Access Denied/Can't view files and can't delete them either HELP!

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

audio1484

Distinguished
Feb 22, 2009
2
0
18,510
I have a 120g partitioned hard drive split in half 60g to C: drive and 60g to the D: Now the problem is NOT on the C: drive where the OS is on. But on the D: drive where I put extra files like videos, game files, pictures etc. Now I don't know exactly what happened but all the files that are on my D: drive I cant view/or delete. If I try to delete the file or files the system says access denied. If I try to open the video file same thing access denied... So I cant use the files or get rid of them. Now i rather keep my files cause I need them but what do I do? Now the funny thing is if I put any random NEW file on the D: drive it will work fine. Could it be a certificate problem? I am logged on as the admin on my home PC so I don't think thats the problem. Help please this problem is killing me!







Windows XP home Edition
120g hard drive split in half.
Logged on as Admin.
 
H

htoonthura

Distinguished
May 21, 2006
651
0
18,980



what do you mean by that. You said you can not view it. if you cannot view it , how will you delete it? Tell me what file type you are trying to delete. restart your pc and delete it again.
 
A

audio1484

Distinguished
Feb 22, 2009
2
0
18,510
Thank you for your reply... What I meant was that I can literally see the file; but when I try to open the file it will say access denied. Now I don't wish to delete my files I just want to be able to fix the problem, If I try and delete the file ill get the same message access denied. Now the file that I'm trying to open for example will be a picture jpeg, gif's or a movie file or video file like mpegs, mp4, avi, even a word document wont open.
 
M

MRFS

Distinguished
Dec 13, 2008
1,333
0
19,360
In Command Prompt (aka DOS Window):

attrib *.*

attrib /? will explain the codes:

R = Read-only
A = Archive
S = System
H = Hidden

Then, make appropriate changes with + and - .

e.g. attrib junk.doc -H
removes the Hidden attribute on file junk.doc


MRFS

 
H

htoonthura

Distinguished
May 21, 2006
651
0
18,980



Is it under encryption file system.

If you are an administrator of the pc, take ownership of those files.

Export them to different drive and see if you can open from there. How old is your hd?

I have never seen this before. Let me know when you are able to solve this.
 
T

TNSSEEguy

Distinguished
Jul 4, 2009
1
0
18,510
we are having the same issue with a kicker. daughter has a sanyo digital camera. we can see and manipulate her pictures with no issues. any that we took say no preview available and access denied when we try to do anything with them. tried all the fix actions on this website with no luck as of yet.
 
S

silentashes

Distinguished
Sep 25, 2009
3
0
18,510
@audio1484:

I believe I have the answer to your problem.
In fact, it was stated in MrLinux's post -- which I think you may have missed (it was only 1 or 2 lines, and in gray, immediately following your initial post).


However, please carefully read *everything* below **before** doing any of it!

First off, @TNSSEEguy:
I have included the response to your issue in a separate post after this.
Please DO NOT follow the instructions in this post; it is a very different issue!

Thanks,
silentashes


@audio1484:

Please understand:
Unfortunately, it takes a long time to type out and read instructions (with all of their associated warnings and caveats), compared to the 5-12 minutes it should actually take to perform these instructions (once read and understood).

Tech support is a tricky business, and good communication is the key.

This is coming from one who has 3+ years providing professional I.T. support -- there's a lot to communicate, and since language is imperfect, it sometimes takes many times longer to talk about it (particularly reading and typing!) than it would to actually do it.


Please, I realize this is a long set of warnings and info, but I stress that it is extremely important to read and understand first.

It should take no longer than 15 minutes, max, to actually do these steps.
(The only exception may be when once you reboot, and then select the Safe Mode option:
- your computer might take a while to boot into Safe Mode. It's fine to walk away for a while and come back to check whether it's finished booting.)


*** THE FIRST SET OF INSTRUCTIONS ARE ONLY FOR @AUDIO1484'S SPECIFIC SITUATION.***

*** @TNSSEEguy (and anyone else): I HAVE POSTED A SECOND SET OF INFORMATION FOR @TNSSEEguy's *specific* SITUATION, WHICH IS **VERY DIFFERENT.**
PLEASE DO *NOT* FOLLOW THE BELOW INSTRUCTIONS FOR "TAKING OWNERSHIP" OF FILES WITHOUT FIRST CONSULTING A QUALIFIED I.T. TECHNICIAN. ***

***********************
*** @audio1484: FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS FOR "TAKING OWNERSHIP" OF FILES AT YOUR OWN RISK. ***
****** DO NOT **EVER** DO THIS TO YOUR C:\ DRIVE OR ANY SYSTEM-CRITICAL FILES.

