Mount Image Pro Knowledgebase

Accessing All Folders in an Mounted Image

File and Folder access to an image that has been mounted with Mount Image Pro is controlled by Windows. For this reason a Mount Image Pro user should always log into the forensic computer as an "administrator" level user to ensure that Windows allocated the appropriate user access rights.

Normally we presume that an administrator user has permissions to all folders/files on a mounted image. However, not all computers are configured this way and it is possible for a user to have excluded the administrator account from folder or file access.

If this is the case you may receive the error message when clicking on a file or folder "access is denied" or in some situations folders such as "My Documents" may not be displayed.

The Solution

The solution to this problem is to take "ownership" of the file or folder so as to to apply your administrator security profile to files and folders on the mounted image.

To Add Administrator File/Folder Access

  • Navigate to the relevant file or folder in in Windows Explorer;
  • Right Click on the file or folder in question;
  • Select Properties > Security > Advanced > Owner;
  • In the "Change Owner To" select the then administrator account (or the account with administrator rights with which you have logged into your forensic analysis computer) and check the box for "replace owner on sub-containers and objects".

Once you apply these settings your should now have complete access to these files and folders in the mounted image.

Still have problems getting access permissions to a folder?

If you are running Windows XP, you may need to change your "Simple File Sharing" setting:

  1. Open My Computer from the Start Menu or Windows XP Desktop. A new My Computer window will appear.
  2. Open the Tools menu and choose the "Folder Options..." option from this menu. A new Folder Options window will appear.
  3. Click on the View tab and locate the "Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended)" checkbox in the list of Advanced Settings.
  4. To enable Simple File Sharing, ensure this checkbox is checked. To disable Simple File Sharing, ensure this checkbox is not checked. Click inside the checkbox to alternately enable and disable the option.
  5. Click OK to close the Folder Options window. The settings for Simple File Sharing are now updated; no computer reboot is required.