I just reinstalled Windows XP on a 2-year-old comp that was getting screwed up by adware and such...
Right after the reinstall and subsequent reboot, as soon as i clicked on the account to log in as owner, it said "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop is not accessible. Access is denied." Now, I figured that this might have been because I forgot to disable the administrator password before I reinstalled XP, but after setting a new password, the message remained. Now, I'm not quite sure where it's getting the desktop that shows now, but...it might be from All Users. Can anyone help? This is a really annoying problem...

Oh, by the way. Window$ also denies access to C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Favorites. I haven't checked a whole lot of others yet, but I think that might be the only other folder that is blocked.

how did you reinstall windows xp?

It was an Hewlett Packard, when first booted it gave me the option of creating a "recovery disk"...seeing as I didn't have a DVD burner, the "disk" spanned 8 CDs. However, when I was reinstalling XP (non-destructive reinstall - keeps files but reinstalls the OS), it only prompted me for the first one, and a bunch of things popped up during installation saying that certain files could not be found. Anyways, it worked okay, even w/ all the missing junk.

try setting up the permissions...sounds like you've got remnants from the previous install...to do this:

1. log in as a user who is part of the administrator group (administrator is an excellent choice)
2. open "My Computer"
3. right click on the C: drive
4. click properties
5. click on the "Security" tab
6. in the "Group or user names:" section, you'll probably see some "user" that looks like a bunch of random letters and numbers with dashes in between. highlight that user and click on remove to get rid of this, you don't need it
7. still in the same section, click on the "Administrators" group
8. down below in the "Permission for Administrators" section, click on all the "Allow" checkboxes (except "Special Permissions" because it won't let you anyway)
9. click on the "Advanced" button
10. the "Advanced Security Settings for C:" window should have popped up
11. click and highlight the "Administrators" group once again
12. click on the "Replace permission entries on all..." checkbox
13. click on the "Apply" button
14. wait for it to do its thing

this should let you in on that file that you couldn't get into. repeat this process for every physical/logical drive that you have. hope this helps, post back and let us know how it turns out!

crap this is XP home, i don't think it has a security tab...all it says is sharing options for networks and junk...tabs are general, tools, hardware, sharing, quota...
could u help...plz?

never mind i fixed the access permissions thing - just rechecked and unchecked "Make this folder private" box
now i've got a new problem - deleting files completely bypasses the recycle bin, no matter how many times its properties are fixed...
have u got any idea? I've already tried changing the display delete confirmation dialogs and w/e...

and there's like four other folders that won't let me access them, even though they all are "0 bytes" in size, and i can't delete them either...
ideas, anyone?

didn't remember to post about this until now lol