files on my old HD are locked

[flingz]

Hello, first off this might be in the wrong forum but it falls into a variety of categories.

I am in need of some help. To make a long story short, my original computer A died due to the cpu frying when the fan died. I tossed that pc because it was old but I saved the hard drive. Now I have a new PC and I need the contents of that old hard drive. The only problem is that I need "my documents" that were under the profile under my name, and that profile is password protected.

So when I hook up the hard drive to my new computer as a secondary drive I can copy EVERY file except for the ones under my profile and guess what? They are really the only ones I need. It was tons of info for my job and I really need this info. I can't boot from this hard drive because the original pc is long gone. Can anyone help or point me in the right direction to getting this unlocked so I can get the contents???

Thanks in advance!

cliff notes: need info off old hd, but info I need is locked, says "cannot access" because it was under a pw protected profile originally.

[Sylvander]

"I can't boot from this hard drive because the original pc is long gone"
Yes you can.
Just fit the HDD as the lone primary Master.
Then don't attempt to boot from it.
Instead run a "repair" reinstall using the Windows disk that matches the existing windows version.
That will set up Windows for use with the new hardware.
That is...unless the hardware is too modern for the version of Windows, so there are no drivers included in the Windows files.
If that's the case you'd need to figure out how to fix that.
Perhaps you could run a windows upgrade witha version that WOULD include drivers.

[Paul Komski]

You may just need to take ownership of the relevant folder(s) in Win2K or WinXP.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421 for WinXP and it is similar for Win2K

Note that a Repair Install is not without risk and is why I generally refer people to the Michael Steven's site at http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm because of the way he warns people (especially Warning #2) about the risks. As with any important data make a backup or clone of the drive BEFORE you start experimenting and especially if any file encryption had previously been in use.