Windows 7 Problem transferring a file from XP to Seven

[AlCatt]

My XP crashed so I took my hard drive, put it in an enclosure and opened it with my new Windows 7 pc. My big snag is getting some Excel docs from my desktop from the XP into the 7 Hardrive. It will not do it. It keeps saying that I need administrator permission. I'm the only user of course. I went to sharing and made sure that the whole folder was set to be 'shared' and set to "read/write" also, but whatever I do I cannot copy or move the document to the W7 hardrive. How do I change this so I can move the file? I should mention that I transferred hundreds of other files but these xlsx documents from the old desktop will not move. Thanks in advance.

 

[Trouble]

AlCatt:
Hello and welcome to the forums.
Right click the folder/container where the documents are located and choose properties.
Select the Security Tab Click the Advanced button and then select the Owner Tab
Add your current user to the Change owner box if it is not present already by clicking the edit button, then the Other users or groups button, then the advanced button, then the find now button, select your user name and OK your way back out of there and make sure that you check the box that says Replace owner on subcontainers and objects OK again and then make sure your name is selected and OK once again then again make sure your name is highlighted if not select the Edit button and add it and grant your username Full Control. Or....
Link Removed and add the take ownership feature to the right click context menu and that should do it for you.
Hope this helps
Regards
Randy

 

[AlCatt]

Thanks, I'm confident your sequence will work, but while I have you can you comment on why some files were protected and some files were not? They're all from the same pc and OS so I don't get it and wonder why? Is it because of their extensions or is it just a quirk of Seven? Regards, AlCatt

 

[Trouble]

Well I can try to give you some idea as to what I think might be going on but it's just a best guess really and it really only pertains to drives that were previously NTFS volumes since FAT32 volumes do not have a security tab.
When you add such a drive into a Win7 system the drive and its' contents comes with previously defined properties as they relate to SIDs and GUIDs (Security Identifiers and Globally Unique Identifiers) typically you will see these artifacts when you look at the Security Tab in the form of easily identifiable user or group names, which are unique to the system they are present on or in. Some may be a product of a default installation, while others may be explicitly assigned by you in the previous environment, while still others may be a product of something called inheritance which is a product of adding a file or folder to a folder which already has these IDs defined. For instance if you look at the properties of your C:\ drive at the security tab you will see some pre-set, pre-defined default security settings involving predifined security groups. Subsequent files and folders created in the root of C:\ will likely inherit these NTFS permissions while others will likely be added as a result of the creator/owner.
When you examine these same properties on a drive that you have added from an old system to a new one like you have done, these identifiers will appear in the form of a string rather than a readily identifiable user name or group name which indicates that the new system has no idea what they are or how to interpret what they mean in so far as local security settings are concerned and that is why you are likely to have to change ownership and explicity grant your (new) username the proper security permission to the file or folder in order to access it.
Hope this helps
Regards
Randy

 

[AlCatt]

I understand now, well explained. Thank you very much.

 

[Trouble]

You're of course, very welcome. Glad it made sense to someone.