I shared my entire c drive, took it out of the computer and put it in another..... the documents and settings folder showed up as blank *cry*

Now I have been told that windows is a bit f***ed in the head and hides it due to security reasons, even though I told it to share.

The computer I took it out of is now non existant so how do I get the documents off the drive? Do I plug it in and boot from windows, deal with all the bs that will come up with it being in a new computer, and push it across to another drive?

Any secrets that will make windows share? Anything easier?

Yes the document and settings can be make "private" in that no one else but the owner could see the contents. I don't know if there is a way to reverse this either.

However, having said that, check in your Windows explorer (tool->folders options->view tab) and make sure that you've got "show hidden and system files and folder" checked. Because a lot of folders in document and settings are either hidden or marked as system folders/files.

If that still doesn't work then I think you might have set your folder as private and you'll have to google on how undo that.

don't store your files in Doc's and settings

also.. try going "view->folder options" (in explorer) and make sure "Use simple file sharing(recommended)" is unselected.

then rightclick on your folder. properties->Security->click on your user, then click on the "allow : full control"

apply, ok, hopefully that will work.

WhiteWolf: I don't store any of my documents in there. They are just my system settings which I would like on my new puter.


So you guys think I should just plug it in as the main windows drive again and try booting? At the moment it is computerless so I can't just check to make sure certain things are checked

last edited by Kat at 11:02:21 23/Nov/05

the above by Opec and Whitewolf is for you to do on the pc you have the hdd in now.

its been awhile since ive done it but you can assign the documents folder to yourself on your new pc.
if there is a password on it you'll need that which you should know.


it is rare that a windows drive will boot on another pc. but try anyhow in safemode if you wish

Disable simple file sharing and muck with the permissions on the folder.

knoppix livecd ftw

it is rare that a windows drive will boot on another pc

No way! it just takes ages because it finds so much more hardware.. but it work.

knoppix livecd ftw

Unsuitable if the destination drive is NTFS.

ensure simple file sharing is off

take ownership of the folder, make sure propogate changes is on. then give admins full control..

edit: it didn't give you any access denied messages or anything? can you see anything under documents and settings (on the other drive) ie. usernames etc.?

last edited by FlyingLlama at 11:36:25 23/Nov/05

FlyingLlama: At the moment we have only tried to access it from a linux system. We haven't put it in a windows box as a seperate drive yet

If your accessing it from Linux, permissions, ownership, bollocks does not come into effect.

You might need to escape the spaces when changing into the directory though, for example;

davidr@silver:~$ cd /media/hda1/Documents\ and\ Settings/

linux is another story.. ill let the (linux) zealots figure this one out then tell me how easy it was.

how is ntfs support for linux nowadays anyway?

last edited by FlyingLlama at 11:48:43 23/Nov/05

If you're accessing it from Linux OS as a slave drive (i'm assuming). Make sure

1) You have NTFS module loaded in your Linux, otherwise you won't be able to access it - IF your drive was formatted in NTFS format

2) If you originally made your folder private, I don't think you'll be able to access it from Linux because I think Windows uses NTFS encryption (I think) on that folders so only you can access when you logged into Windows with your password.

MS have some more info on document & settings folder:

How to configure file sharing in Windows XP

Basically, to get this stuff off your old drive, you will have to off it so you're back Windows and turn on the file sharing as per the article and access it via Samba using Linux or your other Windows PC.

how is ntfs support for linux nowadays anyway?

Still read only.. read/write is experimental. One thing I've done now is to have a 5Gb NTFS partition for just Windows and then any data storage type areas on a FAT32 partition so it can be mounted as rw under Linux.

she should be able to take ownership and give herself permissions.

you actually have to enable ntfs encryption on the folder/files to not be able to get it off.. unless she made it private..

plus.. the local machine stores the data about which folders are shared etc. not the hdd itself if i recall correctly.

how is ntfs support for linux nowadays anyway?

As of 2.6 kernel I think it can read NTFS partition. Writing to it is somewhat more problermatic. Reading encrypted NTFS folder is pretty not possible with stock standard Linux filesystem module, you'll need a commercial 3rd party app for that.

Also,

http://www.linux-ntfs.org/

Might be something you want to check out, as of the latestet version it can:

A fuse module: You can now mount your NTFS volume with FUSE. This means more features (YES, WRITE SUPPORT IS HERE) on the expense of speed and stability. I use it on my own (backuped) data, but it is still experimental so beware. Read more ...

Decrypting files: ntfsdecrypt is a new tool for decrypting NTFS encrypted files. Mostly stable, but needs a patched gnutls library.

ntfsresize: The best (among the free and proprietary) NTFS resizing tool now supports many more of those little rare annoying cases, and can resize them correctly. (Great job done by Szaka!)

Write support: Last, but not least, the kernel driver now does all sorts of mambo jumbo when mounting a volume R/W. Features come slower than ntfsmount (fuse) but much more stable.

Unsuitable difficult if the destination drive is NTFS

the procedure usually requires the use of a dump drive/memory stick/cd burner.

I suppose you could always just dump it on another machine on the network, but still - it can be done to a ntfs drive

Reading encrypted NTFS folder is pretty not possible with stock standard Linux filesystem module, you'll need a commercial 3rd party app for that.

knoppix livecd ftw

I don't know if even Knoppoix can read NTFS encrytped file/folder doode. From what I've seen, it'll read normal NTFS file, but you're out of luck if it's encrypted folders/files (as I think making it folders private does). I could be wrong and I hope I am for Kat's sake.

I don't know if even Knoppoix can read NTFS encrytped file/folder doode. From what I've seen, it'll read normal NTFS file, but you're out of luck if it's encrypted folders/files (as I think making it folders private does)

nah it works beautifully. 3rd party encryption methods are another story though

does windows' file & settings transfer wizard do anything such as this?

it's supposed to.

the idea is that you network your old machine with your new one - run the wizard and it transfers the contents of your old user account over. said account has to be identical to that on your new machine. unfortunately, when people need this function it's often because they've replaced their old broken down box for a new one.

the hat goes off to ms for trying - but in the end it's still the users problem. people just don't care about their data enough to back it up *shrug*

We ended up plugging into the new windows machine and (we think) because they had the same usme and password on both computers that it allowed us to see the folders

linux ntfs read/write is safe. just use captive-ntfs. it uses windows own drivers. :)

^^^ awesome. Thanks for the heads up doode. :)