Windows Server 2008 Restore Problem

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My 2008 Server crashed last weekend and upon further review I realized that the C partition ran out of disc space. Server 2008 is on the C: partition and all of our data is on the E: drive/partition. To free space I had to delete & shrink the E: drive and then expand my C: partition (extra 15 gigs) and then restore my data from the “Windows Server Backup” program.

For the Recovery Type I selected the “Files and Folders” option as, 1) the old E: drive/partition also held a PageFile file I didn’t want to restore and 2) and I couldn’t select the “Volume” option as I think it’s because I didn’t name Drive E: the same as it was originally (not sure here). ie: Drive E: was not shown as an option under Volume. Does what you call/name the Drive make a difference? The drive letter named as Drive E in both instances (before and after) but I couldn’t remember what I named it originally and wonder if that’s why I couldn’t use the Volume option.

Anyway, I recovered using the Files & Folders option and made sure that I Checked boxed the security settings to “Restore the access control list” for the files and folders being recovered. All seemed to be okay.

Okay here’s the problem:

As an Administrator my username is a member of all groups, as such I can see and open any file in the recovered partition but I can’t save “any files of the files I open ” as I get an error message that states that the file is Read Only. If I then try to change this status through explorer on my client machine it states I don’t have permissions. I’ve queried the “Security Tab” locally and from explorer on the Server and I’m listed, both as a user and as Administrator as having full permissions !

Here’s the kicker, all of my users are having no issues opening and saving files on the network, either in shared folders or in their personal network folders. This isn’t client specific as I can log in from multiple computers, (XP and Win7 machines), but I get the same error messages so I suspect it has something to do with my Username. Thank goodness my users can go about their work this morning but I’m dead in the water.

So, any ideas on how to fix as I can’t work this way. Should I delete my Username and then re-create my account (really don’t want to do this). I’m not all that network savvy so I want to approach this with caution.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice !

Chuck

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Thanks for moving this to the appropriate forum. Hopefully someone can offer advice.

C~

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Not having permission can be tricky to troubleshoot, but there are tools.
Use the Effective Permissions tool to see what permission you / others have. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771586(v=ws.11).aspx
Once you know what’s what you need to work out were the permission is set. I start out in the lower folders and work up to see where the permission is set – permissions are generally inherited from the parent folder.
Do not change any permissions until you are sure of the consequences – you don’t want to upset your users.

cheers, Paul

p.s. Install HostMonitor and set up some disk space notifications (free for 30 days, cheap after that).

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Thanks Paul,

This morning I did query the advanced security tab for Effective Permissions and for every folder I checked on the Server all the allowable options, ie: Full Control, were checked for my Username. Files in shared folders that others can open and save still give me either a File Read Only (if trying to edit existing) or Folder Read Only (creating a new file) error message. Unchecking the Read Only check box from the server console for the folder and all files makes no difference and I still get this error.

Right now I’m relegated to working on files and saving to my local Desktop but this won’t work long term. Think I should Delete my Username and re-create as a possible fix? I’d have to go back and re-establish all my permissions if I do this but I don’t see any other options……….help.

C~

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Not having permission can be tricky to troubleshoot, but there are tools.
Use the Effective Permissions tool to see what permission you / others have. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771586(v=ws.11).aspx
Once you know what’s what you need to work out were the permission is set. I start out in the lower folders and work up to see where the permission is set – permissions are generally inherited from the parent folder.
Do not change any permissions until you are sure of the consequences – you don’t want to upset your users.

cheers, Paul

p.s. Install HostMonitor and set up some disk space notifications (free for 30 days, cheap after that).

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There are lots of permissions in Windows server so you may find it’s a deny permission, or the permissions are broken – seen that loads of times, particularly if you have set individual permissions, you said you may have to re-establish the permissions.

Try creating a new folder under one that is read only.
Try taking ownership of a non-essential, small folder, folder only, not the files.
Have you run chkdsk – out of hours?

cheers, Paul

p.s. You should never assign individual permissions, do everything via appropriately named groups. Anything else is asking for trouble.

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Thanks for helping Paul,

1) Tried to create a new folder under one that I couldn’t write/save to and received the “Unable to create the folder “New Folder” error message.
2) From explorer on the Server added my username to the Ownership group, still same errors.

Have yet to run chkdsk to date.

Okay, we had a third party setup our server and to be honest they didn’t do much hand holding (whole other story). It’s been working great for a number of years as we set it up but I do have some permissions at the user level and not at group level.

Question: Why would I want to setup a group for a users private folder when they are the only user of that folder ?? While on the topic, can you advise a good source for explaining the difference between Share permissions and Security permissions ? Not sure this is part of the issue but we haven’t really done much with Share permissions.

Back to my issue. Might I just be better to delete my User, since I’m the only one having a problem and then re-create my user and since I’m going to be in the Admin Group not have to worry about setting detailed permissions ? Would this work…..(getting desperate )

Thanks,
Chuck

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There is no ownership group, only an owner of the files / folder.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753659(v=ws.11).aspx

Users private folders are the only place where individual permissions are used and they are set when the user is created. You shouldn’t change them or use them anywhere else.

Share permissions are an extra layer but only apply if you are using the folder as a network share. Conventional wisdom is to grant “everyone” full share permission and use file/folder permissions to control access. Then you don’t get lost in which permission is being applied.

If you have been attempting to access / use the files from a share then that is likely to be your problem. Always troubleshoot from the server and then work out to shares.

Deleting your user will not fix a file/folder permission issue.

cheers, Paul

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