When you’re working in Windows 7, you may have
trouble with a folder (or a file) because Windows tells you that you
don’t have permission to edit (add to, delete, whatever) the folder.
You might think the solution is to give your user account Full Control
permissions on the folder, but it’s not as easy as that. Why not?
Because you’re not the owner of the folder. (If you were, you’d have
the permissions you need automatically.) So the solution is to first
take ownership of the folder, and then assign your user account Full
Control permissions over the folder.
Here are the steps to follow:
1. | Use Windows Explorer to locate the folder you want to take ownership of.
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2. | Right-click the folder and then click Properties to open the folder’s property sheet.
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3. | Display the Security tab.
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4. | Click Advanced to open the Advanced Security Settings dialog box.
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5. | Display the Owner tab.
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6. | Click Edit.
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7. | In the Change Owner To list, click your user account.
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8. | Activate the Replace Owner on Subcontainers and Objects check box.
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9. | Click OK. Windows 7 warns you that you need to reopen the property sheet to change the folder’s permissions.
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10. | Click OK in the open dialog boxes.
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11. | Right-click the folder and then click Properties to open the folder’s property sheet.
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12. | Display the Security tab.
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13. | If you do not see your user account in the Group or User Names list, click Edit, click Add, type your username, and click OK.
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14. | Click your username.
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15. | Click the Full Control check box in the Allow column.
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16. | Click OK in the open dialog boxes.
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Note
that, obviously, this is quite a bit of work. If you only have to do it
every once in a while, it’s not big thing, but if you find you have to
take ownership regularly, you’ll probably want an easier way to go
about it. You’ve got it! Listing 1
shows a Registry Editor file that modifies the Registry in such a way
that you end up with a Take Ownership command in the shortcut menu that
appears if you right-click any folder and any file.