Have access to nothing on HP

[gunslinger]

So I got an HP in with an error that says "Windows cannot access specified device, path or file...you may not have the appropriate permissions to access them".


Customer says the error started after they tried a system restore. I cannot right click, I can't open any folders or drives. This is a Windows 7 machine by the way. I have tried using cmd as admin, and setting up the default admin account, I get the same error in the built in admin account.


Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Did you do any hard drive diags?

 

[rusty.nells]

Had a similar problem on an XP machine and used dial-a-fix or fixpolicies (don't remember which) and it worked.

 

[gunslinger]

Did you do any hard drive diags?

Yup, came up clean.

Had a similar problem on an XP machine and used dial-a-fix or fixpolicies (don't remember which) and it worked.

I like Dial-a-fix but there is no version for 7.

 

[rusty.nells]

I've never used fixpolicies on Win 7, don't know if it works.

http://downloads.malwareremoval.com/BillCastner/FixPolicies.exe

Do you have access to "gpedit.msc"? If not you may have to edit the registry, if you have access to regedit.

 

[gunslinger]

I've never used fixpolicies on Win 7, don't know if it works.

http://downloads.malwareremoval.com/BillCastner/FixPolicies.exe

Do you have access to "gpedit.msc"? If not you may have to edit the registry, if you have access to regedit.

I cannot run fixpolicies. I can access gpedit.msc.

 

[gunslinger]

I have to have this machine back up and going by monday and he has a hell of a lot of data. I'm thinking at this point nuke and pave, unless someone else has a better idea.

 

[Vicenarian]

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...f/thread/1329e076-c6aa-44ee-8b32-29220b134f6d

Read post by Arthur Xie regarding using subinacl, might be worth a shot

 

[gunslinger]

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...f/thread/1329e076-c6aa-44ee-8b32-29220b134f6d

Read post by Arthur Xie regarding using subinacl, might be worth a shot

Tried it just now and it wont let me install.

 

[dk99]

Try using subinical from Microsoft it fixes permission problems

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b&displaylang=en

 

[gunslinger]

Try using subinical from Microsoft it fixes permission problems

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b&displaylang=en

Thats what I did try. It will not let me install it at all.

 

[dk99]

Thats what I did try. It will not let me install it at all.

I had the same problem I went into safemode and used the safeMSI I found on here to start the windows installer then I ran subinacl

safemsi to run installer in safemode

http://www.technibble.com/safemsi-exe-start-windows-installer-service-in-safe-mode/

 

[gunslinger]

I had the same problem I went into safemode and used the safeMSI I found on here to start the windows installer then I ran subinacl

safemsi to run installer in safemode

http://www.technibble.com/safemsi-exe-start-windows-installer-service-in-safe-mode/

I'll try that as soon as I'm done backing up. Ran Autobackup, Mozbackup, and I'm in the process of doing a complete data dump from the c: drive to a 1TB backup drive. I also called the maker of the programs he uses and found out where the backup files are kept on the drive and I got his login info from Carbonite.

 

[B Trevathan]

Why were they doing a system restore, malware? Sounds like a damaged access control list, since you can't right click, have you tried taking ownership and changing permissions on a file from a elevated command prompt to see if you can get access to a file?

takeown /f "full path of file"
and
icacls "full path of file" /grant (user name):F

Example:
takeown /f "C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui"
and
icacls "C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui" /grant gunslinger:F

 

[gunslinger]

Why were they doing a system restore, malware? Sounds like a damaged access control list, since you can't right click, have you tried taking ownership and changing permissions on a file from a elevated command prompt to see if you can get access to a file?

takeown /f "full path of file"
and
icacls "full path of file" /grant (user name):F

Example:
takeown /f "C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui"
and
icacls "C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui" /grant gunslinger:F

Got an "access denied" error.

 

[B Trevathan]

Why were they doing a system restore, because of malware?


Here is the registry tweak that SafeMSI.exe does if you can't get it to install:

To start Windows Installer in Safe Mode:

1. Restart your computer and press F8 before the Boot Menu or splash screen.

2. Open a CMD.EXE window.

3. Type the following commands and press Enter:

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"
net start msiserver


If you are logged into a admin account and don't have access to any files then the only thing that I can think is that the system account may be the only account that has access to files. I don't know if you can do this in 7 but I remember a long time ago, I can't remember if it was in XP or Vista, I went in from a user account into the system account and changed the admin password. If you can get into the system account you will have full access and control over everything and be able change permissions. Going into the system account is dangerous but its an idea.

 

[glricht]

Try using subinical from Microsoft it fixes permission problems

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b&displaylang=en

The OP's machine is Windows 7, will this program work on Windows 7? The web page's description shows Win XP Pro as the latest Windows on which the program will work.