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File permissions in Windows 7 - "Take Ownership" reports success but I can't access my files
File permissions in Windows 7 - "Take Ownership" reports success but I can't access my files
- I am experiencing difficulty getting at my files.
I have used the "Take Ownership" registry hacks (which open a command window) on files and/or folders, and I get a "SUCCESS" message each time; however, I still cannot access the files.
I can copy the files, and the proper permissions get set on the copies ... but I have several hundred gigs of files and not enough disk space left to do that, to say nothing of having to rename the files. Strange thing is, after I copy a file, I can delete the original file ... but still not "execute" it (double-click; the app that owns that type of file opens, but reports that it can't get access to the file).
I set UAC to "off" (lowest setting) and am trying the "Take Ownership" thing again to see if that makes a difference; in the meantime, has anyone else experienced this problem?
All Replies
- I have had a very simular experience. I too wanted to delete some files in the Windows directory; namely some of the .jpg files for the Desktop Themes located in the Windows/Web directory. Prior to that I had taken ownership of (what I thought in it's entirety) the C:\ directory so that I could add a shortcut to the SendTo folder. Further on when I went to delete those .jpg files it said that I did not have permission. Apparently, just taking ownership of the C:\ directory did not grant me complete permission over the entire directory including the Windows/Web directory. The only way I could delete those files was to assume ownership of the subfolders that the .jpg files were in.
I wouldn't recommend what I did to anyone. I have reason to believe that it somehow messed up the WMI so that the Event Viewer does not start. After you took ownership did you also reconfigure the Permissions and Auditing in the Advanced Security Settings?
After you took ownership did you also reconfigure the Permissions and Auditing in the Advanced Security Settings?
No I didn't.
I simply gave up and took the "easy" route -- copying all my files (400+ gigs) (I'm a digital photographer) from my backups into my account folders.
Here's the thing: this should not happen in the first place. If it does happen, something MUST be done to make it easier for the average user to gain access to his/her files. It is far too complex, as your post points out .. probably 85+% of people will never think to do those things; they'll give up, and either fallback to XP, or ... I don't know, install some version of Linux instead?
Either way, this is a problem. By the time users find out that they can't access their files in a fairly simple way, they'll have already bought the product .. so Microsoft isn't losing customers directly; unfortunately, the customer will have a negative experience, and that ain't right :) .- " Either way, this is a problem. By the time users find out that they can't access their files in a fairly simple way, they'll have already bought the product .. so Microsoft isn't losing customers directly; unfortunately, the customer will have a negative experience, and that ain't right :) . "
I don't know about that. After I took possession of tne C:\ directory I went back configured Permissions (making sure I was on the Permissions list) with all the inherited permissions. I then did the same thing for the Auditing section. Rebooted (probably didn't have to) came back and was able to delete almost everything that I wanted. Of course if any of the Windows Processes or Services were using a particular file it couldn't be deleted so I had to click "Skip". - I am most likely having a highly similar security issue. I have tried all methods of taking ownership and setting custom permissions. All to no avail. However, I may have some extra information to add here. The drive I am having difficulty with is a storage drive that was previously mounted in a Windows XP Professional SP3 workstation to store files; no operating system files. The boot drive is separate and prepared with the Windows 7 installer, it runs just fine. The main system drive (boot drive) I did a complete cleaning prior to installing Windows 7 RC using DiskPart. The Diskpart tool, part of Server 2003 resource kit tools, is a very powerful disk management Utility. Drives prepared with this program show as uninitialized; I strongly recommend such a cleaning to remove all possible problems especially when changing OS technologies or when reinstalling a system after a rootkit-that-survives-a-format infection). I have no issues with security on the boot drive.
Before you suggest various solutions, know that I am an IT Consultant and I have 27 years experience. I am looking for specific Windows 7 issues and hotfixes pertaining precisely to this issue. I have already applied the Root Ownership hotfix from KB970789; it did not resolve this issue on the storage drive. The second drive was NOT formatted, or cleaned prior to mounting in the Windows 7 system. That drive contains over a million documents and other information. I specifically mounted it to test the Libraries functions and the efficiency of the indexing system in Windows 7.
I would really appreciate some ideas in this matter. I should be able to help others with problems in return.
I strongly suggest that you clean your boot disks properly when you install a new OS technology. Sometimes there are markers and partitioning information that may have issues with a new OS.
Computer software consultant for 27 years I have tried all methods of taking ownership and setting custom permissions.
I know you didn't want to hear obvious answers, but it sounds familiar to a problem I was having. Check the sharing options. Go to a folder on the external drive, Right click > sharing > specific people. Delete the unknown contacts and then share the folder.- I cannot even view the properties of the said drive, ACCESS DENIED Windows XP can view it, and do anything to it, but after taking ownership in Win7, and one reboot, poof again, back to ACCESS DENIED. This is an internally mounted storage volume, not a removable drive. and not a shared volume on another system.
I repeated all the steps precisely that I do that is sucessful in WinXP Pro, and the dialogs open and close and the files stream past as the permissions and supposedly the onwership changes, but to no avail. ACCESS DENIED after I am informed the process was sucessful. This has to be a major system bug on Windows 7. I am by no means unfamiliar to Windows OS, I do consulting, I can manually remove viruses and rootkits, and manually edit the registry on a system, this is very basic stuff, it simply does not work.
Computer software consultant for 27 years- Proposed As Answer byBlazeH Friday, May 15, 2009 3:30 PM
- I fully AGREE! The "user" or "Administrator" of the OS should have FULL control over EVERYTHING on their computer by just setting one switch instead of going though all this "Ownership", "Priviledges" and "Auditing" stuff. I do understand that the average uses has no need or desire to have full access to everything but a personal choice is prefered , in my opinion. I like to have the control of deleting or changing everything or anything I want. If I mess up, then it is my problem. This needs to beaddressed in Windows 7.
