Ok I had enough of windows. it is the most unstable OS on the market and they have no plans on fixing any of it they just release a new version every 2-4 years and expect you to buy it every time. I'm switching to Lynux but I need help... how do i get all my old files out of my windows so that i don't lose them like my mp3's, pictures, and my documents... my windows is password protected profile but the windows is broken cause of corrupted files... I wanna get the files off so i can just install lynux and completely wipe the windows out but since i have it protected profile it is locked. I've tried calling my computer manufacturer but they say "sorry we can't help you, take it to a technician in your area and pay to get a back up done." I'm so tired of paying for other peoples mistakes and lousy programing. I don't have an extra $200 to go see geek squad and every cheap mom and pop programer just wants to reinstall windows and wipe all my files. I wanna go lynux cause windows has pushed me over the edge and I really hate Bill Gates he runs a lousy company that just covers up his errors by releasing shiny brand new stuff to replace old stuff without fixing the old stuff first. ok to recap my old OS windows XP is seperated by profiles... my profile is the main profile and is locked by a password to log in to windows. I have files in my documents and settings i want to keep but can't pull them off due to the protection. I can't run windows due to corrupted system files in the windows folder. soon as i can pull the files off i wanna install lynux and completely erase windows. can anyone help me with this?

Yes. Boot a Knoppix live disk. This will enable you to see your Windows files and you can remove them. You might initially have problems with permissions but this can be overcome. For the technical side look at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-knopx.html

This is not my area of expertise, but you could try this: download some LiveCD distro like knoppix (http://www.knoppix.net/), burn it to CD, and allow your Windows machine to boot into the CD. It will boot into Knoppix, and you hard drive might show up in the file manager. If so, see if you can copy your files onto a USB stick or something. If that doesn't work out for you, let us know and I'm sure one of the real file-recovery experts on this forum could help you out.

well one of my problems is that I had my windows profiler up and it was password protected so that i had to log into windows each time i restarted my computer... because of this all the files on my drive are locked until i log in to windows but windows will not load. so if I run knoppix will it have the same issue? because i already tried to slave my hard drive in a different computer and make copies of my files but it gives me the error that the files are write protected and cannot be accessed in the folder for documents and settings because of the stupid profiler. I've been pulling my hair out to try and get this done but windows is really giving me a very hard time... thats why i wanna change to lynux

Can I suggest that you use a partitioning tool such as partition logic to resize your windows partition, install linux into the new free space thus created from where you will be able to browse your windows partition regardless of any permissions assigned in windows. Resizing partitions carries a small risk that you will lose data however I have done it a number of times ( Probably dozens ) and never lost any data. My own setup is xp & kubuntu and all I need to browse my windows partition is the root password i.e. my LINUX root password. You can copy any file to a folder in your linux home folder & reset the permissions there. Once you have gotten all the files off of windows format that partition to be used by linux.

so if i partition the hard drive, install lynux, and then run lynux i can pull off the fills in lynux to my lynux home folder? keep in mind that even when i slaved my hard drive the folder was all i could view from the outside it says the folder is empty cause it hides all files but when i scan the folder with virus/adware removers it always looks at all the files i have hidden in that folder. the permissions are not on each individual file its a profile with a locking password to prevent me from even looking at the files. i tried copying the whole folder before to another hard drive and i get the error that i don't have permission to access the files or that the files are write protected. so even in lynux i'm afraid that the files wont' show up at all. I need clear answers before i try a fix because i don't want to mess up the files or make a mistake i can not recover from. If any of you have done a personal profile in windows please try this out for me if you have your hard drive petitioned. lock your profile with a log in password when you start your windows in that profile then go to lynux and see if you can copy any of the files into your lynux folder or if you can even access the folder for documents and settings under that profile at all.

linux should ignore the windows file permissions as far as i know,since there not relevant in linux filesystems.be careful when you repartition,you dont want to erase the files/partition youre trying to recover.

how do i make sure i'm not erasing when i do partition it? is there a special place to say protect to avoid erasing or something? i've never partitioned a hard drive before i always heard it kills it and can never be undone so i'm very cautious about doing it. If i do lynux on another computer with my hard drive slaved could i pull the files off that way too? I plan on completely deleting windows once i'm done and using nothing but lynux anyways.

