my motherboard died so I had another system built. the old system ran xp and the new one is vista. they installed my old drive along with a new one. I can see the files on the old hd, but can't run them (mp3, text files, etc). the xp drive had a profile and password. vista says I don't have permission to access. I followed vistas prompts, I thought. Is there a simple fix, or do I need to put it back in xp machine and delete the profile?
Pista has very stringent restrictions on files, again, in protection for software for idiots. Try copying the files to a new directory on the vista hard drive and then run them. If they won't copy or the XP 'My Documents' file is inaccessable put the xp drive back in the original machine and do this: 1. Go to the folder (not file) that stores the files that won’t copy (eg. the My Documents folder). 2. Right click on the folder and select PROPERTIES. 3. Select the SECURITY tab. 4. Select ADVANCED (bottom right). 5. Make sure you select the PERMISSIONS tab if it isn’t already selected. 6. Click on “Allow _ Everyone _ Modify _ ....” the lines with MODIFY on, are the ones that are preventing the files from transferring. 7. Now that the “Allow _ Everyone _ Modify _ ....” line is selected, click EDIT. 8. In the list of permissions in the next window, you’ll see some UNSELECTED boxes under the heading ALLOW. 9. SELECT each of these to give full control to the EVERYONE name. 10. Click OK 11. Place ticks in both boxes at the bottom left of this window (Advanced Security Settings window)... Box headings are ...(INHERIT FROM PARENT THE PERMISSION ENTRIES and REPLACE PERMISSION ENTRIES ON ALL CHILD OBJECTS) 12. Click OK 13. Click OK Now the XP machine will give full rights to the VISTA machine to copy files over. NOTE: Never never never save your files to the 'My Documents' file in Pista . If you do there's hell to pay when it crashes. Create a new main directory under the 'C' drive with sub directories under that, and save to there. If the drive crashes you'll always have access that way. To change the default save file location for programs is another topic. Google it. Got PC prob's? Let LapPhix it!! PM me.
