Retrieving files on a hard-disk
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Hello ! Yesterday evening I was trying to install an old scanner on my XP computer. I found some info on the net about the fact that the driver were not supported under XP anymore but some people tried with the drivers for 2000 and it seemed to work for them. Ok, so I start installing the stuff and the programs for scanning but after some time trying to get it work, I see that it doesn't work at all. So, I uninstall everything and continue to use my computer. After a certain time, Norton antivirus was behaving strangley: it popped an error message without any text displayed and when you closed it, it reappeared (you have to close it 10 times or so). Then I saw that my internet connection was down and I decided to reboot the PC. And there, big problem: it cannot start windows anymore X| ! It tells me that the file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" is either corrupted or missing and that I should try to repair the installation with my XP cd-rom :mad: Of course, no chance of getting it back (and I'm far of being an expert in that field). So, I'm asking some help from experts here. I would like first to try to restore my system. Does anybody know if this is possible using the repair 'option' (basically it is just a dos mode) ? If this is not possible, it's not that bad because it is not my main computer. But I really need to get back data that is stored on this disk. Unfortunately, I tried copying the documents on a floppy disk while in repair mode but apparently I cannot copy the files (don't know why, if I make a 'dir' command, I see all my files but I cannot copy them on the floppy: "access denied"). Another problem is that those files are in the folder "Documents and Settings" :(( and I think I will have more troubles to get them. I was thinking of bringing my hard-disk to a friend and connect it on his computer so that I can try to get the files from there, but I think I will have problems with accessing the "Documents and Settings" folder. Does anybody have experience in that field ? Will this folder be locked ? If yes, is there a way to access it or to retrieve the files in this folder ? A big thank in advance to evertbody who can help me :rose:
Cédric Moonen Software developer
Charting control [v1.2]The file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" has a backup in the file "WINDOWS\REPAIR\SYSTEM". You can change the original file with the backup and the system should work.:) Yes the documents and settings folder will not be accessible. You can plug your hard disk in your friend's system and disable simple file sharing by opening windows explorer selecting folder options from the tools menu and then disable simple file sharing from there. You will be able to change the permissions of any folder. You can now right click on documents and settings folder open properties->security->advanced->owner. Now give the ownership of the folder to the admin user on that system. Also select the "replace owner on subcontainers and objects" option. Now you have the ownership of the folder. Add a new user "Everyone" in the properties->security tab and give it all the permissions. Now you should be able to access the content of the folder.
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The file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" has a backup in the file "WINDOWS\REPAIR\SYSTEM". You can change the original file with the backup and the system should work.:) Yes the documents and settings folder will not be accessible. You can plug your hard disk in your friend's system and disable simple file sharing by opening windows explorer selecting folder options from the tools menu and then disable simple file sharing from there. You will be able to change the permissions of any folder. You can now right click on documents and settings folder open properties->security->advanced->owner. Now give the ownership of the folder to the admin user on that system. Also select the "replace owner on subcontainers and objects" option. Now you have the ownership of the folder. Add a new user "Everyone" in the properties->security tab and give it all the permissions. Now you should be able to access the content of the folder.
