How can i access a password protected My Documents in an inactive Windows XP?
Hi there,
My old Windows XP had become corrupt and a computer guy said I had to re-install it. I didn’t want to remove the older XP since I still had lots of data in the "My Documents" folder, so he installed a new version of XP on the same drive while letting the old one still be around ther though "deactivated". Now I can’t access my old "My Documents" since the user account in the old (now inactive) XP was password protected. How can I access this old account in the inactive version to copy my old files into the new account?
Very very grateful for any help!
Thanks for your detailed answer.
However, the old XP is not installed on an inactive partitiion. The computer guy simply installed the newversion in a new folder, while the old XP is still accessable in the WINDOWS folder. It’s when I go to the folder where I have my old "My Documents" and try to open it that I get a message that the folder is Not Accessable, due to being password protected. So I can still access all the old XP files, just not this password protected folder. Is there a way to start up the old XP from inside the new one and get into that old user account that way (since I still konw the password). Or is there any other way of doing it?
Thanks so much!
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Tagged with: computer guy • new folder • newversion • old windows • password protected folder • windows folder • windows xp
Filed under: Microsoft Word
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well if u know the password then unlock it, put in a CD to ur computer, copy the files to the CD, now paste the files into ur new my documents
First of all backup should be written in large letters on your forehead, you are master of your own misfortune here. Backing up is so important and could have saved you a lot of hassles.
Now to your problem. I take it your computer guy installed your new XP on a partition and that your old XP is on a deactivated partition. This is not quite clear, however this seems the most likely case.
Quite frankly there are methods of rebuilding corrupted XP partitions without losing your data and I think you computer guy was just too lazy to try these first. You can try these on your deactivated partition if the following doesn’t work. But you will need the help of some experienced with XP.
There are also oodles of free and commercial software that might unlock your old documents but I am going to suggest a very radical solution.
Get a copy of a Live CD of either Ubuntu 7.1 or Koppix. These are Linux OS and freely available. Both have the ability to read Windows partitions.
What I suggest is that you run the Live Version of either – you don’t actually install the OS on your hard drive – and see if you can read the Windows partition. If so you might be able to extract you documents.
You probably will need someone with experience with Linux to help you.
Unfortunately having locked the documents may present a problem.
Best of luck and remember – back up!