- Hi. I have same problem but with mi corporative account with administrative rights as the local user on my D: partition. This problem was present two days after include my Portatile on the corporative network. I will change permissions, propietary, checkout of the Directoy, ingres again without results.
- Hello
this is for everybody who has sometimes rights problem.
I see that Since i installed Windows 7, some folders have been "Saved".
So that nobody can access them, but to subfolders.
Think this is a new "Security"-Feature (not a bug ...) to avoid Programs to gain information of a computer because of some standards.
Here just what i saw because it't maybe usefull:
Go to the Properties of the folder that you have problems (maybe also a file or something)
Check if there is a user called "Everyone" with some Special Rights.
If yes, there could be the problem...
Sometimes Windows 7 put following rule:
Everyone Deny to List Folder/Read Data
Just delete this Everyone Deny, press three times ok and that's it.
Just a little list of Folders that had the permission set to this strange Everyone deny:
%Systemroot%\Documents and Settings
%Systemroot%\Users\%username%\Local Settings
I think that with this security another programm cannot spoof in local Settings what for programs you use... because he need to know the path below.
I AGREE absolutely that a Administrators should have full control of the data but not the "User". But normal on a Windows 7 you have the rights you need.
Regards:
Dani - Well I am glad it is not just me!
I have a situation where I have installed XP Mode and completed a system restore because of some issues with USB drivers. Unfortunately, the installer left one folder in the Program Files with three files.
After the system restore, the only owner is the SYSTEM and all attempt to take ownershop with the TAKEOWN command have been fruitless. I cannot delete these files, add permissions, take ownership or virtually anything to these files.
As a last resort, I have managed to CUT them and move them to a mapped drive on another PC and then delete them.
Quite frustrating to say the least!
I am completing some Win 7 Logo testing and have other little strange things like this happen like the program installing but not applying permissions to the current (Administrator) user.
I will document fully and post the results when I get them.
Cheers
Dave - Sorry, update to the above. I didn't manage to CUT them, they stayed exactly where I left them but copied them instead. Just to prove I wasn't going mad, I tried again and the same thing happened. I have managed to take ownership of the folder but not to the contents.
I have also found that apparently, I need permission off myself to delete the file (???) I am the only user on the system (As an administrator) and the meessage now appears "You require permission from PCNAME\USER to make changes to this file". I am that very person.
Cheers
***UPDATE***
After much fiddling about, I have managed to finally delete my files. After a reboot, I was able to right click and change the ownership "normally" delete the previous owner (SYSTEM) and add me with full control permissions. It has only taken me three hours to delete 3 files!
Huray!!! - Seems like you had a problem with the Harddisk, sometimes when my disk had corrupted files, i couldn't change the security settings, sometimes this tab was also missing.
Like this i think after a reboot he corrected some problems on the drive... maybe.
Now it's working, coool :D - Hi All. I am looking for a solution to a similar issue. Here's my story:
My hard disk had two partitions - one had vista installed on it (been using it for a year), and on the other I installed WIN7RC1. I also had a second hard disk called MEDIA which had all my, er..., media.
I had a dual boot environment in which I predominantly used WIN7 for a while and then decided to move back to Vista - still keeping the dual boot setup. When I moved back to VISTA I noticed a couple of changes:
1. All files and folders in my MEDIA drive had only "READ ONLY" attribute set. Tried various things including logging in as administrator and enabling "Full Control" access to all "Users". Some folders were set right, but on just one, the "READ ONLY" attribute just wouldn't go away - call this the rogue folder. Take ownership(recursive) too reports success.
2. I noticed a new account (Just the SID, no user name) that show up in the "Group or user names" box under "Security" context menu of the rogue folder. This SID corresponds to the account created under WIN7
Has anyone made similar observations?
All "well behaved" folders show the following in their "Security->Group or user names" box:
authenticated users
system
administrators
users
The rogue folder shows (conrad is the sole account on both Vista and WIN7):
system
unknown (S-1-5-21-YYYYYYYYY...)
administrators
conrad
Why is the user list looking so different? Also, note that under Vista and WIN7 I had created an user accounts with the same name ("conrad").
Thanks in advance,
Conrad - Athnetius, that seems to be the exact problem I was describing in my earlier post on this topic.
I presume you have had the "media" folder shared at some point.
Easy to fix. First take ownership of the 'media' folder, remembering to check the box to also replace owner on subcontainers and objects. Give your user "Full control" access to the folder.
Then right click the 'media' folder and select 'share with' and select 'specific people'. Remove the unknown contact, and make sure you are shown as the owner, and everyone has read only permission, and then click share. - Thanks Stickywulf.
I took ownership of the folder and gave myself full control. The process completed successfully - The properties dialog shows the right ownership (my_pc_name\my_user_name)
I didn't need to share the folder - I can't figure why you suggested that.
Now, it looks like I do have complete permissions for all files. Folders still seem to have the read only flag set, but I guess there is some valid explanation - I can live that.
-Conrad - Athnetius,
I experimented some more and think I found a better solution. Sharing the folder does work, but I think you are just wanting to change permission.
Essentially the difference here being that you previously had read/write permission for the specific user "Conrad" while now you will be giving read/write permission to general "users".
First up - Take ownership of the folder (which you've already done).
Right click the folder and choose "properties".
Click the "security" tab and then click "edit" and then click "add" and then click "advanced"
Click "object types" and then tick "groups" and then click "ok" and then click "find now"
Scroll to the bottom of the list and then highlight "Users" and then click "ok". "ok"
Highlight "users" and tick the boxes for "read" and "write" (and any other permissions you want).
Click "ok" "ok"
I hope this works for yourself. At the very least, I believe I now know how this permissions works for myself. - Well, I have tried the sharing suggestion, and to no avail.
I just thought I would post a short update.
