[RESOLVED] Windows Tech Help Neeeded

[The Phoenix]

Well, I did a baaad thing.

My Computer was booting up and running horrendously slow. I mean like it would take it 5-10 minutes to comple the boot up. And its not for lack of power, I have a fairly high-end system.

So, I tried various methods of fixing it, but eventually decided to go for reinstalling Windows. I'm a moderately skilled self-taught computer geek, so it should've been no trouble. However, I have several things that I wanted to save and the like so my plan was to simply repair the existing installation. I thought that I had done this in the past, somehow used the XP Home disc to reinstall missing/damaged components, but it had been a long time.

I go to repair it, and it only leads to a DOS-like "C:\WINDOWS" prompt. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, but being an old DOS user myself, I played around for a while before realizing that I did indeed have not a clue what to do. So I went back and started over. This time I thought that I could just install windows over the old installation, thus replacing any bad files. I had found a virus the day before this trouble started, and thought that maybe it had damaged some important windows files or some such.

Anyway, that didn't work. It said that it could possibly delete the "My Documents" folder, which has some files that MUST be saved at all costs. (Wedding photos, my writing projects(I'm an amatuer writer of Sci-Fi and the like), etc) So I chose against doing that, and decided to install a second instance of Windows in a new folder.

That done, I figured I'd just take the all-important documents and sace them, then install windows over the original installation, and all would be solved...

Heh, well now I'm stuck. I can't access the My Documents folder for that user, it just says "Access Denied" every time. I HAVE to get into that folder, but I don't know how. I'm open to ANY methods, please help me.

[nothingofvalue]

So I chose against doing that, and decided to install a second instance of Windows in a new folder.

What?

Anyway,

1. Have you tried to boot in safe mode and then copy the files?

2. Have you tried system restore to a date when all was good?

3. Try copying the entire My Documents folder from the DOS prompt.

[The Phoenix]

I basically installed Windows again, in a new folder. Now there's two Windows XP Home's on my computer, and I have to chose which one to boot into at startup. It's a temporary solution.

1.] No, not yet...

2.] Uhm... I said I'm an idiot, right? If not, I'll say it now. I disabled system restore functions a loooong time ago...

3.] I can't navigate to it in DOS, cause of the space in the name... I've tried using quotation marks and everything...

[nothingofvalue]

Phoenix,

Idiot is a little harsh, but don't disable System Restore unless you intend to perform regular backups on your own. I know alot of sources say that System Restore sucks and you should disable it, but it might be nice right about now....

Anyway, you can get to it in dos even with the space, should look something like this:

cd c:\documents and settings\user\my documents

Where "user" is the username you used

[The Phoenix]

Yeah, I tried exactly that. It always says like "Parameter format not correct - "Documents""

[nothingofvalue]

Try to boot to safe mode, then if it will let you burn the whole folder to CD/DVD

[dglienna]

You could give yourself rights like this:

Displays or modifies access control lists (ACLs) of files



CACLS filename [/T] [/E] [/C] [/G user:perm] [/R user [...]]

[/P user:perm [...]] [/D user [...]]

filename Displays ACLs.

/T Changes ACLs of specified files in

the current directory and all subdirectories.

/E Edit ACL instead of replacing it.

/C Continue on access denied errors.

/G user:perm Grant specified user access rights.

Perm can be: R Read

W Write

C Change (write)

F Full control

/R user Revoke specified user's access rights (only valid with /E).

/P user:perm Replace specified user's access rights.

Perm can be: N None

R Read

W Write

C Change (write)

F Full control

/D user Deny specified user access.

Wildcards can be used to specify more that one file in a command.

You can specify more than one user in a command.



Abbreviations:

CI - Container Inherit.

The ACE will be inherited by directories.

OI - Object Inherit.

The ACE will be inherited by files.

IO - Inherit Only.

The ACE does not apply to the current file/directory.

[nothingofvalue]

Also, if you are running XP you should also be able to start the "Repair" utility from the windows enviroment by inserting your Windows CD

[nothingofvalue]

David,

I really liked the happy faces, it made the reading more challenging

You should have left them ........

[dglienna]

I forgot to disable the smileys in the first post. I have them on as default, because I like them

[nothingofvalue]

Yeah, I'm just messing with you, it was funny...

[The Phoenix]

Wow, dglienna, I have NO idea what you are talking about...

Anyway, nothingofvalue: Thanks man! I got it! Yes! Played around in Safe mode and figured out how to give myself ownership of the folder. Yes! A thousand "Thank you"s!

[nothingofvalue]

Glad to hear it, make sure you resolve your thread....and turn system restore back on