Access User Files on Other Computer

Hello all,

I just upgraded my PC case and after putting everything together, I booted the PC. Instead of booting into Windows 10, I received the 0xc000000e error saying the winload.exe was missing or corrupt. Using start up repair and resetting the PC all failed. I'm going to try an rebuild the BCD later tonight.

However, my question is this: there is a file on that drive that i do not want to lose and I want to make sure I recover it. I pulled the drive and attached to my other PC via USB. The drive is accessible, but my User folder is not there. Is this some type of encryption associated with my Microsoft account login that prevents me from accessing it, or can I just take ownership of the drive and my User folder will reappear?

Thank you for your response.

Daniel

Daniel Jakob said:

Using start up repair and resetting the PC all failed.

Depending on how far along resetting this PC got before failing, it probably erased the user profiles on the drive as that is what resetting this PC means. Reset to factory condition, which means no user profiles.

I did tell to keep the files, but any apps would be deleted. I probably should have mentioned that. I was hoping your comment would not be the case regardless.

It sounds like you have a hard drive failure or, at a minimum, a very messed up file system. If the file is vitally important, I would take the hard drive to a data recovery professional. You can try running chkdsk on it, but that might end up erasing all traces of the file in the MFT (Master File Table).

Normally when you connect a hard drive to another Windows computer you can see the user folders on it, you just can't access them until you provide administrator rights.

I will try providing admin rights and see if that works. Otherwise I'll just have to reinstall Windows 10. I ended up finding an older copy of the file on my server, so it's not a total loss. I will have to redo several hours of work though. Bummer.

By the way, your user name indicates you are in the Navy. Thank you for your service to our Country, and for your help on this!

Thanks! - 4 years Army National Guard, 28 years active duty Navy, retire next year.

You can try this software:
MiniToll Free Data Recovery Software | Power Data Recovery Free

Thank you, I'll check out that software. Enjoy your retirement!