Can't access XP documents from Windows 7

Xax · 23 Jan 2009

It doesn't necessarily sound like this is the same problem (assuming you're referring to the initial problem, and not the completely separate problem that I mentioned a few posts up, which was supposed to be in a separate thread).

Does Win7 show any files from your WinXP installation, such as program files, the windows folder, etc.? Or is it just your WinXP documents that you can't locate?

Drive letters (C: and D:) are just letters that the operating systems use to link to the actual drives or partitions. For example, if I boot into WinXP, C: is the partition that XP is installed on, but if I boot into Win7, C: is the partition that Win7 is installed on. That's normal behaviour.

chrispy70 · 23 Jan 2009

No, it shows no signs of XP at all. If I want a file or document from my XP installation I have to log back into XP

limneos · 23 Jan 2009

Hello Chrispy...

I think Windows 7 has hidden your XP partition, as it does most of the times, cause it saves it boot\bcd files there and it wants it hidden.

To un-hide it, while in Windows 7, open Control Panel->All control panel items-Administrative Tools-Computer Management.

Now in computer management navigate on the left to Disk Management.

The you will see your hard disk drives and partitions. You XP partition will be shown without a drive letter. Right click on it, and select "Change drive letters and paths". Press "add" and assign a drive lettet (anyone would be fine, but you would probably want the next in row, e.g. D:) . Press OK and you will be able to see your XP partition .

Xax · 23 Jan 2009

Looks like limneos just beat me.

chrispy70 said:

No, it shows no signs of XP at all. If I want a file or document from my XP installation I have to log back into XP

Are you able to view the XP drive/partition at all? If not, I suspect I have the solution. I don't know why it's necessary to do it, but I've had to do it with both Windows 7 installations I've performed on my computer.

Go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools. By default, Administrative Tools won't show, so you'll have to enable it via the "Task Bar and Start Menu" control panel. In Administrative Tools, click Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management. From there, you should be able to see your XP drive/partition, and you can assign a drive letter to it.

Microsoft sure loves to make things difficult.

chrispy70 · 23 Jan 2009

thanks it worked!

ComputerMaster · 23 Jan 2009

It's got to do with the desktop.ini file i believe.
Anything by the name of 'My Documents' goes to Windows 7 'My Documents'. It's kind of like a shortcut

Xax · 23 Jan 2009

ComputerMaster said:

It's got to do with the desktop.ini file i believe.
Anything by the name of 'My Documents' goes to Windows 7 'My Documents'. It's kind of like a shortcut

Interesting. But if that were the case, how come I seem to be the only one having the problem? Is there any way to edit the desktop.ini to prevent this?

ComputerMaster · 23 Jan 2009

Xax said:

Interesting. But if that were the case, how come I seem to be the only one having the problem? Is there any way to edit the desktop.ini to prevent this?

Not sure...

When you click the X:\Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents, does the Address bar show
X:\Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents
or
C:\Users\<user>\Documents?
if it shows C:\Users\<user>\Documents, simply go to X:\Documents and Settings\<user> then just add \My Documents in the URL bar and see what happens.

Xax · 23 Jan 2009

It actually shows the correct path (x:\documents and settings\user).

ComputerMaster · 23 Jan 2009

Xax said:

It actually shows the correct path (x:\documents and settings\user).

Wierd... I can't think of anything else other than move the files to a 'C:\<new folder name>' while in XP...