Wow, thanks for the detailed explanation. I'll try that this evening :)
Cédric Moonen Software developer
Charting control [v1.2] -
Hello ! Yesterday evening I was trying to install an old scanner on my XP computer. I found some info on the net about the fact that the driver were not supported under XP anymore but some people tried with the drivers for 2000 and it seemed to work for them. Ok, so I start installing the stuff and the programs for scanning but after some time trying to get it work, I see that it doesn't work at all. So, I uninstall everything and continue to use my computer. After a certain time, Norton antivirus was behaving strangley: it popped an error message without any text displayed and when you closed it, it reappeared (you have to close it 10 times or so). Then I saw that my internet connection was down and I decided to reboot the PC. And there, big problem: it cannot start windows anymore X| ! It tells me that the file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" is either corrupted or missing and that I should try to repair the installation with my XP cd-rom :mad: Of course, no chance of getting it back (and I'm far of being an expert in that field). So, I'm asking some help from experts here. I would like first to try to restore my system. Does anybody know if this is possible using the repair 'option' (basically it is just a dos mode) ? If this is not possible, it's not that bad because it is not my main computer. But I really need to get back data that is stored on this disk. Unfortunately, I tried copying the documents on a floppy disk while in repair mode but apparently I cannot copy the files (don't know why, if I make a 'dir' command, I see all my files but I cannot copy them on the floppy: "access denied"). Another problem is that those files are in the folder "Documents and Settings" :(( and I think I will have more troubles to get them. I was thinking of bringing my hard-disk to a friend and connect it on his computer so that I can try to get the files from there, but I think I will have problems with accessing the "Documents and Settings" folder. Does anybody have experience in that field ? Will this folder be locked ? If yes, is there a way to access it or to retrieve the files in this folder ? A big thank in advance to evertbody who can help me :rose:
Cédric Moonen Software developer
Charting control [v1.2]The file it can't access is the registry hive which contains HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM, which is vital to boot the system. Setup does store a copy of the original post-setup SYSTEM hive as C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.SAV. You could try copying this to SYSTEM and see if it boots then, although you will lose a lot of configuration changes. Corrupt files on a disk tend to indicate that the disk is dying, although the other problems suggest that it might have been due to a memory-trashing bug in those scanner drivers. The default security settings on your user profile folder do not permit other users to read it. I can't recall if the recovery console allows you to specify a username - if it does, use your own rather than Administrator. With regard to using your hard disk in another machine, you will still have security problems as the security identifiers are machine-relative. However, an administrator can take ownership of the folder and then change the access control list so they can read the data. Unfortunately in XP you cannot set the owner of an object to someone other than yourself or the Administrators group (if you're an administrator); the Windows security model requires that you have, and use, the restore privilege to do that, and XP doesn't do this in the UI (Windows Server 2003 does).
Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder
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The file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" has a backup in the file "WINDOWS\REPAIR\SYSTEM". You can change the original file with the backup and the system should work.:) Yes the documents and settings folder will not be accessible. You can plug your hard disk in your friend's system and disable simple file sharing by opening windows explorer selecting folder options from the tools menu and then disable simple file sharing from there. You will be able to change the permissions of any folder. You can now right click on documents and settings folder open properties->security->advanced->owner. Now give the ownership of the folder to the admin user on that system. Also select the "replace owner on subcontainers and objects" option. Now you have the ownership of the folder. Add a new user "Everyone" in the properties->security tab and give it all the permissions. Now you should be able to access the content of the folder.
\Windows\Repair\SYSTEM is created when you do a System State backup. You have to do this regularly for this to be a useful file. That said, it's more likely to be up-to-date than \Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM.SAV.
Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder
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Hello ! Yesterday evening I was trying to install an old scanner on my XP computer. I found some info on the net about the fact that the driver were not supported under XP anymore but some people tried with the drivers for 2000 and it seemed to work for them. Ok, so I start installing the stuff and the programs for scanning but after some time trying to get it work, I see that it doesn't work at all. So, I uninstall everything and continue to use my computer. After a certain time, Norton antivirus was behaving strangley: it popped an error message without any text displayed and when you closed it, it reappeared (you have to close it 10 times or so). Then I saw that my internet connection was down and I decided to reboot the PC. And there, big problem: it cannot start windows anymore X| ! It tells me that the file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" is either corrupted or missing and that I should try to repair the installation with my XP cd-rom :mad: Of course, no chance of getting it back (and I'm far of being an expert in that field). So, I'm asking some help from experts here. I would like first to try to restore my system. Does anybody know if this is possible using the repair 'option' (basically it is just a dos mode) ? If this is not possible, it's not that bad because it is not my main computer. But I really need to get back data that is stored on this disk. Unfortunately, I tried copying the documents on a floppy disk while in repair mode but apparently I cannot copy the files (don't know why, if I make a 'dir' command, I see all my files but I cannot copy them on the floppy: "access denied"). Another problem is that those files are in the folder "Documents and Settings" :(( and I think I will have more troubles to get them. I was thinking of bringing my hard-disk to a friend and connect it on his computer so that I can try to get the files from there, but I think I will have problems with accessing the "Documents and Settings" folder. Does anybody have experience in that field ? Will this folder be locked ? If yes, is there a way to access it or to retrieve the files in this folder ? A big thank in advance to evertbody who can help me :rose:
Cédric Moonen Software developer
Charting control [v1.2]Cedric Moonen wrote:
I was thinking of bringing my hard-disk to a friend and connect it on his computer so that I can try to get the files from there, but I think I will have problems with accessing the "Documents and Settings" folder
Well, this is trivial, simply plug your HD on his computer as a slave drive (e.g. as if your HD were a new HD he added to his computer, maybe you will need to unplug his DVD player to get a free IDE port), and then you can access all your files without any problem, even those in the "Documents and Settings" directory, which are not blocked in any way, since your HD is a slave one and the windows specific directories are considered normal directories on an alien PC. But do not try to boot on your HD once installed on his PC, so make sure you set the jumpers correctly on the HD.
