Access to files denied

Not sure if this is a Windows XP Home issue or an OpenOffice one, so I'll post at both forums, in the hope that someone will have a suggestions/solution for me!

When I last installed WinXP Home on my computer, I used TweakUI to relocate the "My Documents" folder from my C: drive to my D: drive. I must have messed something up, because it eventually became apparent to me that what I was using as "My Documents" folder was in actuality the "My Music" folder. No biggie, as I knew where all my files and folders were, and basically, everything was cool.

Then I decided to try to "fix" what wasn't really broke, and get the real "My Documents" folder where I wanted it to be. Transferred all my folders and files from the "My Music" folder into the actual "My Documents" folder (this one truly is the official "My Documents" folder - I didn't just create a new folder on the desktop and name it "my documents "). For the most part, everything went well. The "My Music" folder I had originally created within the original "My-Music-aka-My-Documents" folder disappeared, but there was nothing in there of any importance anyway.
Everything I've tried to open within the new "My Documents" folder seems to open/work as expected with the exception of a single subfolder. Within that one folder, though (and of course it's the one folder I treasure the most!), I cannot open anything - written documents (.doc, .odt, .txt), jpgs, pdfs, exe files.

Here's a sampling of the error messages I encounter:

.doc, .odt documents: "OpenOffice.org 2.3 - Access to D:\R documents\Rebecca's files\computer instructions\[filename.doc was denied "

.txt error: "Oops! Unable to open the file D:\R documents\Rebecca's files\computer instructions\[filename.txt] Cannot open file D:\R documents\Rebecca's files\computer instructions\[filename.txt]. Access is denied. "

.pdf error: "FoxitReader - D:\R documents\Rebecca's files\computer instructions\[[pdf filename could not open file. File not found. "

.exe file (I tried running HijackThis just for a test): "HijackThis - It looks like you're running HijackThis from a read-only device like a CD or locked floppy disk. If you want to make backups of items you fix, you must copy HijackThis.exe to your hard disk first, and run it from there. If you continue, you might get 'Path/File Access' errors. "

At first I thought it was a matter of permissions, so I went into Safe Mode to take ownership of the "computer instructions" subfolder. I was still listed as the owner, but I changed the owner to Administrator and then back to myself just for the sake of feeling like I'd actually made a change. Still got the "access denied" message when I logged back in as myself in Normal Mode. So then I went into the "computer instructions" folder and tried changing permissions for a few subfolders and files individually. No luck. Well, not completely - I can open all the .odt and .doc files in the "computer instructions" folder as long as I'm in Safe Mode, just not in Normal Mode (hadn't thought to try opening jpgs and pdfs in Safe Mode, though I'll give it a shot when I'm done here).

I know there are other issues at work on my computer (the missing "My Music" folder, among others), but I'm going to be reinstalling my OS from scratch as soon as SP3 is released, so all I'm looking for right now is a way to gain access to my "computer instructions" folder again.

Any ideas???
Thank you!

 

Becky I am not sure exactly what happend but your description of what happend don't disclose any errors on your part.

But it is not clear what you are saying about what access you have in Safe Mode.

My advice is if you do have access in Safe mode that you create a new folder on say D: and get these files copied (not move) out of this folder now.

There may be an issue with this particular folder or settings for this folder.

Once you have them copied to another folder and you can access them in full mode then we can try to just remove the bad folder.

Just make sure that you have access to all these files in the new folder in full mode before trying to deal with the old folder!

Mike

 

Geez, I wish I'd posted my question here six hours ago - it would've saved me an entire morning of fruitless putzing!
Your suggestion worked like a charm - I now have access to every folder and file I've tried to open within my newly copied "computer instructions" folder.
Countless thanks, Mike!

 

Grrrrrrreat!

Mike

 

Bizarre side note:

For the sake of simplicity, let's say ci-1 is the original "computer instructions" folder (the one in which I could no longer access any of the files), and ci-2 is the copy of the "computer instructions" folder that I made in Safe Mode.

Back in Normal Mode, once I'd verified that everything in ci-2 seemed to be accessible, I moved the original folder (ci-1) to my desktop - a pit stop en route to the trash bin (or so I thought!). I subsequently moved ci-2 into the folder named "Rebecca's files" (which, in turn, is located in "My Documents "), where the original had resided before.

Lo and behold, I can no longer open any of the files in ci-2. No worries, however, because ci-1, now on my desktop suddenly isn't denying me access to its files any more!

What is THAT all about?