Windows 7: Taking "Ownership" of old HD - "You currently don't have permission...

I built a new system (64 bit windows 7) and would like to copy some files over from my old HD which was Windows XP 32bit. The old hard drive is healthy and functioning correctly.

I'm greeted with the all too well known message "You currently don't have permission to access this folder. Click continue to permanently get access to this folder."

When I click continue it tells me: "You have been denied permission to access this folder. To gain access to this folder you will need to use the security tab."


I've googled around, I've searched this forum and others. And I'm getting more and more confused. I read different instructions and many warnings of impending doom if you do something wrong which will leave the HD inaccessible! Yikes.

Here are just a few of the things I've read:

Permission issues. Fed up with "You do not have permission to....."

Taken ownership of files on old hard drive, still unable to open.

Take Ownership of file - Vista Forums



Take Ownership Shortcut

Permissions - Allow or Deny Users and Groups


While I was more courageous a while ago I tried different ways to gain access and I have access to a few folders here and there within the drive but I'd like to take ownership of the hard drive completely once and for all so that I don't have to keep seeing that error message.


I'd really appreciate help on this issue! I'm more than happy to provide screenshots or more info if required.

Thank you in advance!

Did you add the Take Ownership entry to the right click context menu as this link said: Take Ownership of file - Vista Forums

That is by far the simplest and easiest way to do this.

Yes, I saw that but isn't that for vista? I'm using windows 7 (64 bit)
Also I was wondering if there is a way to do the whole drive and have done with it?

Yeah. I did lost my access to a lot my data after reinstall Windows 7 64-bit. So far I never find the way to do it by the whole drive. I took the ownership manually (and it took me days). But unfortunately the encrypted file is out of the reach although I preserved the encryption key. It simply didn't work. And I have the HDD idle for 18 months. Waiting for a miracle.

By encrypted file do you mean files that you individually encrypted on that drive or just the fact that the username/admin had a password to login to the OS at the startup screen?

Have you tried using a Live Linux CD (e.g. Ubuntu)?
Linux doesn't care about Windows permissions.

You should be able to copy the files to somewhere else and then access them (unless they are encrypted).

I made two user because sometimes friends just make a snap on my PC. When it comes to confidential works I log in to other account with password and have its documents folders encrypted. I saved the encrypted key to my backup pen drive as a precaution.
But whether I made mistake or not in doing those procedures, it simply didn't work when the OS was reinstalled

I did it with Linuxmint 11. Able to copy it with though it's tricky.
But still unable to gain an ownership to the encrypted.

So the problem is that your encryption keys aren't working?

AFAIK the files aren't encrypted but I did have a login/pass to get into the OS at startup. Those are separate things, right?