I also have noticed another folder that I cannot delete, called Window.old, which I find strange since I did a fresh installation. Whatever I try, it will not go away. I believe this to be related to my previous issue. I do hope that Microsoft has assigned someone who actually reads these forum posts and makes note or logs them for review.
Computer software consultant for 27 years - yes, this tends to happen if you dual boot with a system that does not take ownershipes, i.e you dualboot with xp or lower, with xp installed first,
boot in xp, try and open the file, if it opens, your on the right track for taking the ownership, if you CAN open it, :
select all the files, riught click, make sure its NOT READ ONLY, then set to share folders, if it asks to move them, click NO
if you CANT open it, then boot back into windows 7, right click the files, click sercurty, then something along the lines off "permissions" (sorry, my windows 7 is down for a while, so i cant check to see where it is )
remove everyone as permissionsm then click add, then click advance, then click add/new, then select all, give everything permission, then reset,
you shuold now be able to open/ successfully take permission of the files :) - kk, how about making the folder only editable by you, and nnot by system?.. this can be done, except if its windows files or a file that the system is using/needs, it will take the ownership again,try it, denied acces to system and also stop it archiving, indexing and compressing?
Jimmy:
its looks like someone did there research? how you know my name? o.O ...... - I'll consider it: However, given that the op system is dropping bombs at the root level, I really doubt (especially since bugs don't even follow rules even if there were one) it needs system access permission to do it. It drops a bomb from within an "up" operating system, via "triggers" or sometimes without any obvious trigger right down to the ultimate places where all fixes "above" it mean nothing: The root system.
As to your name, wildly lucky guess. Unlucky at Op systems, lucky at name guessing, I suppose. - UPDATE: If you are an x32 user for whom the hotfix doesn't restore access to your drives, or an x64 user who gets completely locked out of their drives (repeatedly), 100.000000000% you might consider twittering @BrandonLive.
Here's what I know: 1) I've been working with PCs since 1976, and I'm d*** sure that I'm capable of understanding when I'm TOTALLY locked out of my own drives, and when the drives will totally lock me out again after I've spent !@#$#@#$ time manually restoring access.
2) I know that there appears to be no help for those in 7100+ x64 who get totally and randomly locked out of their own drives, with all their permissions reset. I know that reasonable google searches demonstrate that MS has not acknowledged the issue.
3) I know that Vista was a complete debacle not necessarily because the op system sucked the whole time, but because the perception that it sucked. I further know that only at the very end did MS even start to grasp the concept of how real world users talk about an op system when they perceive it sucks, and that real world op system end users generally have an understanding of op systems one level above my pets.
4) I know that whether he is or not, by his "tweets" which want to address anything -but- the fact that 7100++ is locking SOME users totally out of their drives, repeatedly, that @BrandonLive APPEARS to be an MS employee who demonstrates the living embodyment of why Vista failed (See 3).
5) I know d*** well how the press works. I know that if MS and/or its employees a) have more mature builds that suck FAR worse than previous builds; and b) pretend that all problems with the op system are "end user failures" and are problems with the user, and it's the user who has the problem, that the problem will absolutely demonstrate itself most obviously in MS' bottom line, when Win7 fails as badly as Vista, because MS does exactly the same thing with the op system release that they did with Vista, but expects a different result.
I know that if MS APPEARS to 7100+ probs like @BrandonLive APPEARS to, that MS is "pulling a chrysler/general motors," i.e., "we build what we want, we think it's great, and we don't give rat's assets about what you think."
6) I know that I now have semi-permanent access to my drives, that MS was ZERO help in resolving the problem. I know that "throwing things against the wall" worked. I know that most of my "fixes" were TOTALLY unrelated to the problem, as well as many if not most of my theories what the problem is. I know that bad press against MS and Win7 led me to roads of various things to throw against the wall at this catastrophic 7100 problem, and that one or more of the things that I threw against the wall has kept the problem at bay.
But once again, here's what I know. I know that I don't want to be denied 100.00% access to my drives, over and over again despite manually fixing the problem. I know that other users don't want the same. I know that the average user, with maybe 10% the experience with PCs as I, will RUSH to tell 20 other potential users that the op system sucks, whether it does or not, the first time they get totally locked out of every file they have on their computer; or experience anything anything remotely as catastrophic in final release.
7) In sum, what I know is that my ONLY apparent contact from MS on my catastrophic problem with 7100 has been basically "shut up, Win7 has no problem, you're the problem in bad mouthing the perfect Windows 7 Release Candidate. All the problems are in your head, and with you." I know that basically being told I'm the problem did nothing to restore ANY access to my drives or files.
MS tried "Fix the End-User instead of the op system" before: It was called "Vista." It didn't work out terribly well for the company. So perhaps they might want to try taking some of the efforts to get bad-mouthers of Win7 who get hit with catastrophic failures toward, oh, I dunno, acknowledging and fixing the operating system instead of "fixing the end-user."
So in the end, if this thread or this post magically disappear after you've seen/read/followed them, please make that a PRIMARY consideration on how MS is going to handle actual Win7 potentially catastrophic problems upon actual release, and whether you should spend a real dollar on it upon release. - Small update.
The hotfix released by Windows Update on the x86 platform, does not work, period. The bug is still there, and it will not go away. The only way to remove it is to wipe COMPLETELY the data from the affectedvolumes. The ONLY way to sucessfully prepare a drive, not a partition, or a volume, but a drive, is through Diskpart, using another older OS, before you install windows 7.
1) Mount the drive on a Windows server 2003, or XP Professional with the Server 2003 Tools installed, and utilize the Diskpart tool to thouroughly clean the affected drive. WARNING: the "clean" command will effectively remove absolutely any semblence of data, partitions, and wolumes across en ENTIRE disk in less than 5 seconds!!
