Have you ever experienced a error message saying “Access Denied.” when ever you are trying to open any files or folders in Windows 7 or when you are trying to to change the security access or ownership of the folder that is being denied even though you are the only user and administrator of the System? No doubt, most of us have experienced it. Well, what to do if you wish to have full access to ALL of the files and folders on my system.
Well, if you know what you are doing, and if you are aware of the risk you may encounter by changing the security settings wrongly, you can take full ownership of all files.
Furthermore it is advised to have a complete install disk and a backup image saved with you in case you may need to reinstall.
Anyway, Microsoft really did do a wonderful job with Windows 7. And for few these ridiculous default security settings are the ONLY thing that really irritates about Windows 7.
if this is the case, here I am including instructions for Taking Ownership of Folders/Files and how to Grant Permissions. You can disable User Account Control and your permissions should be back as normal. However, it is not recommended.
How to Take Ownership in Windows 7
1. Locate the file or folder on which you want to take ownership in windows explorer
2. Right click on file or folder and select “Properties” from Context Menu
3. Click on Security tab
4. Click on “Advance”
5. Now click on Owner tab in Advance Security Settings for User windows
6. Click on Edit Button and select user from given Change Owner to list if user or group is not in given list then click on other users or groups. Enter name of user/group and click ok.
7. Now select User/group and click apply and ok. (Check “Replace owner on sub containers and objects” if you have files and folder within selected folder)
8. Click ok when Windows Security Prompt is displayed
9. Now Owner name must have changed.
10. Now click Ok to exist from Properties windows
Once you have taken the ownership of file or folder next part comes is Granting Permissions to that file/folder or object.
How to Grant Permissions in Windows 7
1. Locate the file or folder on which you want to take ownership in windows explorer
2. Right click on file or folder and select “Properties” from Context Menu
3. Click on Edit button in Properties windows Click ok to confirm UAC elevation request.
4. Select user/group from permission windows or click add to add other user or group.
5. Now under Permission section check the rights which you want to grant i.e check “Full Control” under the “Allow” column to assign full access rights control permissions to Administrators group.
6. Click Ok for changes to take effect and click ok final ok to exit from Properties window.
Now you can access files of folder in windows 7 with full permissions and take full control.
Please reply back and let us know if these instructions helped to resolve your issue so others may benefit. If you still need assistance, let us know and we will be glad to assist.