destination folder access denied you need permission to perform this action

CapCity · 12-01-2009

I've been able to find countless references to the above message but the
situations do not seem to be *exactly* like mine, or the solutions presented
did not work for the original poster.

Here's my saga:

I had an XP machine die on me. There were 3 physical hard drives in there,
and there are things I want to keep from all 3. All 3 were formatted and
populated by the XP machine. I got one of those USB enclosures. I also got a
brand new computer a couple of days ago which is running, of course, Vista.
My first thought was to blow away the O/S and install XP, but was convinced
to give Vista a shot.

I put the old XP boot disk into the enclosure and plugged it into the Vista
machine. I was able to copy over some files from the root of the old dive,
and one entire folder off of the root. I tried another folder off of the
root and could not copy everything in there because of the above message.
The message says that destination folder access is denied, which I doubted,
as I am on an administrator account and it's just a folder, not something
the Windows or Program Files folder. A little research led me to believe
that it was an ownership issue on the source folder and I was able to change
the owner to the Vista account but I still could not copy everything.

I had the same problem when I tried to get stuff out of the "My Documents",
"Favorites" and the like from the old XP drive, which was less surprising.
But still frustrating. Same thing - was able to change ownership but still
unable to copy files.

So my questions are this:

1 - Is there some command, or setting or something, that will allow me to
copy/delete any file I want from these XP drives? Preferably a global one
and not one where I have to do multiple clicks for each folder.

2 - If I get the XP machine running again, will me changing ownership on
those folders/files cause me any grief if these drives are put back in the
XP machine? If so, how can that be rectified?

Thanks for your time and any guidance!

Eric Bursley · 12-01-2009

you will need to open windows explorer with elevated permissions, and take
ownership of the files. This will then allow you to change the security
descriptor, permitting you to copy files from it.

CapCity · 13-01-2009

Thanks for that. I understand the elevated permissions and taking ownership
of the files.

I am not sure how to change the security descriptor. I've searched and can
find some references on SDDL and chkdsk problems with security descriptors,
but not exactly how to change them. If I'm being dense, I apologize. But I'm
afraid I need a little more help.

Sam Hobbs · 13-01-2009

There was a similar question in this group recently; I know because I have
had a similar problem transferring a hard drive from XP to Vista and I also
forwarded the answers to my nephew because he asked about transferring a
hard drive from system to system; I think from XP to Vista also.