Constantly "Saving the day" should be taken as a sign of organizational dysfunction rather than individual skill - Ryan Roberts[^]
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Hello ! Yesterday evening I was trying to install an old scanner on my XP computer. I found some info on the net about the fact that the driver were not supported under XP anymore but some people tried with the drivers for 2000 and it seemed to work for them. Ok, so I start installing the stuff and the programs for scanning but after some time trying to get it work, I see that it doesn't work at all. So, I uninstall everything and continue to use my computer. After a certain time, Norton antivirus was behaving strangley: it popped an error message without any text displayed and when you closed it, it reappeared (you have to close it 10 times or so). Then I saw that my internet connection was down and I decided to reboot the PC. And there, big problem: it cannot start windows anymore X| ! It tells me that the file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" is either corrupted or missing and that I should try to repair the installation with my XP cd-rom :mad: Of course, no chance of getting it back (and I'm far of being an expert in that field). So, I'm asking some help from experts here. I would like first to try to restore my system. Does anybody know if this is possible using the repair 'option' (basically it is just a dos mode) ? If this is not possible, it's not that bad because it is not my main computer. But I really need to get back data that is stored on this disk. Unfortunately, I tried copying the documents on a floppy disk while in repair mode but apparently I cannot copy the files (don't know why, if I make a 'dir' command, I see all my files but I cannot copy them on the floppy: "access denied"). Another problem is that those files are in the folder "Documents and Settings" :(( and I think I will have more troubles to get them. I was thinking of bringing my hard-disk to a friend and connect it on his computer so that I can try to get the files from there, but I think I will have problems with accessing the "Documents and Settings" folder. Does anybody have experience in that field ? Will this folder be locked ? If yes, is there a way to access it or to retrieve the files in this folder ? A big thank in advance to evertbody who can help me :rose:
Cédric Moonen Software developer
Charting control [v1.2]I've seen this a couple of times on Win2k. Yes, if you can boot to the repair console (basically a DOS prompt), there's usually a copy of SYSTEM in the WINDOWS\repair directory that you can copy over. You'll lose network and possibly screen settings, but it should boot. Again, I've only done this on Win2K.
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Cedric Moonen wrote:
I was thinking of bringing my hard-disk to a friend and connect it on his computer so that I can try to get the files from there, but I think I will have problems with accessing the "Documents and Settings" folder
Well, this is trivial, simply plug your HD on his computer as a slave drive (e.g. as if your HD were a new HD he added to his computer, maybe you will need to unplug his DVD player to get a free IDE port), and then you can access all your files without any problem, even those in the "Documents and Settings" directory, which are not blocked in any way, since your HD is a slave one and the windows specific directories are considered normal directories on an alien PC. But do not try to boot on your HD once installed on his PC, so make sure you set the jumpers correctly on the HD.
Constantly "Saving the day" should be taken as a sign of organizational dysfunction rather than individual skill - Ryan Roberts[^]
Not true, NTFS ACLs are still enforced. Because the security identifiers are machine-relative (unless both machines are on the same domain and this is a domain account!) you can't access the data without changing the ACL, and you can only do that if the ACL permits it or you're the owner, so you have to take ownership first. The fact that the disk is a 'slave' is completely irrelevant - it's the on-disk ACLs that matter. Now, if the disk were formatted as FAT32 it wouldn't be a problem, but then if it weren't NTFS Cedric would have been able to copy to the floppy disk from the recovery console.
Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder
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Hello ! Yesterday evening I was trying to install an old scanner on my XP computer. I found some info on the net about the fact that the driver were not supported under XP anymore but some people tried with the drivers for 2000 and it seemed to work for them. Ok, so I start installing the stuff and the programs for scanning but after some time trying to get it work, I see that it doesn't work at all. So, I uninstall everything and continue to use my computer. After a certain time, Norton antivirus was behaving strangley: it popped an error message without any text displayed and when you closed it, it reappeared (you have to close it 10 times or so). Then I saw that my internet connection was down and I decided to reboot the PC. And there, big problem: it cannot start windows anymore X| ! It tells me that the file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" is either corrupted or missing and that I should try to repair the installation with my XP cd-rom :mad: Of course, no chance of getting it back (and I'm far of being an expert in that field). So, I'm asking some help from experts here. I would like first to try to restore my system. Does anybody know if this is possible using the repair 'option' (basically it is just a dos mode) ? If this is not possible, it's not that bad because it is not my main computer. But I really need to get back data that is stored on this disk. Unfortunately, I tried copying the documents on a floppy disk while in repair mode but apparently I cannot copy the files (don't know why, if I make a 'dir' command, I see all my files but I cannot copy them on the floppy: "access denied"). Another problem is that those files are in the folder "Documents and Settings" :(( and I think I will have more troubles to get them. I was thinking of bringing my hard-disk to a friend and connect it on his computer so that I can try to get the files from there, but I think I will have problems with accessing the "Documents and Settings" folder. Does anybody have experience in that field ? Will this folder be locked ? If yes, is there a way to access it or to retrieve the files in this folder ? A big thank in advance to evertbody who can help me :rose:
Cédric Moonen Software developer
Charting control [v1.2]Cedric Moonen wrote:
It tells me that the file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" is either corrupted or missing and that I should try to repair the installation with my XP cd-rom
Same happened to my fine running XP of 2 years when booting up and the power failing. Point is, your registry is hosed, and you require a fresh install :(
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xacc.ide-0.2.0.57 - now with C# 2.0 parser and seamless VS2005 solution support!
**
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Hello ! Yesterday evening I was trying to install an old scanner on my XP computer. I found some info on the net about the fact that the driver were not supported under XP anymore but some people tried with the drivers for 2000 and it seemed to work for them. Ok, so I start installing the stuff and the programs for scanning but after some time trying to get it work, I see that it doesn't work at all. So, I uninstall everything and continue to use my computer. After a certain time, Norton antivirus was behaving strangley: it popped an error message without any text displayed and when you closed it, it reappeared (you have to close it 10 times or so). Then I saw that my internet connection was down and I decided to reboot the PC. And there, big problem: it cannot start windows anymore X| ! It tells me that the file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" is either corrupted or missing and that I should try to repair the installation with my XP cd-rom :mad: Of course, no chance of getting it back (and I'm far of being an expert in that field). So, I'm asking some help from experts here. I would like first to try to restore my system. Does anybody know if this is possible using the repair 'option' (basically it is just a dos mode) ? If this is not possible, it's not that bad because it is not my main computer. But I really need to get back data that is stored on this disk. Unfortunately, I tried copying the documents on a floppy disk while in repair mode but apparently I cannot copy the files (don't know why, if I make a 'dir' command, I see all my files but I cannot copy them on the floppy: "access denied"). Another problem is that those files are in the folder "Documents and Settings" :(( and I think I will have more troubles to get them. I was thinking of bringing my hard-disk to a friend and connect it on his computer so that I can try to get the files from there, but I think I will have problems with accessing the "Documents and Settings" folder. Does anybody have experience in that field ? Will this folder be locked ? If yes, is there a way to access it or to retrieve the files in this folder ? A big thank in advance to evertbody who can help me :rose:
Cédric Moonen Software developer
Charting control [v1.2]I can't help with the recuperation part any better than what has already been posted, but maybe save you grief after that part is done and you want to scan. Years ago, I bought a scanner I didn't need (umax ultra 2100, it was actualy free after rebates in a boxing day sale) and never had a use for it until a couple of months ago. I doubted when I saw the Designed for Win98 and Win2K Ready logos on the box. I didn't find any XP updated drivers for it so before anything I just plugged it in my XP machine. To my surprise it worked! I'm sure the utilities that came with it could offer more functionality, but for a simple scan, the XP Camera and Scanner Wizard worked just fine. Good luck!
