microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin

jake wrote:
> ok the other day chkdsk ran and destroyed my security settings.It said
> something on the lines of "security settings invalid restoring
> settings to default"for every file on my computer.Which left my
> computer without a task bar,run extremly slow,no access to user
> accounts,ie not working,and a ton more problems.I then tried
> restoring numerous times but nothing helped. I then found something
> online about manually reset security policies to default (exactly
> what chkdsk said it did)and tried it (secedit /configure /cfg
> %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose)
> which fixed most of the problems but not all.I cant access disk
> management,cant log in with account that has user rights.And still a
> ton more.Im just wondering if anyone here has had the same problem
> and how they fixed it.im running windows xp pro locally. I've also
> tried to create new admin accounts but they have exactly the same
> problems as the existing accounts.

I think you're confusing Windows security policies with your security
descriptors - they aren't the same thing. If your hard drive had that many
errors on it, you may be best off with a new install of XP (if not also a
new hard drive). Chkdsk didn't "destroy" your settings - it ran because
there were errors already, and it was trying to fix them.

Regular image/clone backups using Acronis or Ghost or similar are a very
good thing on a standalone systems, note - get an external hard drive & run
regular backups, and replacing hardware will be very easy. I'm a big fan of
Acronis - their Home version is inexpensive.