Access is Denied - No security tab

**chrayres** · 21-10-2008

I looked around and saw similar problems with no answers or with different situations. I'll try to provide as much information as I can.

I have 4 HDDs. The drive in question is my F: drive. My F: drive is where I store older files and where I backup my C: drive to when I need to format it. About 6 months ago or so I formatted my C: drive and after reinstalling Windows XP Professional SP2, I can only access about 4 of the 7 folders on the /root of the drive. 3 of the folders when I click on them pop up saying "F:\MyFolder is not accessible. Access is denied."

I've found other fixes that I've even used before, but don't work in this situation. When I right-click and choose properties, there is no 'security' tab available. So i'm at a complete loss as to how to access the folders. It's very important to me now because and old client is involved in a lawsuit and I have some files than can help out in their case. Any help is truly appreciated!

Thanks

**EINSTEIN_007** · 21-10-2008

see similar threads: http://forums.techarena.in/microsoft...ity/947353.htm
http://forums.techarena.in/vista-security/757183-2.htm

**ThoMas321** · 22-10-2008

Try right clicking on the drive icon and 'EXPLORE' and you should be able to get Access by that .

**opaper** · 22-10-2008

for more suggestion see here : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810881
This article describes how to take ownership of a file or folder
to which you have been denied access: http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp

**TheGreatOne** · 22-10-2008

Originally Posted by chrayres

I looked around and saw similar problems with no answers or with different situations. I'll try to provide as much information as I can.

I have 4 HDDs. The drive in question is my F: drive. My F: drive is where I store older files and where I backup my C: drive to when I need to format it. About 6 months ago or so I formatted my C: drive and after reinstalling Windows XP Professional SP2, I can only access about 4 of the 7 folders on the /root of the drive. 3 of the folders when I click on them pop up saying "F:\MyFolder is not accessible. Access is denied."

I've found other fixes that I've even used before, but don't work in this situation. When I right-click and choose properties, there is no 'security' tab available. So i'm at a complete loss as to how to access the folders. It's very important to me now because and old client is involved in a lawsuit and I have some files than can help out in their case. Any help is truly appreciated!

Thanks

May be on your C: drive you don't have administrator privilages and if you are administrator then boot is safe mode then you'll surely see the security tab and you can change the ownerships of the folder.

**Solomon** · 22-10-2008

You must be logged on to the computer using an account that has administrative privileges. If you are running Windows XP Home Edition, in order to have access to the Security tab, you must first start in Safe Mode and log on with an account that has Administrative rights.

If you are using Windows XP Professional, you must disable Simple File Sharing. By default, Windows XP Professional uses Simple File sharing when not joined to a domain. For additional information about how to do this, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
307874 HOW TO: Disable Simplified Sharing and Password-Protect a Shared Folder in Windows XP

To take ownership of a folder:
Right-click the folder you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click your user name, Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, click to select the Replace owner on sub containers and objects check box.
Click OK. The following message appears, where folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of:
You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?

All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.

Click Yes.
Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.

Yogesh · 22-10-2008

Are you not getting the Security Tab only on these folders or on all the folders and drives? If it is for all the folders, then Security tab is not activated. To activate it, follow the procedure below,

My Computer -> Tools -> Folder options... -> View
In that, uncheck the last box 'Use simple file sharing (Recommended)'

Now the security tab will appear. Now in security options, take the ownership of those folders and redefine the security permissions & rights. Give full access to your login ID. (You can take ownership only if you are logged in as an Administrator.)

If any security conditions were applied to these files before you last formatted it, you may get access to these files. But if you had encrypted those folders and not created recovery key certificate for that, then such encrypted folders can never be retrieved.

**chrayres** · 22-10-2008

Thank you so much. Some times I can be quite the dunce. I looked in the folder options several times before but never saw the Use Simple File Sharing button. Today I scrutinized over it until I found it... AT THE BOTTOM! Doo do doo.. So I've got access to these folders again. Thanks you guys for helping me out here.