Unable to access (for some reason) write-protected files

[FedPot]

3 days ago, I got an endless BSOD loop on my Legion 5 15ACH6H. It had REGISTRY_ERROR code but I didn't bother trying to find a way to fix it other than reinstalling Windows.

OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Specs:
LENOVO Legion 5
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H
NVidia RTX 3060
16GB RAM DDR4

Unfortunately, I fumbled and installed windows on drive 2 instead of 1. so now, drive 2 is the new C: and drive 1 is the new D:.

The system and user files in drive 1 (now D:, previously C:) from previous installation are now inaccessible to me.
Folders such as D:/Users/username
D:/Windows

C: drive is an ADATA SX8200PNP Nvme SSD
D: drive is an Samsung 980 PRO Nvme SSD 

 

I had this prompt when trying to access them, I click continue and while it's trying to get in, it simply doesn't.


I already tried taking ownership via Take Ownership registry file but it does nothing as well

seems like the files are write-protected? I'm googling for solutions but can't find anything that seem to work.
if you have an idea, please eli5 because I'm not a tech savvy guy.

thanks in advance. 
on a side note: everything in D: seems to be un-deleteable as well, but at least I can copy them so backing up games are fine mostly (no cutting though).

 

[DarkWaterSong]

Make sure you launch whatever tools you are using as admin, and have full local admin rights.  Just windows may have set you as a user, or is not elevating the tool you are using to have admin rights.  I just know that is why I run most things with a right click, and "run as admin".

[kb5zue]

Remove whichever drive you don't want as drive C:  Once that is done, reinstall Windows using the Windows Media Creation Tool.

 

After you have recreated drive C:, then you can install your second drive and it will be drive D:

 

Take Care and Good Luck.

 

[cautiouslyoptimistic]

take ownership registry does not always work. try open task manager-> details, find explorer.exe and kill it, and then go to file->run new task, type in explorer, check 'run with administrator privileges'. maybe "take ownership" will work then.

If that does not, you can also try run new task, notepad with admin, notepad open file(browse), and in the browsing dialog choose "all types" instead of txt files, and see if you can take ownership or view the locked folders there.

 

the legit way to do it is: right click the locked folder in explorer, open properties, security tab, advanced, click "change" next to the owner, which will probably be "trust installer" for an entire drive, idk. type your username  in the field, windows should know exactly who you are and make you the owner, and now you can change privileges, which we will do next by first ok(as a verb) everything and save the changes to ownership, and then in the previous "Security" tab, click edit, and in the pop out named "permission for local disk (letter:)" select your user group, which is usually administrator for local accounts, click on "allow" for full control and ok everything.

 

phew.

 

and thats why i f*** *** ***** **** microsoft account, once you log in windows with the ms account, you are getting the "your computer as my service" treatment and everything i described becomes whack on daily basis. Microsoft can go * - I have been advised by my law- 

 

good luck retrieving your files gamer

[FedPot]

6 minutes ago, cautiouslyoptimistic said:

take ownership registry does not always work. try open task manager-> details, find explorer.exe and kill it, and then go to file->run new task, type in explorer, check 'run with administrator privileges'. maybe "take ownership" will work then.

If that does not, you can also try run new task, notepad with admin, notepad open file(browse), and in the browsing dialog choose "all types" instead of txt files, and see if you can take ownership or view the locked folders there.

 

the legit way to do it is: right click the locked folder in explorer, open properties, security tab, advanced, click "change" next to the owner, which will probably be "trust installer" for an entire drive, idk. type your username  in the field, windows should know exactly who you are and make you the owner, and now you can change privileges, which we will do next by first ok(as a verb) everything and save the changes to ownership, and then in the previous "Security" tab, click edit, and in the pop out named "permission for local disk (letter:)" select your user group, which is usually administrator for local accounts, click on "allow" for full control and ok everything.

 

phew.

 

and thats why i f*** *** ***** **** microsoft account, once you log in windows with the ms account, you are getting the "your computer as my service" treatment and everything i described becomes whack on daily basis. Microsoft can go * - I have been advised by my law- 

 

good luck retrieving your files gamer

I couldn't do the legit way, it just says the file is write-protected.

but I did do the notepad trick and it allowed me to copy files from the locked folders in D: to C: which I think is good enough. I'll format D: after done copying

 

[cautiouslyoptimistic]

Just now, FedPot said:

I couldn't do the legit way, it just says the file is write-protected.

but I did do the notepad trick and it allowed me to copy files from the locked folders in D: to C: which I think is good enough. I'll format D: after done copying

 

make sure u can access/view/open those files, in normal explorer(make sure you're not in the administrator explorer.exe, maybe reboot to be safe), before formatting, data first! windows last!

 

another thing i do is, i have 1 ssd, windows gets 100gigs partition and the rest are for my data, as this allows me degree of modularity when it comes to mess about with the operating system. anyways, glad that it worked (touchwood).

[FedPot]

1 hour ago, cautiouslyoptimistic said:

make sure u can access/view/open those files, in normal explorer(make sure you're not in the administrator explorer.exe, maybe reboot to be safe), before formatting, data first! windows last!

 

another thing i do is, i have 1 ssd, windows gets 100gigs partition and the rest are for my data, as this allows me degree of modularity when it comes to mess about with the operating system. anyways, glad that it worked (touchwood).

wdym by data first windows last?
I thought formatting is just a one whole drive format deal

boom, clean slate

 

[cautiouslyoptimistic]

1 minute ago, FedPot said:

wdym by data first windows last?
I thought formatting is just a one whole drive format deal

boom, clean slate

 

oh that wasn't a technical reference, that was me saying "place utmost importance on you data, and then everything else, and at the end there's windows".