If you're unable to copy the files, this is almost certainly an ownership/permissions 
problem (i.e., Windows) rather than a Word problem.

You say:

"I have tried assigning ownership under security settings to my current user to no 
avail."

What does this mean?  Does it mean you tried to assign ownership it won't let you? 
 If it won't let you, what does it say?  Do you get an error message?

Or do you mean that you have successfully assigned ownership to yourself, but you 
still can't copy the files?

When you look at the ownership of the files now, do they show you as being the owner?

Did you change ownership (to yourself) of the directory that the files are in?

Please describe VERY precisely the steps you are taking to assign ownership to yourself, 
and VERY precisely what the system does when you "try" to do this.







On Friday, May 9, 2008 at 3:12 pm, Brian wrote:

>I have several documents created in Word 2003 on a computer that was reformatted 

>with XP Pro.  They were stored on a USB HD from the original installation of XP 
Pro. 

> When I try to open them after the OS reinstall, I get an error "word cannot open 

>document:  user does not have access priviledges."  There is no prompt for a password. 

> I did not ever encrypt or password protect the documents.  I have tried assigning 

>ownership under security settings to my current user to no avail.  Any suggestions? 

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