Windows 10: windows 10 Help needed - C Drive access denied

Hi ok to give a bit of background , roughly 6 to 7 months ago I had a hacker get into my pc and though that person did not really do anything but steal things from my pc and drives .... I did all I could to protect what I have in my pc ,,,,so I started to disconnect my external drives ,...thinking that would discourage that person. well it did ..he then blocked me from accessing my C Drive ,,,,,it tells me access is denied now. Is there a way I can regain its control with out wiping my drive clean ...I do not have windows 10 or 8 .. so that would be a fairly huge problem for me ...I am at a experienced level but this has me over a barrel now . Any idea what I can do ? *Redface

:)

 

'C' shows "Drive Access Denied" error message on accessing some of the documents in Windows 10

Original Title: 'C' Drive Access Denied - Partially

I am running Windows 10 and since last week am having trouble accessing the main drive (C). I can open some of the files, such as the browsers, but not, for example, MIcrosoft Office products.

I cannot also open the C drive; and get Access Denied message.

I have tried to change the user rights but unable to.

I have tried to use the cmd command and then discmgmt.msc, but access denied.

What can I do?

Thanks in advance.

 

C drive not accessible in Windows 10

Hi. I had to install Windows 10 again on my pc. I installed it from the Windows Tool. After installation I no longer can Access C drive. I get a message that says C:\ is not accessible. Access is denied. Thank you for your help.

 

To back up your files from your C:/ drive when there is no operating system there (you said you do not have Windows 10 or 8?)
You can download Ubuntu (a free operating system) to load the hard drive from, and save all your files.

Which version of Windows did you have? Get that CD and put it in the computer and load from it, and look for a Repair option.

 

Sounds like the hacker has changed or removed security permissions for your C: drive. If you can still boot up and log on you can check this. Log on (preferably using an account with administrator privileges). Run File Explorer and look at My PC. Right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. On the Security tab it should look like this...



Depending on how thorough a job the hacker did, you should be able to re-grant the correct permissions - click the Edit button.

 

I read that as not having the iso needed to do a clean install, perhaps ATwinklingStar could clarify that -and let us know what (if anything) still works.

 

I think he can boot into Windows. Otherwise he wouldn't get access denied. Am I reading it wrong?

Anyway, I would strongly advise to backup all your data and reinstall OS. Here's how to do it. It's actually pretty easy. Make sure to choose an option to remove everything!

In case you want to access your C: drive before resetting, it's probably a permissions issue. Right-click it in Windows Explorer, go to Properties > Security > Advanced > where it says "owner", click "change" and provide your user name, then click "Check names" and OK. Then click Add > "Select a principal" > again type your user name > Check names > OK. Make sure to check "read & execute", "list folder contents" and "read" permissions at a minimum. Check more if you also want to write into drive C: from that user account. Click OK to add yourself those permissions. Then click OK through the rest of the dialogs.

Now you should have access to drive C:. But again, I repeat, the fact that you had a hacker in your system warrants an immediate reinstall of everything! You cannot trust that system's integrity anymore!


PS. If you don't see Security tab for your root drive properties, follow these steps to enable it.

 

Hmh.. okay. Assuming you can load up the computer and try to double click C:\ and get Access Denied, then the third reply is the best solution. As a matter of fact, I have created a custom selection in the right-click menu to "Take Ownership". This force grants me to be the owner of every subfile/folder that I do this on. (Be aware that this is a Custom command that I added; you do not have this in your menu)

 

You need to know who has rights on the drive have you tried another account he may just have banned your account from c and others are OK

 

Hi , I do have windows 10 , it was a downloaded OS , so i do not have a drive for it nor one for windows 8

 

Hi Bree , ok I did do this but there is no Users in there , It did have me about 2 weeks ago but now I am not in it ...when I put my name in it it does recognize that my name is owner .... and I can give permissions but then a bunch of stuff seems like its either missing or corrupt now too ....I did try to find out from Microsoft some info but ...,,they are about as helpful as a box of rocks

 

Hi , when I took my external drives off the pc and did not put them back ...that I assume ticked him/her off ....and its when this happened roughly 2 weeks ago

 

Suggestion:
1) Get Microsoft's Media Creation Tool
2) Save Windows 10 to a USB device
3) Restart the computer and load from the USB device and select the Repair option

You can ask others for more clarification on this whole process.

 

Wish there was a take ownership on mine but there isn't it there. but thank you for the suggestion

 

Yea, thank you for responding to that post =)

I was waiting for you to ask about it. Yet there may be some risk to it, since if you do that to C:/
You will force everything to be yours, even though "SYSTEM" wouldn't like that.

I have a Registry file that can add that to your menu. Yet if you want to use this file, you MUST make sure to type the corrections in the file.