Locked Folder

[Windrider]

My Music, Video and Picture folders in the Documents library show they are locked and I do not have access. I am the owner and Administrator of the computer. How do i unlock them in Win 7?

[Jintan]

Hello Windrider,

Locked? Can you please post back the exact (and I mean exact) message you get when you try to access on of those files? Also, did you have infection that said it encrypted your files recently?

[renegade600]

you can try taking ownership

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windo...menu-in-vista/

[Windrider]

Here is the message (same for three folders) C:\users\James\Documents\My Pictures is not accessible. Access denied.

It started when I down loaded a program to disable auto arrange in Win 7. When that did not work I did a System restore to before the down load.

[Jintan]

There are quite a few options. For starters, try a repair of the file system.

Go to Start - Search, type cmd.exe in the Start Search box. Cmd.exe will appear at the top of the Menu. Rightclick on it and choose "Run as administrator". At the prompt copy/paste the following, pressing Enter after:

chkdsk /r

It will likely find volumes in use and ask if you want it to run on reboot - select Y for yes, then reboot. This will scan for files as well a locate and repair bad sectors of the disk (which would also cause folders to deny access).

Just post back on any change please.

[Windrider]

Still have many little problems. Can I reinstall Win 7 over top of the one I have with out loosing any files?

[Jintan]

Yes, but that won't make any changes to your user folders, or access to them.

I am hesitant to recommend one of the few steps to "unlock" access to these folders without knowing a little bit more about this system. Folders don't just lock themselves - by accident or by some Windows glitch. If you don't mind:


The system is Windows 7, so when running any of the scan files we use, be sure to right click the file, then select "Run as administrator" to start the scan/tool.

And To make sure you have an accurate view of files there, make sure you can View Hidden Files. Also uncheck "Hide Extensions for Known File Types"



To keep them from interfering with the repairs, be sure to temporarily disable all antivirus/anti-spyware softwares while these steps are being completed. This can usually be done through right clicking the software's Taskbar icons, or accessing each software through Start - Programs. Here are some antivirus disable tips if needed.

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Download RogueKiller from here to your desktop.

Close all open programs
Remember to right click -> run as administrator, and click the downloaded file.
When RogueKiller finishes it's opening scan, press the Scan button.
A RKreport.txt will be created in the same location as the RogueKiller file.
If the program is blocked, do not hesitate to try several times. If it really does not work (it could happen), rename it to winlogon.exe, and try again.

Please post the contents of the RKreport.txt.

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Click here and download OldTimer's OTL to your desktop, then click that to open the scan display. At the top click "Scan All Users", then click "Run Scan". Make no other changes at this time.

When the scan completes, it will open two notepad windows. OTL.Txt and Extras.Txt. These are also saved in the same location as OTL.exe. Post the contents of those back here please.


If those show malware involvement I'll ask to have this thread moved to the CTH Malware Removal Forum.