ONLY PERFORM THIS OPERATION ON PERSONAL, NON-SYSTEM RELATED FILES (I.e., only Take Ownership of files such as JPEG's, Word documents, etc).
(Your D:\ drive as a whole *might* fall under this category, but I suggest that you perform the operation on individual folders and files instead, rather than an entire drive.)******

If you have any doubts, I recommend:
1. creating a "New Folder" inside your D: drive, then
2. dragging and dropping each specific file which gave the "Access Denied" error into that folder (or hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple items to drag and drop), and finally
3. Taking Ownership of that specific folder, before
4. moving the files back to their original location.

This will avoid the possibility of causing further problems to your system.
Bear in mind that your D: drive may have Hidden, system-critical files on it which are not visible.

You can go ahead and perform the above steps before booting your PC into Safe Mode.

----> MICROSOFT WINDOWS REQUIRES ACCESS VIA A SPECIAL "SYSTEM" ACCOUNT TO ITS BOOT-UP FILES.
----> IF YOU "TAKE OWNERSHIP" OF THESE FILES (or on your entire C:\ drive, or any other system-critical files -- which are usually hidden but can still be modified if you Take Ownership of their parent folder), YOUR COMPUTER ***MAY NOT BOOT.***


ONLY DO THIS ON YOUR PERSONAL FILES, AND BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL THAT NO SYSTEM-RELATED FILES ARE CONTAINED WITHIN WHEN DOING THIS ON AN ENTIRE FOLDER.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

***********************

@audio1484:

Firstly, thanks for reading the above info -- you will probably crash your computer if you did *not* read it (and then did something foolish like Taking Ownership on your entire C: drive).

Secondly: Since you are running XP Home Edition, you will need to boot up in Safe Mode to take ownership.
Furthermore, do NOT log on under your own account, but instead under the built-in Administrator account.

---> I noticed that you said you are logged in under the "Admin" account.
If by this, you mean that your account is called "Admin," or that your account has Admin access, please note:

* While other accounts (such as your Admin acct) may have administrative access, there is only *one* built-in system account with the full username of "Administrator." *
* This "Administrator" account is pre-built into Windows by default. It cannot be deleted.
* It is not normally available in XP Home, and can only be accessed by booting up in Safe Mode. *
* To do so -- which will then allow you to take ownership of your files -- follow the instructions at the two links below, after reading all of this post first. *


NB: Please be sure to read ALL relevant instructions in both links.
- In the 1st link, there's a lot of *non-relevant* info. Please only follow the section: "How to restart in Safe mode or in Safe mode with networking support"
--> **Do not** use the next section in that 1st link, "How to remove unsigned drivers"
- In the 2nd link, you should read *all* of the information.

1. This link will tell you how to boot up into Safe Mode (among many other things):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

2. This link will tell you how to take ownership of your individual files on the D:\ drive once you have booted into Safe Mode:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421


NB: After you have read the relevant section on how to boot into Safe Mode (using Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting):
- Though it says to use the F8 key to boot into Safe Mode, I suggest that you start tapping the F8 key every 1-2 seconds while your computer is rebooting.
-- There may not be an obvious prompt for Safe Mode or Advanced Boot options, and there is only a particular time frame where you can hit F8.
--- If you miss that time frame, your computer will simply boot up normally, and you will have to shut down, and start over again.



NB: When you have finished reading (and saving in a Notepad or Word file) this post, plus the Microsoft instructions from the above links, and you are ready to reboot into Safe Mode:
- A lot of your software will not work in Safe Mode, so don't be surprised if you start seeing other errors *while in Safe Mode* (this is because Safe Mode disables most non-critical system components, so that you can troubleshoot or fix your system if those components are causing problems -- it also means much of your software won't work while in Safe Mode -- but don't worry, it'll work fine again once you reboot normally. We're just troubleshooting here, which temporarily requires Safe Mode.).
- **Do not** use the "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" option. This will take away your desktop, giving you just a Command Prompt instead (until you reboot normally), which you likely do not want.
- **Only** use either the regular "Safe Mode" or the "Safe Mode with Network Support" option.


NB: I highly suggest you copy and paste these instructions, along with the relevant information from each above link, into Notepad or Word, and safe it as a file on your desktop.
-- This is because, once you boot into Safe Mode (even with Network Support), you will most likely *not* have internet access -- until you reboot again normally.



*** LAST WARNING - IMPORTANT: ***
When you have booted into Safe Mode, and are ready to Take Ownership of the files:
-- You will need to highlight the name of the User or Group to give ownership to.