2) Run Diskpart
a) open Windows Disk MAnagement and note CAREFULLY the drive you have connected to the system and see which disk number it is. Yes, you may use an external USB method for mounting to use this method.
b) Run Diskpart.
c) enter the following commands:
i) list disk (note the disk that has the '*' next to the name and note the number of the disk you wish to clean.
ii) select # (type the number of the disk you wish to clean. Please make sure you have not selected the wrong disk)
iii) list disk (run the list command again and verify that you have selected the correct volume, be 500% certain.. LOL)
iii) clean (please be certain that you have selected the correct disk before you proceed)
iv) exit (in Disk Management you see that the disk is so clean, it is not even initialized yet)
3) Remove the disk physically from the XP Pro or Win 2003 Server system and reconnect it into the Windows 7 machine
4) Install Windows 7 and you will have no problems with the root drive anymore. Try to avoid using this system on a network with older technologies from Microsoft.
A Word of warning, any drives that you connect (how you connect seems randomly affected for some reason) that already have data from other systems, are likely to have the Root Security Bug reappear again after one reboot with the drive connected in a Windows 7 environment. I strongly advise that you keep windows 7 away from other machines on a network until this issue is resolved sucessfully. If you have no data to worry about on your Win 7 test system, then go ahead and play with netowrking. You will , or should, be fine with any data created originaly within the Win 7 system, or with data accessed and downloded via FTP, HTTP, or HTTPS network connections. I have not tested drive images transferred from other systems. I have not tested folders transferred from a Vista or XP system via VPN connections, or over higher than 128bit connections. Rule nothing out, and suspect everything related to logon, keys, user verification, and any Windows 7 level technology that deals with file or volume permissions and authentication until this issue has been resolved.
IT Consultant for 27 years Currently work in the field 5 days out of 7, 12 hours a day minimum. I like my work. "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." --Martin Luther King, Jr.
Update:Ok, the bug is definitely related to the new UAC system in Windows 7. After extensive testing and experimentation, I have noticed that the symptoms completely vanish if the UAC is completely disabled. Any other setting and the mysterious "bug" comes back. I was able to completely do what I wanted to do, and view and change any settings edit permissions and change ownership and auditing with the UAC completely disabled. The changes remained permanent and effective. The minute I enabled, even slightly, the UAC then ACCESS DENIED and the inability to view properties or see effective changes reared its ugly head once again.
I have not had issues with this bug for isolated Windows 7 systems. No issues with Windows 7 systems installed on properly cleaned drives and not linked to other older Microsoft operating systems via a local network. Once you change (pollute?) your installation by adding another drive from a another OS, dual boot with another OS, or start to mess around with locally networked systems with older versions of Windows, the Windows 7 Permissions Bug has a strong chance of coming back. No evidence of the bug with networked Apple computers, or Linux computers.
If you completely disable UAC, unless you have already changed too many things, the Windows 7 Permissions Bug should disappear.
IT Consultant for 27 years Currently work in the field 5 days out of 7, 12 hours a day minimum. I like my work. "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." --Martin Luther King, Jr.
Update:Ok, the bug is definitely related to the new UAC system in Windows 7. After extensive testing and experimentation, I have noticed that the symptoms completely vanish if the UAC is completely disabled. Any other setting and the mysterious "bug" comes back. I was able to completely do what I wanted to do, and view and change any settings edit permissions and change ownership and auditing with the UAC completely disabled. The changes remained permanent and effective. The minute I enabled, even slightly, the UAC then ACCESS DENIED and the inability to view properties or see effective changes reared its ugly head once again.
I have not had issues with this bug for isolated Windows 7 systems. No issues with Windows 7 systems installed on properly cleaned drives and not linked to other older Microsoft operating systems via a local network. Once you change (pollute?) your installation by adding another drive from a another OS, dual boot with another OS, or start to mess around with locally networked systems with older versions of Windows, the Windows 7 Permissions Bug has a strong chance of coming back. No evidence of the bug with networked Apple computers, or Linux computers.
If you completely disable UAC, unless you have already changed too many things, the Windows 7 Permissions Bug should disappear.
IT Consultant for 27 years Currently work in the field 5 days out of 7, 12 hours a day minimum. I like my work. "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." --Martin Luther King, Jr.- Kieseyhow,
Thanks for all your testing and input. I only discovered the problem when I wanted to run scanpst.exe in an effort to address a minor problem with Outlook. I read this thread, turned off UAC, took ownership and it worked. I have not turned UAC back on and will take your word for the outcome. You said:
"Once you change (pollute?) your installation by adding another drive from a another OS, dual boot with another OS, or start to mess around with locally networked systems with older versions of Windows, the Windows 7 Permissions Bug has a strong chance of coming back."
Most installations will run into one or more of the configurations you describe. Most often "locally networked systems ith older versions of Windows" I am dual booting with Vista and have 2 XP computers on the local network. I will watch the thread and hope someone advises if a fix becomes available.
Thanks again for all your efforts and information.
Earon - Yes well I had downloaded 7100 which is what MS is sending now. Have it working "fine" on my main desktop workstation with some in progress exceptions.
