how to access files on another persons external drive?

celtboy1888

i have a hard drive from a laptop, the laptop wont power up..jack problem:rolleyes:

now i have it out of machine in a case and usb'd up to my pc, and i can see all the files..but i cant access the profile of the girl that owns it...prob because she had a password set at log in...any way of accessing??

she wants me to save her music before i dump laptop..

SickBoy

You need to take ownership of the folder.
Follow these steps:

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

To take ownership of a file, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the file that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
3. Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
4. In the Name list, click Administrator, or click the Administrators group, and then click OK.

The administrator or the administrators group now owns the file.

To change the permissions on the file that you now own, follow these steps:

1. Click Add.
2. In the Enter the object names to select (examples) list, type the user or group account that you want to have access to the file. For example, type Administrator.
3. Click OK.
4. In the Group or user names list, click the account that you want, and then select the check boxes of the permissions that you want to assign that user.
5. When you are finished assigning permissions, click OK.
6. You can now access the file.

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:

1. Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
3. Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
4. 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.
5. 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.

Note folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of.
6. Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.

Taken from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

celtboy1888

im on xp...no owner tab:(

SickBoy

The link is for XP
Follow the prerequisite steps and it might show the security tab then.

celtboy1888

sorry to be a divv...but it just asks me about archiving it??

knird evol

I think you need to unselect 'simple file sharing'
windows explorer - tools - folder options - view tab - uncheck simple file sharing