*** DO NOT select the user "Administrator" as the Owner. You will be the using the Administrator account while in Safe Mode, but after you reboot normally, you will be using your regular account instead. (Yes, your regular account does have Administrative Access, but this is not the same thing.) ***

**** Instead: If the option is there, give ownership to the "Administrators" group (plural). (The distinction between the user vs the group is only visible by the "s" on the end, and a small icon of 2 persons instead of 1.)
---> By giving ownership to the Adminstrators group, you are allowing access to anyone who is a member of that group "Administrators" -- including your regular account, which has Admin access. *****

NB: If you decide to take ownership of an entire folder, *be sure* to check the box labeled "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects" -- this way each file within the folder, and each subfolder, will also have its ownership changed.



All right. Now that you've read all of that (and the relevant links), please let us know if it resolves the issue!! (or not)
OR let us know if you have read this all carefully and need something clarified.

If it *doesn't* work, please answer these three questions:

1) Were you unable to follow any part of the instructions for any reason? Please be specific!
2) When was the last time that you *were* able to access these files?
3) What has changed since then? (E.g., new software installed, changes made to the partition, changes made to Windows...?)


Thank you for reading, and I hope this helps!

Unfortunately, it takes a long time to type out instructions (with all of their associated warnings and caveats), compared to the 5-12 minutes it should actually to perform these instructions, once read and understood.

Tech support is a tricky business, and good communication is the key.

Thanks again for making worthwhile the time I spent typing these instructions up!


Regards,
silentashes
 
S

silentashes

Distinguished
Sep 25, 2009
3
0
18,510
@TNSSEEguy:

If I understand you correctly, you are unable to edit the pictures on your digital camera.

This is most likely because the camera's own internal OS will not allow external manipulation of the images.
In other words, it is not simply a "dumb" storage device (such as a USB flash drive); rather, it is its own device with its own software.
As such, it will not allow an external device (that it is connected to, such as your computer) to modify the images directly.

1. Instead, you should first copy (or "upload") the pictures from the camera to your PC.
2. (Store them in a location such as your "My Pictures" folder.)
3. Then, modify the copies of them that will be on your computer.

Hope that makes sense.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,
silentashes
 
H

headgamer

Distinguished
Sep 29, 2009
1
0
18,510
Hey guys, I am having a similar problem. My wife's laptop died and so I pulled her hard drive and put in a closure to use as an external drive. I can access everything on it except the directory /Documents and Settings/Kelly which of course is the only folder I want to access to pull off all her data files before I reformat the drive. I have tried to procedures to take ownership of the files via MS's instructions:

-------------------------------------------------------
How to take ownership of a folder
You must have ownership of a protected folder in order to access it. If another user has restricted access and you are the computer administrator, you can access the folder by taking ownership.

To take ownership of a folder, follow these steps:
Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of the folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:
You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?
All permissions will be replaced if you click Yes.
-------------------------------------------------------

PROBLEM: When I go to the Security tab, there IS NO ADVANCED BUTTON. I am the only user of my computer and only account on it, so I am the Administrator. Since there is no Advanced button, my efforts stop dead in their tracks.

Any help people?

I am using XP Pro by the way....

TIA.

Sean
 
S

silentashes

Distinguished
Sep 25, 2009
3
0
18,510
*** IF YOUR PROBLEM HAS BEEN RESOLVED, PLEASE POST BACK LETTING US KNOW WHAT FIXED IT.***

THIS WILL HELP OTHERS LIKE YOURSELF!!


@headgamer:

Right-click on your home drive (where the user profiles are stored; usually "C:\"), and choose Properties.

Near the top, under the name of the disk (e.g., "Local disk") and under the "Type," it should say "Filesystem: ..."

What is the *exact* name of the Filesystem that your drive is using?


-================-
In addition, try this:

In Windows Explorer (i.e., when all you have open is just a window, like "%userprofile%" -- which automatically redirects to that user's home folder, by the way):

1. Go to the Tools menu --> Folder Options
2. Click on the View tab at the top
3. Scroll all the way to the bottom, and UN-check "Use Simple File Sharing."
4. Click OK.

There's a remote possibility that will give you an 'Advanced tab,' but if my first guess is right, it won't.
Still should be tried, however.

**Post back and let us know.**

- silentashes
 
S

Surya_1

Distinguished
Aug 13, 2011
1
0
18,510
bro change ur file permission to delete or open the file.
First take the ownership of file.
1. Turn off Simple File Sharing:
1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
3. Under Advanced Settings, click to clear the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) check box, and then click OK.
2. Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message, if one appears.
4. Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
5. In the Name list, click your user name, Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group.

If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, click to select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
6. Click OK.

You may receive the following error message, where Folder is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of:
You do not have permission to read the contents of directory Folder. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control? All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.
7. Click Yes.
8. Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and the folder contents.




Now u can delete the file. After then if file are not opening then copy the file in another drive. and u see ur file are working





Surya
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom