Hey there

Hi all... I'm not really sure where to post this so, here goes...

I recently discovered I have two (2) user accounts on my computer, when I right click start, click explore and open c-drive.
One, 'Owner' and one 'Owner.FAMILY'. FYI... I purchased the computer from a best buy as a display model..
I can open 'Owner.FAMILY' but I cannot open 'Owner' and when I hold my cursor over the folder it says it is empty... I ran Microsofts 'fixit' and now I can right click it and look at the menu, but I still can't open the folder... I now however can open properties and it says the folder is empty and it was created about a year after I purchased the computer.
Now... out of curosity and safety, I scanned it with MSEs and while watching the scan, it shows it simply chock full of folders. BTW, to my knowledge the folders for these links no longer exist on my computer. BUT, it includes some folders and software programs of mine I thought lost and I would like to recover them.
So, my question, help, is this just old links to something which doesn't exist anymore, or can I somehow open this folder and recover some of my data and software which I thought was lost 2 years?
Thanks
Bruce

 

I was just going to add that the situation is probably that you used the Owner account for some period of months and then one day Windows couldn't load that profile due to corruption and created a temporary profile. You were probably not notified of the situation which is sadly normal and started using that new profile as your account. Windows does not consider you the owner of the original account so it doesn't give you access.

Taking ownership of the 'Owner" folder in C:\Users or C:\Users and Documents should give you access to the old files. It is unlikely you will be able to salvage any programs from that profile or get them to run in the current Owner.Family profile.

Posting your version of Windows will help someone get you instructions for taking ownership of the folder.

 

I am using Microsoft Windows XP - Home edition - 2002 - I've tried going into Users account and accessing, but it doesn't show 'Owner' there... only when I right click start, explore do I see it... I would have thought the folder MT had I not out of curiosity ran MSE scan. I sat and watched the scan search folder after folder, of which I recognized most of the folder names, and the documents in them...

 

You can try taking ownership of the folder. That should change the size from 0 bytes to the true size and also let you explore it.

These are the instructions.

For XP Home you have to do it in Safe Mode (hit F8 immediately when starting your PC) to be able to use the Security tab. Then you can follow the steps for taking ownership of a folder. You want to be sure to check the box for "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box" in step 4.

 

Thanks... I'll try it right now and report back later