn't do what I said. Don't worry about whether they're user
accounts or not:

1. Go to the "Documents and Settings" folder;

2. Right-click on one of the "old" users' folders;

3. "Properties", "Security", "Add...", type your user name in the
relevant box, and click OK;

4. Tick the checkbox for Allow/Full Control, and click OK;

5. Don't piss about with all that Shared Documents rubbish, it's not
worth it.

 

And that, was the missing link.

Cheers Rob and Eddie.

 

Change the properties on the directories (under c:\Documents and
Settings\).

You will need to be admin though.

Thats because the default is for those directories to be only
accessable by the owner and admin. You can either change their
ownership (right-click on the directory, select properties. Security
tab and change ownership) or add yourself in with full access rights
(same way - just give your user account full access).

Thats becuase the c:\documents and settings\ directory hold user
profiles - not user accounts. If/when you do take access and want to
transfer stuff out remember to change it so that you see hidden/system
files becasue most of the useful stuff is held in hidden directories.

Phil.

 

That is to share them on the network. It doesn't change their security
settings at all.

Phil