remove fingerprint protection on a folder

[jang]

I am using T60, and I use the fingerprint software to login. All is working fine, until 1 day, I decided to replace my internal hdd with 120 GB. I replaced the internal hdd, and started to reinstall using recovery CD I created. After reinstallation, with the new hdd on the notebook itself, I inserted the old hdd on the ultrabay caddy, wanting to read the hdd. The old hdd can be accessed (in ultrabay), but certain folder, such as my default username, says access is denied. I take it this is because I activated fingerprint login.

I removed the hard drive from the ultrabay caddy and connected it back to the internal of the laptop. Certain error appears regarding microsoft can't login. I tried lots of methods, such as last known working condition, also safe mode, but no dice.

I have recovered my files using slax (a linux distribution) that can read all files in the encrypted folder, and transfered it to another location. All those files turned out to be read only, some are even hidden. I have to change them 1 by 1 to remove the read only property.

I want to know if using the new hard drive in the notebook, with old hard drive in ultrabay caddy, is there a way to access the contents of my old folder? As mentioned earlier, it says access is denied. Other folders like other usernames are accessible. Only the main user i'm using is denied.

Please help.

[DAH]

See if this page might not help you, How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP

[jang]

Hello DAH, are you saying what I'm experiencing has nothing to do with the fingerprint protection of Thinkpad?

Although this is good news, I want to clarify this point. Thinkpad preaches that it's fingerprint hardware and software will protect the contents even if the hdd is separated from the laptop. Isn't that what happened in my case?

[DAH]

Well you haven't posted enough info to tell for sure, but I believe it has nothing to do with fingerprint software. On a T60 running XP Lenovo includes Private Disk, this is protected by the fingerprint software. And is seen as a separate drive, from Drive C. I believe you said that your problem is you can not read folders from the original drive c, now most likely mounted as a drive D? If so it is not a fingerprint software issue but rather a rights issue, perhaps you changed your user name, or the spelling of it?

If my guess is correct, you need to take ownership of the folder, be sure to set the folder properties to show all files and folders including system and hidden before you try to take ownership of the folder. If what I believe has occurred, then XP does not think you are the user that created the folder, and is attempting to prevent you from using/changing it.

If on the other hand it is a "Private Disk" that you are locked out of, I believe the data is lost, when you restore XP Lenovo creates a password for accessing the private disk, (which is stored on the C drive in the documents folder ...So it's possible you are trying to access the files directly) the trouble is that each time XP is installed it creates a new random password, and doesn't record that information anywhere that I know of. Without that info you are locked out of the "Private Disk" on a reinstall. Lenovo tells you to copy all data in the private disk to a safe location before doing a restore.

It comes down to how you originally accessed the files, if they where accessible by browsing your c drive they are not in a "Private Disk" (which is not accessible under Vista) If you originally accessed them by going to a drive E, F, G or some letter other than C, then chances are they are part of a private disk. Hope that helps.

[jang]

DAH,

Thanks for the help. You were right on. I just booted to safe mode, and did the take ownership process, and everything went well.

thanks for the help.

[DAH]

Well I am glad that it worked for you, and that I was of some small help. Thanks for letting us know.