The real problem came when I tried to update a fairly new laptop from Vista to W7. I ended up having no start menu from the start. I have looked everywhere and tried everything that I could think of with only temporary success. All the items in the start menu disappear although what they reference is actually there in both the disk locations for all users and user without change. I also lost most of my "user" directory that was on the system prior to the update and couldn't restore things like thunderbird from the user directory files as they were gone both from the new user folder and the windows.old ect folders. So alas I tried to reinstall windows 7 as a new install. Low and behold I had a start menu with all the items in it. As I was not able to even launch some files like firefox install that were on the drive I tried to take ownership and alter permissions. So many of the newer interface features are inspired by Linux I am thinking the security permissions system Linux/Unix employs should be at least an option for users. Strangely some files wouldn't allow me to take ownership so I just "skipped" them. I was able to do the install of most things. I then tried to clean up permissions and experiment regarding the "disappearing start menu" by setting everything on the C: drive to system and administrators. Sometime during the course of the permissions changing I got considerably more messages saying I couldn't change the permissions on some files. And before it completed my desktop icons disappeared and start menu went blank..... Then I thought to reset all permissions on c: drive to system, administrators and my user account(just straight across full power no weaker user perms) this caused the desktop icons and the recently launched program icons on the start menu to reappear but the other items in the start menu are still gone. Very very strange. Just before this I was seriously thinking of dumping vista and Windows 7 in favor of XP as the speed performance is as good or better. The computer in question does have an ability to run XP although the manufacturer doesn't support it per se. I did think it was interesting that the resetting of the file permissions wiped out the start menu entries and will use that to try and figure out what they are doing. Also thinking of activating the administrator account -( net user administrator /active:yes from the command prompt) ... launching a shell and administrator spawned explorer.exe or switching to the user administrator -- being careful to deactivate the administrator afterwhich... I suspect this might force the process to proceed properly. Experiment taking over ownership as user and as admins/ et al.
This is a very serious mistake structurally MS is making when they should be reverting back to a less controlled stance and blasting forth to uncharted space by infusing the overall experience with customer benefits, making that the first goal, the primary goal. This includes a host of changes that seem benefit non MS os's but keeping in mind the first goal, the first rule really, it makes sense. This current pathway seems clearly not done for the users interests.- Edited byJamesStirling Monday, July 06, 2009 6:45 AM
- Edited byJamesStirling Monday, July 06, 2009 6:47 AM
- Edited byJamesStirling Monday, July 06, 2009 6:52 AM
- I just noticed this, after looking in the UAC account help:
"If you select this setting, you'll need to restart the computer to complete the process of turning off UAC. Once UAC is off, people that log on as administrator will always have the permissions of an administrator."
This is the last part of the spiel that comes under the 'do not notify' setting of the UAC, along with the parts to remind you to restart to apply all the effects etc.
Seems silly to me that the UAC actually prevents people who are logged on as the administrator from having the permissions of the administrator at all times, and yet apparently that's what it does.
I've just disabled the UAC on my RC (7100) copy, but I haven't restarted yet. If it solves the 'you need permissions from yourself' glitch (I can only assume this is a glitch, what idiot would program it that way in the first place?) that I had trying to delete stuff in the "program files" folders then I'll write it up here.
UPDATE:
No luck - absolutely no change whatsoever :(
Strangely, I was looking at microsoft games as an example, and everything is deletable except the .jpg image. Seems odd that only the image is protected from deletion - any ideas on that? - Does anyone know if Mac OSX will run on a non-Apple PC? And how to do it? I'm fed up at last with windows 7 the retail version not allowing me to access my PC! Too many files and folders I'm not allowed to use!
- Hello
Of course it's possible, just look arround Google :P
But this is a Microsoft board, please go to some apple boards.
If you have really problem with accessing Files do the following:
Right click => Properties => Security => Advanced => Owner => Take Ownership
Whe you have done that, you should be able to put your username in the rights list ;-)
Be sure you not only put the Administrators Group on the rights, this will not work, just put also your user or the users group ;-)
Regards:
Daniel - @ dani_wb How can you possibly delude yourself that it's as simple as that given all of the above posts? And even if that does work consistently (for you), do you really believe that it's a viable method to change the file permissions of every folder you want to access? One at a time? As for the OS X thing (if it doesn't work), you could always download Ubuntu instead (9.1 is, I believe, the current one (at time of writing)). I won't go so far as to provide a link, (although for all the response our questions are generating, I don't think M$ takes the least amount of notice of anything written here.) But I would always recommend having an alternative to Windows, just in case you get annoyed with it or if there's a mass virus attack or something random. It's probably worth learning how to use a linux distro for that eventuality. (I also have deep suspicions that in the light of M$ current generation of OSs, that should the general public realize there are appropriate alternatives, the empire would crumble :p) To lighter topics: Anyone resolved this issue at all?
- Maybe there is help at hand! [url=http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/windows-7-sp1-service-pack,news-32181.html]Windows 7 SP1[/url] Not for a while yet, and unfortunately it comes out after my RC starts shutting down every 2 hours :S.
- zsolmanz,
As soon as I got notice of your post above, the link was disabled. What was it about?
@ dani_wb,
That advice doesn't work with many things. Plus, even if it did, it would still take months to achieve with my 6+ Terabytes of data. - It was just a link to a Tom's Hardware news bulletin about Windows 7 SP1, which should be out about 1/2 way through next year. Nothing special.
- I agree.....I have a brand new HP PC with Windows 7 installed. It worked fine for two weeks and then suddenly I am getting all kinds of file permission errors and I cannot access many of MY FILES. Files that I could access before suddenly are a problem. There were five automatic Windows updates on 11/11/09 on my PC prior to the problem. Don't know if they can be contributing to my problem. BUT THE BOTTOM LINE IS......it won't take me long to WISH I HAD MY OLD PC WITH WINDOWS XP BACK UP AND RUNNING!
- My sister bought a brand-spanking-new HP laptop with Windows 7 installed. I can't even tranfer the files over from my laptop using Vista and so far, the help on the internet has been so tortured in trying to deal with a simple file transfer that I advised her to return it straight-away and continue to rely on her MacBook Pro.
Even Vista is better than this. Nice one, Bill. You've really impressed the ____ out of me again. - Stupid comment and not the same idea that most of the customers have.... even Linux users(some) is looking now win7 with other eyes...
those who complaint too much about the security permissions must be sum kinda Lame looking for burling win7 security facilities...
Regards,
RR - Thanks for that comment, Ddos_Evader. It's refreshing to have a different point of view, and it contributed so much to the thread.
Renisans, is that a permissions problem? Or a networking problem? Because I've not had any trouble with networking (at least not directly between 2 Windows 7 installations, or my home network + internet).
