Extracted old hard drive from a vintage machine.
Extracted old hard drive from a vintage machine.
I relocated some older HDDs to a fresh Windows 10 setup. The system handles reading and writing files without issues. However, when using Simple Sharing, the folder appears shared but shows an Unknown Owner—possibly from a previous machine. Need guidance on resolving this.
In the back-end of Windows, each item receives a unique identifier known as a GUID or SID. These are sequences combining numbers and letters, such as {51356712-3E7F-49CA-B8FA-942F59CD3D4B} or S-1-5-21-1550579125-857785018-4563923411-1884. This method prevents conflicts. It helps Windows recognize situations like multiple accounts sharing the same name, several XBox controllers connected, or identical monitors. Windows interprets "XBox 360 Controller" as {DEB039CC-B704-4F53-B43E-9DD4432FA2E9}, not the full string. The displayed name is just a label for clarity. SIDs function similarly to GUIDs but use letters in a structured way, unlike the completely random format of GUIDs. Essentially, everything appears as a random number. In your scenario, files and folders have permissions assigned, and Windows sees an SID that matches a user account but isn’t linked to any specific name you’ve set. This name comes from your SAM registry—a hidden file storing all account details on your Windows 10 system. In short, each identifier is unique, ensuring clarity even when multiple accounts or devices are involved.
No permissions are set for that unknown user, so I can't delete it. Perhaps taking control of the whole drive letter would help?