I have Windows 7 up and running very well and love it. I upgraded from Vista Ultimate. I had a very unhappy relationship with Vista, struggling with continual incompatibilities and corruptions, so got used tousing the Vista back-up system regularly to feed my regular need to re-install. Windows 7, in contrast, has been a dream from the moment I put it on and the beta version has caused me far fewer hassles and incompatibilities than the full Vista version ever did, BUT I find I can not access any of the files that were backed up from Vista. I had assumed (rather foolishly, I appreciate) that sufficient people would be upgrading from the Vista platform that Win 7 would have retroactive compatibility with the Vista back-up tool. Am I doomed to having to re-install Vista in orderto retrieve these files and save in another, more accessible format?

Maybe not... If you know someone with the same version of Vista, you may be able to extract the files using that computer... Do a straight copy of the files you need/want to an external disk, USB thumb drive, flash card, or even a CD or DVD and you should be able to access them on your Windows 7 box. Of course, the tricky part would be finding someone with Vista Ultimate...

Where are your backup files located? If they reside on an NTFS volume, then the ACL may differ from your Windows 7 install. Right click the folder or file that contains your backed up information. Under the Security tab, click the Advanced button. At the Advanced Security Settings screen, click the Owner tab and click the edit button. Make the Administrators group from your Windows 7 installation the owner and ensure the settings are propagated through all subfolders. Close all dialog boxes and again right-click the file or folder in question. Now, grant the Administrators group from your Windows 7 installation full-control access.