# NTFS - Permission Denied



## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

Hello
I have a messed up Windows install and I need to get 1 file off the hard drive before formatting it. I've booted a linux CD and I can mount and use my Windows drive from it. It allows me to access and copy most of the files on it, but some of them show up as "0 bytes" and I get "permission denied" when trying to open them-- of course, that includes the folder with the 1 file I need to get to.

So this is what's happening:
cd /mnt/hda2 works and gets to my windows partition
I can access most files in my Windows folder, Program Files, etc
But if I do cd myfolder I get "myfolder is not a directory". This isn't just happening on one directory, I get it for some of the folders in Program Files, some files on the Desktop, etc. These files/directories that I can't get to from Linux are just listed as 0 bytes.

Does anyone know how I might be able to get to these files? I have Ubuntu and Knoppix available.

Thanks


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## MMJ (Oct 15, 2006)

If you can put it as a slave in a Windows box you should be able to get them.


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

From my experience it is to do with the admin right or root privilege.

If you log in as root to the GUI, as some Live CD permit it, you should be able to access all the files same as the admin in Windows. Without it you can still do in in terminal with "su" or "sudo". Most Live CD do not demand a password on receiving the "su" command.

The "my Documents" folder as exists in XP isn't physically a directory in the hard disk but an equivenet symbolic link to the user account or directory under the subdirectory of "Documents and settings" in the root directory, which is ususally the "c" drive, of the XP.

You should be able to recover every file in XP, including the corrupt ones, by a Linux Live CD as I have done it several times, to the amazement of the owners.


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

Thanks for the suggestions
I would like to plug it into a Windows box but it's a laptop hard drive and I don't have a converter to plug it in (yet.)

I did try accessing the folder as root and it had the same problem. It's a real folder (C:\abc\def\)


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

brendandonhu,

Not that I don't believe you but I just popped a Puppy 2.12 Live CD in. I mounted my XP partition, went inside the account (same right as admin) of the documents and settings, check some documents, then I bring up some photos and listen to the MP3. Don't know what else can I check. 

If the files are not accessible may be they have been encrypted in XP.


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

They weren't encrypted, something odd is going on that's stopping them from being read though. I'm trying to figure out why some files and not others but I don't know.


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## MMJ (Oct 15, 2006)

It depends how the permissions were set. I am surprised the Linux listens to that.


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

The permissions of all these files would be the same, some of them can be accessed and others show up as empty.


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