[shard92]

Ok in the past I have recovered my documents from a windows xp machine that has crashed by taking ownership of the files on a different machine.... Is this something you can still do with Vista.... I assume you could but I know they increased security on vista and I've never had to do it.... a friend called today and said his vista laptop will not start after trying to install sp1... he wants to get his data off and put it on his desktop so he can redo the laptop.... I'm just not familiar enough with vista yet to know if this is possible or if it is, if there is a different procedure... any help appreciated

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Hello,
It would be easier to fix the problem.
If your system isn't bootable, or you don't trust it to boot properly, one way to get around this is to boot the Windows Vista DVD and use the Repair / System Restore option to run System Restore remotely on your Windows installation. You might also want to run Startup Repair from the same menu if booting continues to be problematic. Note that if you don't have a Vista installation disc, you can borrow someone else's to get up and running. It doesn't have to be the exact same disc you installed Vista with.
The problem can usually be fixed using the recovery console.
Here are instructions for fixing the master boot record.

[hfcg]

Hello,
It would be easier to fix the problem.
If your system isn't bootable, or you don't trust it to boot properly, one way to get around this is to boot the Windows Vista DVD and use the Repair / System Restore option to run System Restore remotely on your Windows installation. You might also want to run Startup Repair from the same menu if booting continues to be problematic. Note that if you don't have a Vista installation disc, you can borrow someone else's to get up and running. It doesn't have to be the exact same disc you installed Vista with.
The problem can usually be fixed using the recovery console.
Here are instructions for fixing the master boot record.

[shard92]

thanks he is suppose to come by after 3pm today when his wife gets home... I'll find out more once he is here... How much risk is there to his data doing this? With xp I've always backed up data just in case I can't get it running again....

thanks again.... I'll post more once I see his machine...

[hfcg]

There is no risk to data by using the recovery console.
Of course if he can not get the machine to boot you can always slave the hard drive on your machine and recover the data first.
Fixing the MBR should repair the machine, but please teach the user to back up the data.

[shard92]

Yeah he didn't learn with his xp system I somehow dont' think he will learn with the vista one....

Can I slave his drive and recover even though his profile is password protected? can I take ownership in vista like you can in xp?

[hfcg]

The OS will not be running .
When you change permissions, actually take ownership of them. And, make sure
you check the box to have the change propagate to all subfolders and
containers.

Copy the files/folders from his hard drive to disc.
Permissions will not be enabled once they are moved.(copied.)

Edited by hfcg, 05 August 2008 - 12:51 PM.

[shard92]

Ok thanks I've actually done that with xp before but I'm still rather new to vista and wasn't sure if that had changed the ball game again....

[SRX660]

I did this with this method on a customer's computer.

http://www.howtogeek...-menu-in-vista/

SRX660