Have you tried setting up shared folders, then copying things into them so that they're available to the Windows 7 Laptop? I suppose you don't have the HP latptop any more, but maybe that would help in future or with your Vista 'top..
I'll assume you've tried everything there is easily available on the web so I can't help you much more. Does Vista have a 'homegroup' setting for the network it's attached to? Homegroup basically makes the computers in the network trusted, so that Windows 7 doesn't cr*p itself when it get's approached by any of them. It's an OS with xenophobia :S
The only other suggestion I can think of off the top of my head is to nab a portable HDD off a mate and use that to copy files to and from each laptop. Sorry I can't be more helpful :(
Or to use an online file storage site in the same way. I don't know any examples - I don't use them.
-zsolmanz try this out
open an elevated command prompt
** ENSURE that you are in the correct users directory ** Run the following command:
attrib –r –s –h /S /DThis will remove the read-only, system, and hidden tags from all folders and subfolders in the directory. Note that this must be performed from the command line because the same operation fails by design from the explorer GUI as described here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/326549also use icacls to check your file's permission and paste it here for checking. thanks.
I’ve been doing backups for the last year using xcopy in a bat file under Windows 7 RC without problems. I put on Win7 Home Premium and now the copy dies after a few minutes with a denied access message. If I simply drag and drop or edit/copy edit/past the directory it copies without problems.
I found a PDF file I couldn’t open—access denied message, and right clicked it. I clicked share with/specific people and found myself as owner and an account names “unknown contact” which had read/write privileges. If I clicked on properties/security there was an unidentified starting with S-1-5-21 etc. I went back and deleted the “unknown contact” and was able to open the pdf file successfully. Take ownership didn’t change the equation.
Closing and opening the pdf file caused the S-1-5 etc guy to disappear.
Does anyone have any idea what’s going on here? How do these funky accounts/permissions get set?
- i have an issue where a friend of mine experimented with my Windows 7 RC and changed to permissions. apperantly all the files on the C: drive are in accessable except for the Libraries (e.g. music, videos, my documents)...and desktop. Some programs dont respond and any action that requires permission in in-accessable. this includes even changing date and time.....i cant change ownership because the under the propertiess for the C: drive , i'm prompted with the "access denied/ no permission" prompt. i can copy files but not delete.
I tried the command prompt "attrib –r –s –h /S /D" but all lines said access denied....
i also cant install or modify ANY programs and system restore isnt alowing a restore.
can some one help...Please - Ok ppl here is looking for 777 permissions which is not designed for windows 7 IMHO....i doubt ppl here also is having problems in deleting folders or files in the sub! that is the easiest thing ever after u take ownership and attribute all the permissions for users!!! u might as well check if theres any user such as everyone set to deny in special permissions as mentioned above....
ive done that several times in many dif folders ,root folders an all that stuff never have problems,obviously i did try all that for testing purposes then right after switch back to the standards...
there is a security policy in GPO that u set to " elevate without prompting" just do that and u change the uac behaviour ,not somehing that i would advised but if u want to leave it all wide opened and accessible (Like XP)just do it,up to Yous...
btw 777 permissions is a practice questioned by many security experts ,even if u isolate some root folders then apply 777 permissions even though its not something recommended and has some controversi(dunno how to spell that,lazy to google it )
so before crapping the S hit outta UAC,rethink 10 times and look for other resources around internet to see the real deal with that!!!!
windows 7 was designed to re educate win users to avoid certain practices that leaded older windows versions to s uck in security stuff IMHO...
so whats the advantage of creating a new OS only with different look but all the rest the same old S hit ? whats the point of that?
i dont see any reasons for someone complaints bout too much security prompts? its all about double clicking takes mostly bout 10 secs for 10 clicks which is not the cenario here,but just as an example...
Obviously if u trying to do that in the standard user account u ll have to input username and PW...
anyways thats my opinion and i can assure that its possible take ownership of a folder then delete it,now im not so sure of that by trying it remotly in a secured enviroument in which u are not a member of administrators group..
All my best,
RR - also try this kb with the solution provided in it http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081
- i'm at a loss here. i cant access any programs. downloaded programs wont open and give the report of something like "a problem occured with (filename)" .....and under "my computer" i cant open the c: drive at all. as mentioned before. i cant take ownership since these buttons deny me access to do that. Is there any solution?
- well then in this case(which i would call worst case cenario) ,go to a gun store,grab a shotgun and breath 10 times then pull the trigger!!
LMFAO im joking dude ,serious thats like something i wouldnt want to go through,im talking about ur situation,weird that u cant even press the buttons???
anyways w8 for the Experts here advise u and sorry for the useless post but i was just craking up here and felt like posting just for fun,that just came outta off the top of my head but not that im happy with ur disgrace =/
Kind regards,
RR - NeonStream:
Your problem is far beyond what was being discussed here. You've got some damage done that really requires a fresh install of windows. Too many things can cause these effects you're experiencing. But, I believe a clean install should hekp you best. As for the original "permissions" problem we started with, this is a defect in Vista and 7 that M$ refuses to acknowledge or correct.
They should've made a Windows Ultimate Closed/Home version and a Windows Ultimate Enhanced Security version for Home network users, who don't need all this permissions c rap, and Public network users, who need more security. M$ has bollocksed-up their OS with their paranoia and we're paying for it.
Ddos_Evader:
You haven't really helped the situation. You're emails are almost unintelligible, and the gist I get from them is that you don't understand what the discussion is about. What is "777 permissions?" What has it to do with this? - please run sfc /scannow to check filesystem
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833 - "You haven't really helped the situation. You're emails are almost unintelligible, and the gist I get from them is that you don't understand what the discussion is about. What is "777 permissions?" What has it to do with this"
Ok then u should read the books,777 permission means FULL CONTROL to all users or same rights for all users,is that clear enuff 4 ya?
have you read this :
"there is a security policy in GPO that u set to " elevate without prompting" just do that and u change the uac behaviour ,not somehing that i would advised but if u want to leave it all wide opened and accessible (Like XP)just do it,up to Yous..."
it aint english at all?
