# Reinstalled Windows XP - now can't access My Documents. HELP! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-windows-xp-now-cant-access-my-documents-help/222865 "2004-01-05T19:33:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-windows-xp-now-cant-access-my-documents-help/222865/1 "2004-01-05T19:33:51Z")
You can read all about my travails in The Pit. But, for now, I call upon the assistance of the Teeming Millions to assist me in getting access to my folders back. Everything else seems fine, but since I had to reinstall Windows XP, I keep getting an “Access is Denied” message when I try to access the My Documents folder. Furthermore, when I try to look up the security restrictions, I’m not seeing any switches to flip to make the folder accessible to everyone. I know the documents are still in there… HALP ME, computer gurus! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zwede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ac91a4/32.png) [@zwede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zwede)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-windows-xp-now-cant-access-my-documents-help/222865/2 "2004-01-05T20:09:30Z")
This is just a guess (sitting in front of a win2k machine at the moment), but can you (as an administrator) take ownership of the folder? ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-windows-xp-now-cant-access-my-documents-help/222865/3 "2004-01-05T20:25:41Z")
Not having much luck doing so. It’s almost as if the administrative features aren’t available to me. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-windows-xp-now-cant-access-my-documents-help/222865/4 "2004-01-05T20:49:56Z")
First make sure you’re logged on as a member of the Administrators group. If you’re using XP Home then you may have to reboot in Safe Mode and log on as administrator. Then open **My Computer** , go to **Tools|Folder Options|View** , and uncheck **Use simple file sharing**. Then right-click the folder in question, hit **Properties** , go to the **Security** tab, hit **Advanced** , go to the **Owner** tab, and change ownership to yourself. You should then be able to set the desired permissions. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-windows-xp-now-cant-access-my-documents-help/222865/5 "2004-01-06T02:36:23Z")
If you encrypted your My Documents folder with your previous installation you may be SOOL. The new install will not generate the original’s ‘keys’ and the files may be unrecoverable (i.e. un-decryptable). ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-windows-xp-now-cant-access-my-documents-help/222865/6 "2004-01-06T02:54:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hail Ants \* > \*\*If you encrypted your My Documents folder with your previous installation you may be SOOL. The new install will not generate the original’s ‘keys’ and the files may be unrecoverable (i.e. un-decryptable). \*\* Been there. Learnt that. The hard way. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-windows-xp-now-cant-access-my-documents-help/222865/7 "2004-01-06T14:50:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hail Ants \* > \*\*If you encrypted your My Documents folder with your previous installation you may be SOOL. The new install will not generate the original’s ‘keys’ and the files may be unrecoverable (i.e. un-decryptable). \*\* I don’t recall encrypting the original folder. Probably something I’d remember. That said, still no luck. This might strike some as incredibly daft, but how would one…ahem, run in safe mode from the bootup? What key would you hit to, er, make that happen? I’m going to try the original suggestion of trying to get in via Admin access. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-windows-xp-now-cant-access-my-documents-help/222865/8 "2004-01-06T15:18:28Z")
You can either start tapping F8 or hold down the Ctrl key just after the BIOS screen disappears. A menu will come up giving startup choices. Arrow down to **Safe Mode** and hit Enter. You’ll then need to log in with the username **administrator**. The password may be blank, but if it’s not you may need to get a utility to reset it.