I'm running XP home edition. I installed SP1. After the installation I
wasn't able to get the computer to boot completely. It would load the
background screen, but none of the icons or the task bar or start menu
would load. I finally decided to install a new hard drive with XP Home
and SP1 and then I slaved the old drive. I can access everything on
the old drive except the My Documents dir.

I've tried using the cacls command and have even dropped to single
user mode (F8) and tried to reset the permissions. Nothing has worked.
In all instances I am the Administrator and, in fact, I have the only
account on the box.

I'm looking for a software fix using from XP Home that will allow me
to access the files. I have become an expert with cacls and it doesn't
fix the problem, therefore I suggest that you direct your efforts in a
different direction. Although a cacls solution would be fine. I also
know that I can slave the drive to a FBSD box and access the files,
but I don't want to take that approach.

I'm willing to accept an answer via a request for clarification and if
it works I'll advise you to move it to the answer area. In the event
of more than one solution, only the earliest one will accepted. I will
leave 5 star rating for the correct answer.

Thanks in advance.

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 07 Dec 2003 20:56 PST

Hi,

Have you had a look through this knowledge base article, it describes
your problem exactly:

Error Message: "Access Is Denied" When You Try to Open NTFS File System Folders
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;823306&Product=winxp

Failing that, have you tried running chkdsk on the slave drive?

Please let me know how it goes.

Thanks.
endo

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Clarification of Question by summer95-ga on 07 Dec 2003 21:22 PST

It didn't work exactly, but it did work. Please move your reply to the
answer section. Thank you very much.

FWIW, I ran into problems at step 4. It said that I didn't have
permission to access the dir, but that I could take control. I had to
play around with it to get it to set the same permissions on all the
sub-directories and files.

Hi summer95-ga,

Thank you for your question.

The Microsoft Knowledge base is an invaluable tool for finding
solutions to some problems you might have within the Microsoft
environment.

I am glad to have been of assistance.

Thanks.
endo


Search strategy

Microsoft Knowledge Base
http://support.microsoft.com

A prefect solution and super fast response. Thank you.

I am happy to have helped out. 
Thank you for the great rating.
Regards,
endo