CHKDSK changed permissions on all files
O/S: Vista 64-bit.Problem - At startup, chkdsk decided to change the permissions on all files: 'replacing invalid security id with default security id'. Now, when I boot, I eventually get a white mouse cursor on a black screen, and cannot do anything.I can boot from another drive into Windows 7. If I look at the Vista drive, it shows up as an NTFS drive, but with no capacity or free space information. Disk Manager does show used / free space information.There are a number of ways to solve the problem - booting from DVD and repairing, using an ERD, manually changing the permissions from Windows 7, etc - but I would be grateful if someone would advise as to what the most efficient solution is.Many thanks.
January 19th, 2010 2:43pm

Hi Steenson,Did you back up your files before excuting chkdsk command? Your issue seems to be similar as KB913034 describes which is applied to Windows Server 2003. This problem occurs because of an exception that occurs when the NTFS file system transaction log is full and when security descriptors are being updated. In this scenario, the security descriptors can be left in an incorrect state. If you then run Chkdsk again, this will cause the security descriptor entries to be reset to their default value of Full Control for the Administrators group and Full Control for the SYSTEM user account.To troubleshoot this kind of issue, I would like to share with the following solutions:1. I noticed that you can't enter Windows Vista any more. Let's try to log into Windows 7 and take ownership of this drive, then copy the files out of the volume. 2. Start from Windows Vista DVD to launch a command prompt, then change the security settings for C. Microsoft provides this command prompt command to give everyone access:cacls c:\ /g everyone:F /c /t 3. Reset the default security settings to default:secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verboseRestart the computer and log on Windows Vista to see if it works.Best RegardsDale
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January 20th, 2010 6:28am

Hi, As this thread has been quiet for a while, we assume that the issue has been resolved. At this time, we will mark it as ‘Answered’ as the previous steps should be helpful for many similar scenarios. If the issue still persists, please feel free to reply this post directly so we will be notified to follow it up. You can also choose to unmark the answer as you wish.BTW, we’d love to hear your feedback about the solution. By sharing your experience you can help other community members facing similar problems. Thanks for your understanding and efforts. Best RegardsDale
January 26th, 2010 4:43am

Hi,My apologies for not replying until now, but other problems developed (not related to this one). Many thanks for your reply.Unfortunately the issue is not resolved.Under W7, I took ownership of the drive, gave everyone full access to all files, and copied all files to an external disk.Booting with a Vista DVD, and issuing the commandcacls c:\ /g everyone:F /c /t (after changing to c:\windows\system32)resulted in"The data area passed to a system call is too small."I then tried the secedit command given above, to get"A required privilege is not held by the client."Regards,John
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February 17th, 2010 5:41pm

Hi, Just to say I tried those steps, and successfully managed to get back into the laptop. The complications I had were: Only USB drive - and I had not created a windows recovery USB. This took the most time!!! I am not sure why Windows does not have the option built in... Basic steps (on another 64bit Windows machine with CD / DVD drive): Tried the Create System recovery disk from Control Panel, initiallly did not work - so rebooted. That then worked. Created a DVD with the files on, then made the USB bootable and copied the files from DVD to the blank USB (using xcopy /e to make sure all files across okay) Booted with the USB key (on the broken machine!) to get to windows recovery, and selected the command line option. At the command line found the right windows drive partition (ended up being E:) Changed to that drive and and carried out the instructions above in E:\Windows\system32 (I used ICacls since it stated that cacls was the preferred tool) Shutdown and rebooted windows normally, and everything was working. I'm going to use the comments in this article to disable CHKDSK on boot: http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7performance/thread/5faa76b9-1a62-463e-a7b8-83b903c0f6e7 However, my last question is - is there a tool to now set the file permissions correctly (rather than allowing everyone full access)? Thanks,
December 18th, 2010 5:18am

Hmmm - actually I still have a problem, once logged in as a User part of the Administration group I cannot see any files on the C drive... Maybe I will go with an image restore...
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December 18th, 2010 5:45am

Okay blantant use of security options (take ownership and explicitly setting current user as full control) makes everything accessible - however it makes it more important to find something that can sort out the permissions! Thanks
December 18th, 2010 6:35am

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