# quarantine recovery problem



## stevexoc (Jan 3, 2007)

I accidentally copied an uncontaminated folder into the c:\quarantine\ folder. Now I cannot access it, delete it, or move it. I have tried accessing it through McAfee and Windows Defender, but because the folder was not scanned and then placed in quarantine by those programs it does not appear in their quarantine managers. Are there any tools or recovery programs out there that will allow me to pull stuff out of the quarantine folder without having to worry about whether or not it's spyware or a virus?


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## Kalim (Nov 24, 2006)

Hi

Which softwares' quarantine folder have you placed it in and how did you place it in there in the first place? A manual move?

If that is the folder where the software quarantines are kept, then it should be accessible through the software.


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## stevexoc (Jan 3, 2007)

It is McAfee's quarantine folder. It was a manual move, I was working quickly in Explorer, and dropped a folder in there without thinking. The interesting thing is that the Quarantine Manager in McAfee is empty, so apparently the software believes that the quarantine folder is empty, because it does not list anything that I can restore in the first place.


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## bat21 (Sep 29, 2006)

If on XP try system restore.


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## stevexoc (Jan 3, 2007)

I tried System Restore to the day before I moved the folder, but it did not change anything (the folder remains stuck in quarantine).


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## tetonbob (Jan 10, 2005)

Hello stevexoc -

Can you access the folder in safe mode?


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## stevexoc (Jan 3, 2007)

Thanks tetonbob, I restarted in safe mode and then went to the properties of the quarantine folder. Under the security tab (which isn't available in normal startup mode for XP Home), I was able to grant full access permissions (which had all been disabled, I assume by McAfee when it was first installed) and then retrieve my lost folder.


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## tetonbob (Jan 10, 2005)

Excellent!

Thanks to forhockey for the suggestion.

:wave:


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## forhockey (Sep 30, 2006)

You'd be surprised what you can do in safe mode :wink: . You can take control of almost any file while in safe mode because there are minimal system processes running.


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