That should work fine as well.Yeah,in your partitioning software You should be able to see if its the windows partition by looking at the filesystem type(ntfs/fat32),so if you were to say,resize the windows partition then create new partitions(an ext2/3 main,and linux swap partition are usually all you need for a linux installation)you could later remove the windows and resize the linux main partition.But if You wipe out the windows theres no(easy) way to recover your windows files.If You do try this approach i would recommend the GParted LiveCd http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php You can boot it up and make those changes(I actually would recommend skipping adding the linux partitions,and just resize the windows one,then let Your linux distro installer handle that-be careful there too,dont let it use the whole disk,just unused available space-.

wow this sounds like a lot of work that i am gonna get lost in. I have a feeling i'm gonna fry my system trying to do this. I have no way to write a CD tho so i don't know how to make a boot disk all i have available to me is a keycard that will let me transfer files. and i can't do that in dos so i don't know what i'm gonna do. I can't afford anything thats why i'm not taking it to a computer specialist to do it for me, so i can't buy any cd's or anything online for boot disk i'm so screwed all cause of a stupid adobe virus attacking windows. yes that's right adobe flash updated automatically and contained a Trojan virus that raped windows so it won't start at all. i'm so sick of windows its because there are certain name brand anti virus company that hired some virus makers to actually spread viruses so that they can sell their products. I saw 2 of them on the news, I swear all anti virus companys should be forced to give their basic cleaning software for free and protection is what should cost. If anyone has an easier way for me to do this please let me know, I really don't wanna do anything drastic to my computer except change the OS from windows to Lynux but i don't wanna lose my MP3's, my documents, my pictures, drivers, and my program exe files to install.

Linux will not see the windows permissions. I use Knoppix to backup customers files to an external before wiping and loading a new OS to computers when I don't have a user password, or their OS becomes corrupted. Been doing this for years, it's a neat trick... and a hackers dream!

I've run a live cd and pulled off files from a corrupt windows partition to an external hard drive before without any problems. I wouldn't worry about repartitioning without trying the live cd route first. You can use pretty much any distro, not just Knoppix. I used Puppy Linux.

I agree with Reed, run a live CD and try to pull the file off of the hard drive. I glanced through this post and wasn't sure if you implemented EFS (encrypted file system, you'll know if you did this is your files were in green color) on your XP profile. If you did not, you're in better shape recover those files. If you did implement EFS, then you need to have certificate and key to decrypt the files if you want to pull them off the hdd. I also a Linux noob and have been playing around with a bunch of flavors including suse, ubuntu, kubuntu, xubuntu, DSL, puppy, geOS, and backtrack. Overall, I like puppy with the combination of speed and lightweight. You can download puppy 4.1 fast as it's only 95 mb or less. Then burn the .iso file to a cd and run it live. puppy works great with most slow pcs as well. once you're in puppy, the hdd should be mounted automatically and then see if you can view the files in sda1 or sda2 (hard disk partitions) on the bottom left of the desktop area. If you see your files and they're not encrypted with EFS, then you can insert a flash drive or ext hdd (should be recognized automatically) and start copying the files. Hope this helps...

I am running OpenSUSE alongside XP, though I very rarely use XP anymore. I have run into the same issues with Windows file permissions. The Documents and settings folder, program files, and the windows directory are all protected. Even when logged in as root in OpenSUSE, from the terminal, the directories look empty to linux. I had thought about resetting the file permissions through Linux, but I still need to run XP every once in a while, and I do not wish to corrupt the file system. That may be an option if the LiveCD method does not work. Keep in mind that many distros, by default, will mount the NTFS file system as read-only. In order to reset the permissions, you will need to mount the NTFS volume with write privileges. Dave