Retrieved files from external HD can't be opened - access denied

Hello. I'm new to the Windows forum, as well as new to Windows 10. We were using a Windows 7 desktop that went belly up. Everything was backed up on a WD My Book using their SmartWare program. We decided that it was time to upgrade equipment and OS to Win10, so after initial setup of the new computer, I retrieved all of our old files from the external hard drive to a folder on the new computer. Everything seems to be there, including my Outlook files, which I was able to migrate into the new Outlook after going into Properties=>Security=>Edit=>Add=>Everyone. But no matter what I try I can't seem to get any other files to open. I get all sorts of messages about permissions and proxies and accesses, but nothing will open. I'm just not experienced enough with Windows 10 specifically or Windows in general to figure it out. What am I missing? Thanks.

Try "Change Permissions of File, Folder" using this tutorial:

Change Permissions of Objects for Users and Groups in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

There is also this page on WD site, which has a link to something similar.
SmartWare v2.4 retrieval issues with ownership/permissions - WD Software - WD Community
(link: Support Login)

das10 said:

Try "Change Permissions of File, Folder" using this tutorial:

Change Permissions of Objects for Users and Groups in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

There is also this page on WD site, which has a link to something similar.
SmartWare v2.4 retrieval issues with ownership/permissions - WD Software - WD Community
(link: Support Login)

Thank you for the response. I didn't try all of the options in the first link, but I did try several of them, and the end result in all was a message that basically reads "Failed to enumerate objects in the container. Access is denied." So, until I get a chance to research what that means, I'm still stuck.

This link, along with the info in das10's first link, did the trick! The key was changing ownership and clicking on Replace all child ownership, etc. etc. Thanks again. I'm back at full strength.

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-f...-the-container