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After reinstall of Windows 11, can't access old files stored in external driver

Anonymous
2022-07-19T17:45:08+00:00

I copied some important files to an external hard drive, then I did a fresh install of windows 11 on my computer. Now I can't access my files on my external hard drive, every file has a yellow locker on it. When I try to open these files it says that I don't have access privileges. I saw there is a similar post in December, 2017 and a reply from Gil DeG, Microsoft Modertor, I followed the steps as follows posted by Gil, it did not work for my files. I wish someone there can help me out, thanks. These are the steps that I have followed:

  1. Open File Explorer.
  2. Browse and find the file or folder you want to have full access.
  3. Right-click it, and select Properties.
  4. Click the Security tab to access the NTFS permissions.
  5. Click the Advanced button.
  6. On the "Advanced Security Settings" page, you need to click the Change link, in the Owner's field.
  7. Click the Advanced button.
  8. On the "Select User or Group" page, click the Find Now button.
  9. From the search result, select your user account, and click OK.
  10. On the "Select User or Group" page, click OK.
  11. Click Apply.
  12. Click OK.
  13. Click OK again.
  14. Click OK one more time to complete this task.
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Security and privacy

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  1. Craig Long 17,970 Reputation points
    2022-07-20T19:23:28+00:00

    Can you click "Add" and add yourself as a user to gain access? (see image below)

    You say you are showing this window -> (Property-> General-> Advanced -> Details).

    Apparently, this window is at "Compress or Encrypt attributes" -> Details.

    Perhaps your data has been encrypted?

    Image

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  2. Igor Leyko 111K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2022-07-19T18:20:33+00:00

    Hi,

    My name is Igor, I have 12 Microsoft MVP awards. It's a pleasure for me to help others and I'll do all my best to help you. I'm sorry you have a problems.

    Please run command prompt as administrator and run the command below. Do not miss spaces between options.

    takeown /f d:\* /r /d y

    If your drive has another letter please replace D: with correct letter.

    And please use a solution mentioned at https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

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  3. Igor Leyko 111K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2022-07-19T22:53:42+00:00

    Are these files' names of a green color?

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  4. Craig Long 17,970 Reputation points
    2022-07-19T20:54:45+00:00

    Just today I fixed some files not syncing (constantly processing) in OneDrive. Apparently, I didn't have ownership permissions on some files. I had no idea which ones were the problem so I used the "Take ownership" on all of them.

    This easy way to take ownership might work for you:

    https://www.revouninstaller.com/user-tutorials/install-and-remove-take-ownership/

    https://www.howtogeek.com/301768/how-to-take-ownership-of-files-and-folders-in-windows/

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-07-19T20:01:39+00:00

    Hello Igor,

    Thanks for response and help!

    I did what you have suggested for my external driver E: using the command: takeown /f e:\* /r /d y, and followed the link for the solution. Still the files have the lock icon on them.

    I fount that the locked files have a Certificate thumbprint, they are the same, the unlocked file has no thumbprint.

    Chun

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