Note : not somehing that i would advise but if u want to leave it all wide opened and accessible (Like XP)just do it,up to Yous- Personal toughts and irrelevant for those who are not "Paranoia",maybe not awared of todays internet threats...can call me geek.
"i doubt ppl here also is having problems in deleting folders or files in the sub! that is the easiest thing ever after u take ownership and attribute all the permissions for users!!! u might as well check if theres any user such as everyone set to deny in special permissions as mentioned above " - isnt this so simple to understand?
now allowing multiple changes for multiple folders u would have to go for a custom script i've read here in this forum somewhere that i cant point out for u now and sorry for that...
the only thing that irritates me is ppl crapping the skit outta UAC ,that just sounds Dumb for me 4 reals and it its Dumb indeed, as i see some videos in UT and i laugh my Ends off that ppl is advising to turn off UAC and they feel so KOOL HeHe..
anyways everyone is free to choose whatever they want,i just cant bear ppl talkin skit bout UAC,if you u dun like ,well just turn it off completely then but dun come with stupid comments which they make absolutely no sense at all and it hurts my ears/eyes so deeply!
All my best,
RR - It's obvious now that you haven't a clue what this discussion is about. It started in May of this year and we've tried ALL the available solutions (including the"777"). UAC is not the problem here. The probem is in a system which automatically refuses to let the owner use their own computer. UAC is fine, as long as WE users have control. Tell me how to delete or move MY files and folders, that I created, without Vista/7 deciding on a whim to allow or deny me access, and then you will have solved the problem. You won't be able to do that because it is in the coding of the OS. These arbitrary denials of service are due to sloppy coding and a philosophy of Father Knows Best at M$.
Cheers!
P.S. And still your juvenile jargon serves no purpose here. We are trying to do something. No one has ever liked a smart-alecky child. Or to put in terms you might understand: GrUp. Is that clear enuff 4 ya? - yeah i know ,maybe u are juvenile and dunno that,i understand all ur text with no sweats buddy,got that dizzle?
the thing is it never happend to me ,denying without prompting unless i set to deny for the users in admin group...
its kind of weird that maybe ur misconfiguration is triggering that,how could that possibily happpen only with a few ppl? aint that something particular?
maybe u half age of me and u calling me child and thats ok i can live with that,ppl with limited mind tend to appeal in that way so they relieve theyr fraustration coz they dun have a plausible argument and i do understand that too!!!
even with "777" dunno why the quotes but thats ok,u cant delete ur files then u should do a fresh install coz ur system may be currupted,and u may also try CALCS to see if ur problem gets solved !!!
"We are trying to do something" be specific then cause i ran my eyes through all these posts again back and forth,turned my pc upside down to see if i missed anything and still dunno why u said i didnt understand whats this threads purposes...?¿
u are trying to delete some windows folder,whats with that? take ownership,change the permissions in the main permissions windows which gives u the option to " include enheritable permissions from this object's parent" and then u also should uncheck this option in order to delete ur folder THATS IT,if that didnt work ur system is not running smoothly which means something is wrong with it thus u should try a new installation!!!!!!!
is dat clear enuff kid?
u should Grow up and smart up by showing ur reasons ,simply saying that i dun even no what im talking about without specifications is just an empty statement!!!
All my best,
RR - Ddos_Evader. I assume you're using Windows 7 as your primary OS - did you install it on a new / low-level formatted HDD or on one previously used?
If your're not having problems, it could go some way to proving or disproving that comment somewhere above (by Kieseyhow) that says that the root security bug is (at least partly) caused by the state of the drive you installed W7 on.
zsolmanz
EDIT: Personally, I don't think 777 permissions are a good idea at all. But as the administrator of my PC, I would love to have full control. And as to your comment here:
"if that didnt work ur system is not running smoothly which means something is wrong with it thus u should try a new installation!" I've now re-installed Windows 7 RC (build 7100) 6 times in an attempt to do what I want. It's no better now than it was.
Further edit: I think I just solved my problem - I'll reply after some more testing. - hi zsolmanz,
"Further edit: I think I just solved my problem - I'll reply after some more testing." - im glad u got ur problem solved and im sure everyone else here will to if spend some effortts with it!!
" I assume you're using Windows 7 as your primary OS - did you install it on a new / low-level formatted HDD or on one previously used?"
yes u got that right baby ^^,it is as my primary OS and i installed over one previously used,the version is 7100 yet till expires then i might as well aquire the ultimate version!
"But as the administrator of my PC, I would love to have full control"- i do understand that too ,everyone would including me ^^ ,however the OS got to have a trick to keep it a bit harder just in case,and hope u understand my point but its not something unresolveble ,u just need to take some extra steps in order to grant total access to certain root files which they are important for the system to keep it healthy,unlike the other normal folders!!
and i hope ur further edit serves as an example to the others here ,so they understand its not something impossible and just needs extra steps to achieve that and hope u post how u did it as well to make sure no doubts left!
Kind regards,
RR- Edited byDdos_Evader Monday, November 30, 2009 10:45 PMtypo
- Well. I tested further, and I've come up with mixed results. For some folders, my method (the standard method I assume) works great. And for some it doesn't.
All I did was change give the administrators group ownership over a few files (including subcontainers and objects) that "TrustedInstaller" apparently owned, then removed TrustedInstaller from the permissions list and gave the other four groups full control.
Perfect - I can now delete Chess Titans, should I so wish.
Not so with Windows -Live SkyDrive, -NT, -Photoviewer or -Sidebar in the Program Files (x86) folder (I haven't tested others), which after performing the above steps stated that I needed permission from "Administrators" to delete them. This may be because they're in use, but I know for sure that Photoviewer isn't. (I don't know what NT or Live SkyDrive do.)
