I need some expert advice...?

Question

I made the mistake of listening to MS support when I had a couple of updates that I couldn't get install. No to bad really but One Care was getting on my nerves with all the messages. SO...long story short the suggestions I received and performed by MS support has totally destroyed my operating system. It is now stuck in an endless loop of restarting and fatal error.I had to install windows on another hard drive just to get this far. I accept the fact that I need to wipe out my other drive and start over but...

I have about 50 pic of my kids that I cant get to copy off the drive. I keep getting an access denied message and I have found out that they were somehow encrypted. SO my question..

how do I get the files off the drive so I can start over?
MS support keeps telling me to go in and set them to be shared. but I cant even get into the system to do it.

I cant get into windows to use the system restore.

I cant get into safe mode either. it just keeps trying to install win XP.

i think im down to calling the geek squad. MS support must be staffed by the just graduated.

as far as I know it was done by windows. I never set any of the pic to be encrypted.

I tried to copy the files from a command prompt already. no luck access denied. I have the XP pro cd, but even booting from the cd I cant do a reapir or reinstall. It just get stuck in the fatal error/reboot loop. send the commands anyway and I can try.

it said that it processed the files, but copied 0. I tried to cut and paste in windows and it gave me the same access denied. The drive they aer saved on has another copy of XP and the pics were saved encrypted under the admistrator.

Answer 1

Hi there.

I was told by laughing_out_loud that you are having problems with your computer.

Can you restart and start up in DOS command prompt? If so, there is a way you can manually copy your pictures to a disk, but I have to send you a few DOS commands to get it working. After you save the pictures, you will need to reinstall windows because it seems you have some corrupted system files thats error'ing your system.

Do you have a Microsoft Windows XP CD? If so, you can just stick it into your drive and reboot. Make sure your bios knows to boot up the CD drive before the hard drive. Then it will take you to the install screen. There should be an option to "REPAIR" Windows. It will basically repair all your system files and the files you need to at least startup windows again. It will also reset your Admin Windows Login so you will have to set the password again.

Edit: In DOS mode, change the mode of the files so that they do not have any permission set to them. Go to the directory that has all your pictures. Then type:
cacls *.* /t /e /g everyone:f
This will allow all your users on the computer to have full access to your files.

If your pictures are in c:\mydir then you can type:
copy c:\mydir\*.* a:

a would be the destination drive that youre trying to copy your pictures to.

Let me know if that works.

Answer 2

The rebooting loop could be fixed if you know what process keeps rebooting your computer. If not, try going into safe mode? Right before it says "WIndows 95/98/XP/2000 Loading..." when there's a black screen, you should press F8 and that will let you either choose a boot-up mode or go automatically into safe mode. From there, you should be able to do what you want. Maybe even uninstall the updates that messed up your computer.

Answer 3

If all you need is the data .. no problem. Just put the original XP disk in, boot to it, act like you're installing, and it will detect an existing Windows installation. Then (and this is important), select the "repair" option.

It will basically re-install XP on there, without touching the documents (note: windows-specific stuff is in "C:\WINDOWS" whereas user-specific stuff is in "C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%"). You will need your green Microsoft license to do this.

NOTE: by "XP CD" I mean original XP disk. Using the Dell/Gateway/whatever "system restore" CD will definately destroy everything .. DO NOT DO THAT!

If you're really worried, get something like Knoppix (knoppix.org). It's a CD-bootable Linux distribution that runs from CD without ever touching your hard disk. It can mount your existing hard disk read-only just fine, and you can find/copy your photos to a flash drive (or whatever).

If you do that, expect to find stuff under a path like this :

/mnt/hda1/Documents\ and\ Settings/Owner/My\ Pictures

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

im not the expert you are looking for,but i do know that if your pic's are important to you?then take the pc to a shop and have fixed by a pro.will cost $ but we cant go back in time and take the pic's over.i think this is your best bet.sorry.i never let micro$oft downloads go auto.i wait 2 or 3 days and then check the blogs to see witch are ok and the ones that are sh*t and only down load the good ones.they dont have a very good record on the patch's they put out.dont need to convince you though,because you are 1 of there latest victoms.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Do you know what program was used to encrypt your images? You may be able to install that on the new drive and pull them over to your new drive through that.

Answer 7

I don't know your answer, however, I did email a friend of mine who should be here shortly to help you, hopefully! He has helped me twice with computer stuff.
And, in regards to this being an answer (so I don't get reported for something stupid like that) I am going to say: have you restarted your computer? (LOL, the only thing I could think of!!)

Answer 8

call in the geek squad---dude this is their thing---and for God's sake don't ever trust those dorks at MSN to do anything right--that's got to be the place they put every incompetent in their business to work-------Windows and the software --marvelous--none better---the network etc--none worse---I spent three weeks trying to straighten out getting into my hotmail account a couple of months back--finally gave up and deleted everything MSN had on my O/S outside of Windows

Answer 9

Have you kept up on System Restore points?

Answer 10

recover your windows with the win cd