access denied problem

[Grreatron]

I recently had to do a complete reinstall of XP Home. I made a clone of Drive C. After the re-install I was able to open Drive E and move several of the files to Drive C. However, there are a number of files that give me the message "folder empty" and "access denied". Does that mean I have lost what I cloned, or what? Any way to access those folders so I can move the data, etc back to C?

Thanks!

[bodgy]

You probably have not lost what you cloned, you are suffering from an attack of MS Windows 'I've change your SID so there' syndrome.

Now I'm not sure if this is possible in XP Home (it is in Pro). Boot into safe mode, then find the folders that you no longer have access to, right click on the folder and choose properties\security, then click on the ADVANCED button at the bottom of the panel.

From the new form that pops up, make sure Inherit etc is ticked, then click on the ADD button, the permissions for these folders and files will then be attached to your new SID. Click on OK to close down the security options, reboot into normal mode and your files will be available to you.

If at some time you changed your log in name or added users this will be enough to make Windows change your SID.

Forgot to say, in the permissions window, make sure you select your current log on/user name otherwise, nothing will change.

Colin