Anyway, I'd still like a method that changes all of them, consistently. It seems odd to me that there's a discrepancy here, with exactly the same method.
Of course, this isn't exactly David Brant's problem (the OP). He states that he's got hundreds of gigs of files, so even if the above method works it would take him a ridiculous amount of time to fix them all to his ownership. - Hi ZsolmanZ have my sincere greetings!!
and am really glad u found a way to delete the chess titans!!
and yeah if u have trusted installer as the owner u defenetly will have problems in deleting and 4got to mension that ,sorry my fault,due to a rushed reading/writing sometimes i miss some details im always in several forums so thats why!
"Anyway, I'd still like a method that changes all of them, consistently. It seems odd to me that there's a discrepancy here, with exactly the same method.
Of course, this isn't exactly David Brant's problem (the OP). He states that he's got hundreds of gigs of files, so even if the above method works it would take him a ridiculous amount of time to fix them all to his ownership."
i agree but i also may check if he disables the UAC while doing that so in dat way he avoids the prompts,if so then we might have some script Icalcs in order to change multiple files,i personally find it hard to someone haveto delete multiple files in the root folders,knowing most of them are important unlike the Chess app...
but i m not one to opose him here doubt bout his ligitimacy...
so w8 for the experienced boyz to give some further and useful feedback(cross fingers to have some experienced kid willing to help)
Kind regards,
RR- Proposed As Answer byzsolmanz 17 hours 55 minutes ago
- David Brant's problem isn't related to original files in the root folders at all. His files must've been from outside the system:
"(400+ gigs) (I'm a digital photographer)"
Presumably, his files are pics, and as such I doubt that they shipped with Windows. Strangely enough, in my previous attempts to delete Chess Titans (I don't have a problem with it, it's just a good example and not too important in case I delete it :p), it was always the .jpeg image within that folder that was the troublesome one to delete.
I noticed when I was mucking about with dual booting that if W7 locks you out of a file, or sets any permissions for it, then even a completely different OS (32bit XP pro in my case) will tell you that access is denied to those files, so obviously W7 extends its influence across the file structure.
PS. I have UAC completely disabled - I don't know if this helps your diagnosis? But yes, I agree. Wait for the big guns to arrive. It has been 8 months since this thread was started though.
EDIT: That was a retarded button-click, I didn't intend to propose your post as an answer. - I have just spent an hour on the phone with microsoft, this was after spending hours on these windows forums, hours googleing issues I am having with win 7. I am dual booting xp and win 7, both on separate drives, and it appears there is no way to have full admin rights to in win 7,like we had in xp. I understand microsoft's concern with the uac, but there should be a way, for experienced users to have full access to all the files and folders on our drives. Although I am very happy with the speed and response of win 7,compared to xp, these permission issues are making me lean to just boot xp and forget win 7. The first few days of using win 7, I was so impressed with it,I was telling all my tech buddies how great it is,and that they should go out and get it. Now I have to tell them all,yea it's great, but microsoft has taken away our admin rights, so I would recommend waiting to see ,if enough people complain, if microsoft allows us to have full access to our own machines. I don't think this can happen,it seems this permission thing is part of the core of the os,and we will have to wait for win 8 to see a fix.
I had dual booted xp and vista for a month,but was unhappy with vista,so I uninstalled it,so I am new to the uac and it's issues,( although I have it disabled in my win 7 install). One of the issues I am having,(win 7 pro), is I am only able to do a full image backup, if I click on backup now, nothing happens,( at first, when it said setup backup,when I clicked on it nothing would happen, then out of the blue,6 days after installing win 7, I get a popup in the action center stating you haven't setup backup. That 1 time I was able to use the backup.) Now if I click on manage space,change settings, or backup now,nothing happens. The only thing I can think of to try,(wasting more countless hours,is to disconnect all my 4 drives,put 1 new one in ,and install win 7 again, to see if like 1 of the other posters suggested, that having xp involved has some affect on win 7. I think he is right. I first installed win 7 from a download, when microsoft's support suggested I reinstall with the dvd, (an upgrade,not a clean install) I did that yesterday and it changed nothing. I also used windows transfer to move my stuff from xp to win 7. I wonder if this affected the issues I am having. Thus, I think my only recourse is to install again ,on a clean drive,with no other drives installed.
Another minor issue I am having, is adding coretemp to startup,so I don't have manually start it everytime I boot. Microsoft's support had me create a admin acct,(with icon on the login screen and all), and I was able to drag coretemp.exe to the startup folder, but not when logged on as myself. I realize this is a minor complaint, but I feel it is again the permissions issue. We need to have full admin rights to our own pc's, not the rights microsoft feels we should have. As one of the other posters said:
They should've made a Windows Ultimate Closed/Home version and a Windows Ultimate Enhanced Security version for Home network users, who don't need all this permissions c rap, and Public network users, who need more security. M$ has bollocksed-up their OS with their paranoia and we're paying for it. - M$ just won't give control of the OS to the users. I can't fathom their reasoning. My situation is I use Windows Home Server to store all my media files. My server is in my basement and all my PCs are scattered about the house on a wired/wireless network. When I attempt to manage files from the satellite PCs I get random denials of service with msgs. such as: "You Need Permission" and "File is open in another application" when neither should be true. Even the otherwise great program UNLOCKER usually doesn't work. Sometimes if I click the "Try Again" button many times the Move or Delete operation will work. Most often not. Sometimes trying a different method of Moving or Deleting will work. Most often not. I use Vista and 7 (I find Vista is faster than 7; and my wife's laptop has XP and she never complains!). I have the same problem in both. I've tried to "elevate without prompt" and adding/removing users/groups. I've given ALL users/groups Full Control, but nothing seems to cure the problem. Re-installs don't work. I have files/folders all over that I just can't move or delete. If companies would have continued to support XP for a few more years, I'd've stuck with that.
