Re: I reinstalled Windows and now can't access my old account


"Andrew" <Andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:A82544B0-5B46-4F48-8560-20EC38883C13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I just reinstalled Windows XP and set up a new Administrator account. The
install went smoothly; all of my old programs and files still seem to be
there on the hard drive. Unfortunately, there was some stuff on the
desktop
of my old Admin account that I want to get at, and I can't for some
reason.

Under My Computer>C:>Documents and Settings I can see "Andrew Account" (my
old login) but when I click on it it says "Andrew Account is not
accessible.
Access denied." I can't see why, if I'm logged in as an administrator, I
should be denied access to anything, frankly. I tried the Recovery
Console,
but it won't let me access the files either. And finally, I've tried
Control
Panel>User Accounts>Change an Account, but Andrew Account simply won't
come
up. Any thoughts?
The cause of this behavior is that an account name is merely an alias for a
security ID. Windows never reuses security IDs; thus when you reinstalled
Windows, the security ID for the new Andrew account no loner matches that of
the old. Hence, as far as Windows is concerned an new user is trying to
gain access to data which belongs to somebody else.

As an administrator, you can circumvent this situation by taking ownership
of the files and folders in question.

Jim


.

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