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Hello ! Yesterday evening I was trying to install an old scanner on my XP computer. I found some info on the net about the fact that the driver were not supported under XP anymore but some people tried with the drivers for 2000 and it seemed to work for them. Ok, so I start installing the stuff and the programs for scanning but after some time trying to get it work, I see that it doesn't work at all. So, I uninstall everything and continue to use my computer. After a certain time, Norton antivirus was behaving strangley: it popped an error message without any text displayed and when you closed it, it reappeared (you have to close it 10 times or so). Then I saw that my internet connection was down and I decided to reboot the PC. And there, big problem: it cannot start windows anymore X| ! It tells me that the file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" is either corrupted or missing and that I should try to repair the installation with my XP cd-rom :mad: Of course, no chance of getting it back (and I'm far of being an expert in that field). So, I'm asking some help from experts here. I would like first to try to restore my system. Does anybody know if this is possible using the repair 'option' (basically it is just a dos mode) ? If this is not possible, it's not that bad because it is not my main computer. But I really need to get back data that is stored on this disk. Unfortunately, I tried copying the documents on a floppy disk while in repair mode but apparently I cannot copy the files (don't know why, if I make a 'dir' command, I see all my files but I cannot copy them on the floppy: "access denied"). Another problem is that those files are in the folder "Documents and Settings" :(( and I think I will have more troubles to get them. I was thinking of bringing my hard-disk to a friend and connect it on his computer so that I can try to get the files from there, but I think I will have problems with accessing the "Documents and Settings" folder. Does anybody have experience in that field ? Will this folder be locked ? If yes, is there a way to access it or to retrieve the files in this folder ? A big thank in advance to evertbody who can help me :rose:
Cédric Moonen Software developer
Charting control [v1.2]Windows XP comes with two repair options when you insert the CD. The repair you are prompted for at the first screen (ie. Press ENTER to install, R to repair) (aka. The Recovery Console) is useless unless you know exactly what's mucked up. The second repair (and part of the semi-amazing-usefulness of XP) requires you to go to install at the first screen. The installation routine will then scan your hard drive for a Windows installation and prompt you to repair it by pressing the R key. Upon pressing the R key setup will begin copying files to repair your copy of Windows. For this you will require your license key. If the installation routine doesn't find your copy of Windows to repair (ie. it prompts you for a partition to install Windows to) then you may need to do some poking in the Recovery Console.
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Cedric Moonen wrote:
It tells me that the file "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" is either corrupted or missing and that I should try to repair the installation with my XP cd-rom
Same happened to my fine running XP of 2 years when booting up and the power failing. Point is, your registry is hosed, and you require a fresh install :(
**
xacc.ide-0.2.0.57 - now with C# 2.0 parser and seamless VS2005 solution support!
**
leppie wrote:
Point is, your registry is hosed, and you require a fresh install
Could be, but on the machines I've seen the registry was ok.
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Not true, NTFS ACLs are still enforced. Because the security identifiers are machine-relative (unless both machines are on the same domain and this is a domain account!) you can't access the data without changing the ACL, and you can only do that if the ACL permits it or you're the owner, so you have to take ownership first. The fact that the disk is a 'slave' is completely irrelevant - it's the on-disk ACLs that matter. Now, if the disk were formatted as FAT32 it wouldn't be a problem, but then if it weren't NTFS Cedric would have been able to copy to the floppy disk from the recovery console.
Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder
Mike Dimmick wrote:
The fact that the disk is a 'slave' is completely irrelevant
That used to work. I have several profiles on my work HD, that I cannot access. If I take my disk home and try and read what are in these directories, it will not be any problem, since windows expects the profiles on my home drive, not on the additional one. And I did that plenty of times, no matter if it was NTFS or FAT32.
Constantly "Saving the day" should be taken as a sign of organizational dysfunction rather than individual skill - Ryan Roberts[^]