The Hindu Business Line : Retrieving important files

Recently, the system automatically rebooted itself and displayed options such as `safe mode, safe mode with command prompt, Networking' as it shut down abruptly. I tried out all the options one by one. System boots up to the windows logo and the sliding blue bar boot screen, then it automatically restarts, only to repeat the above-mentioned steps. I tried the following:

Reinstalled windows in the G drive. It got successfully installed. When I went back to c:\documents and settings\user folder to retrieve essential data, it displayed the `Access denied' message. I tried it through command prompt too only to be greeted with the same message. I tried repairing it using windows installation CD, but was not successful.

When I tried to scan the c:\docs and settings\user folder using Norton anti virus (installed a new in G drive), it displayed the name of all the files and folders. I hope this indicates that all the files still exist. The files are important and I need to retrieve them at the earliest. Data is around 1GB. Please suggest a solution.

KAUSHIK RAM

The user folder in "Documents and Settings" is set with full permission for the corresponding user. One user will not be able to access another's folder in "Documents and Settings". If the operating system crashes and is reinstalled in a different drive, then the user logged in from the new installed OS will not be able to access the previous Documents and Settings user folder. The old Documents and Setting user folder has to be given permission for the required user.

The administrator has to take ownership of the user folder and its contents. After this, the necessary permission for the folder has to be set. After logging in as an administrative user, to take ownership of the user folder, please right-click the user folder in C:\Documents and Settings and click Properties; Click the Security tab; Click Advanced and click Owner tab. In the name list, the logged in username and the Administrator group will be displayed. Select any one and select Replace owner on sub containers and objects. Click Ok and then click Yes for the message. Click Ok to close the Properties window.

This will take ownership of the folder and its contents and set the full control permission for the folder. After this, you can copy the files and folders in the Documents and Settings\User folder. For more details, please look up: http:// support.microsoft.com/kb/308421 There can be some folders where even if you change the permissions to the folder, it is not possible to access the contents or not possible to change the permissions. The folder might be inheriting permission from its parent folders.

To remove the inheritance from the parent folder, please right-click the folder and click properties. Click the security tab. Click advanced. In the permissions tab, the check box "inherit from parent the permission entries that apply to child objects. Include these with entries explicitly defined here" will be selected by default. Remove the check box. During removal, the check box will prompt you to select one of the options: To copy the permission entries those were previously applied from the parent. To remove the permission entries those were previously applied from the parent and keep only those permissions explicitly defined here.

SOLUTION BY P. NATARAJAN