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Thread: Help urgently needed! Windows not booting

  1. #1
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    Help urgently needed! Windows not booting

    Hello everyone,

    Yesterday, when I turned on my computer, Windows XP did not boot up! It

    just showed the Dell logo (I have a Dell Desktop) and then it went to

    black as it usually does before showing the Widows XP logo. But after

    that nothing else appeared. It just stayed black and the computer's

    hard-drive acticity light went nuts, but the screen stayed black until

    I was forced to reboot.
    Then I proceeded to use my Windows Reinstallation CD and upgrade

    Windows XP hoping that it would fix the problem without having to

    re-format the hard-drive. But after it installed some files, it

    re-booted to start the actual re-installation of windows, but again

    nothing showed up after the black screen. I also fixed the boot sector

    and the master boot record with the windows re-installation cd, but it

    didn't help at all.
    At this point I said to myself "screw it, I'll just install Windows XP

    on my second HDD and attempt to recover the files on my master HDD once

    I get XP running on my second HDD," but to my suprise once I got XP

    running on my second HDD and went to My Documents in my C drive (C is

    my primary HDD, the one that doesn't boot) but I was greeted with the

    following message:

    C:\Documents and Settings\Owner is not accessible
    Access is denied

    Owner is that name of my account where I keep all my school files,

    personal photos, music, and an endless quantity of important personal

    information that I would really don't want to lose. I don't really care

    if I have to format my C drive as long as I can recuperate this

    valuable data. So, I basically either would like to recuperate my data

    in the My Documents folder (owner) or be able to boot again into

    Windows on my C drive.

    I was thinking that perhaps I could install Linux and try to access my

    files from there. What do you think? Does anyone have any suggesstions?

    Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks a lot for reading (and hopefully helping).....
    Games and Computers

  2. #2
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hi, it sounds like an authority problem the SID file on your second drive is different from the one on C:/

    Try loging in with your main Administrator account, then go to your C:\ drive and take ownership of the file.

    Reboot, then you should be able to get into the file as Administrator.

    Good luck

  3. #3
    Junior Member
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    Thanks for your reply nihil.

    But how do I take ownership of the files?
    Games and Computers

  4. #4
    AOs Resident Troll
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    Right Click the file
    Security
    Advanced
    Owner

    HTHs

    MLF
    How people treat you is their karma- how you react is yours-Wayne Dyer

  5. #5
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Learn from this mistake you made



    Click the smiley for more.

  6. #6
    you could try booting up PC with a live linux distro (like knoppix) moving al files onto 2nd HD that you wish to keep and then format reinstall windows

    v_Ln

  7. #7
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    If you have difficulty:

    Open the Windows Help & Support Center

    Type file ownership into the search box, then select the take ownership of a file or folder option that appears in the "pick a task" list.

    You may have to disable the simple file sharing option to get the <security> tab to display. There are instructions on how to do that as well.


  8. #8
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    Thanks for your help guys, they've certainly oriented me a lot.

    Ok, I just unlocked the My Documents folder. However everything inside the folder is locked, and the thing is I have over 500 files and 20 folders inside the My Documents folders, which would mean that I have to remove the restriction on everyfile and folder manually. Isn't there a better way to accomplish this?
    Games and Computers

  9. #9
    They call me the Hunted foxyloxley's Avatar
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    In short : No .........

    Just R click on the 'my document' folder.
    go to properties.
    then to 'security'.
    you should get a 'ping' and a message that you cannot do blah blah blah.

    hit the 'advanced' button.
    now, 'ownership' [might be different button, but the meaning is obvious]
    it should open a window wherein there is an admin symbol.
    click on, and also check the box at the bottom to allow the owner to take all files down from there.

    click the OK.

    Repeat till done or bored.............
    Sorry that I don't know the short cuts.
    so now I'm in my SIXTIES FFS
    WTAF, how did that happen, so no more alterations to the sig, it will remain as is now

    Beware of Geeks bearing GIF's
    come and waste the day :P at The Taz Zone

  10. #10
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hmmm,

    If you go into the main folder, and "security" you click the "advanced" radio button at the bottom and go into permissions.

    Check the box to replace all the child permissions with the parent ones.

    It might be an idea to then re-boot before having another try.

    I am pretty sure that you can set the top level permissions and get them to be inherited by the "children"

    In case you haven't noticed, I have not done anything like this since Win NT4

    Good luck!

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