The reason you are getting this message is because the old install HD was 1)formatted with NTFS 2) Encryption was enabled. To recover these files you are going to need to provide the password for the account the files belong to.
 
good luck
emanon

ok, i know both of my hard drives are formatted with ntfs so thats not the prob. i do know the account pass which the files are on but i cant get the old install to boot up at all and the only way is using my new install to browse whats on the old hard drive. thats when i get the access denyed error. i know this is for security reasons but does anyone know a way of by passing this? i only want to recover a few important documents before i reformatt that drive. if there is no way of doing what i have asked can someone please tell me. thank you

Or you can use the ERD LIVE CD to boot with, then you can override any access:)

ive tried using the windows xp cd to do a repair on the install but i have forgotten my admin pass :x. whats ERD Live and where can i get it from? also will i need to know my admin pass to do that or will it just boot up xp with no problems? thanks

Just browse to the folder where your files are located. Right-click on the folder, go to properties, go to security, If your name isn't on the list then Click ADD and add it, You may also have to hit the ADVANCED button, Go to the OWNER tab, and choose your username, Also check the "Replace permissions entries" checkbox.

Originally posted by dosfreak:

Quote:Just browse to the folder where your files are located. Right-click on the folder, go to properties, go to security, If your name isn't on the list then Click ADD and add it, You may also have to hit the ADVANCED button, Go to the OWNER tab, and choose your username, Also check the "Replace permissions entries" checkbox. 
when i get the folder properties up all i get is 3 tabs, general, sharing and customise. ive looked thro all of them and found no button saying security, all i have is sharing options.

Ah, yeah this is MS user friendliness popping up again.
 
Double-click on My Computer, Go to Tools, Folder Options, View, Scroll all the way down to the bottom, Uncheck "Use simple file sharing".
 
Now you should have your Security Tab.

yyyyyyyyyyyyaaaayyyyyyyyy, thanks alot, you have saved my life. i had all my coursework on that hard drive and feared that i may have to do it again. thanks alot you have been a great help.

This is a bit of an addendum for people in my situation - I had exactly the same problem, but couldn't find the "Enable simple file sharing" checkbox. After a bit of searching (which I'm hoping to save some people with this post), I found out that it's because I was using XP home edition - which doesn't let you disable simple file sharing.
There is a way around it though, detailed at this site - http://wiki.ehow.com/Disable-Simple-File-Sharing-in-Windows-Xp-Home-Edition.
After following those instructions, I still had some problems accessing the actual "My Documents" folder in the old harddrive's "Owner" folder. This is where I'm getting a bit sticky - I don't know if what I'm doing is correct, but in the properties dialogue, there is a tab labelled "owner" or "ownership" (it's easy to spot). In that, I've changed the ownership to the new computer's administrator. It seems to have worked, but I'm mildly worried that the original "owner" folder from the new computer has been overwritten.
 
EDIT
It's worked, everything is fine. If anyone knows that I've done something wrong, please throw a post here to warn other people away from my methods - I'm patching all this together as I go along...

Nah your good. If you switch between different OS's that are not on a domain then if you have issues with file/directory access then you can simply change ownership back.

This has been a great help for me as well but is there are a way to unlock all the folders at once or do I have to do them one at a time. I need to figure this out otherwise Im out 20 gigs of music that is buried 7 folders down from the "owner" folder.
 
Thanks guys