[HOW TO]: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP

GoNz0

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HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP

This used to come up quite often after a windows repair went wrong (normally due to the user taking the wrong path after the system drops dead)

you reinstall windows but can't get access to your old files as they were tied into your old account using some of XP's security features.

Instead of formatting and losing the lot, take ownership of them.

here is a copy and paste of MS article 308421

How to Take Ownership of a Folder
NOTE: You must be logged on to the computer using an account that has administrative privileges. If you are running Windows XP Home Edition, in order to have access to the Security tab, you must first start in Safe Mode and log on with an account that has Administrative rights.

If you are using Windows XP Professional, you must disable Simple File Sharing. By default, Windows XP Professional uses Simple File sharing when not joined to a domain. For additional information about how to do this, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
307874 HOW TO: Disable Simplified Sharing and Password-Protect a Shared Folder in Windows XP

To take ownership of a folder:
Right-click the folder you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click your user name, Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, click to select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
Click OK. The following message appears, where folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of:
You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?

All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.

Click Yes.
Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.


How to Take Ownership of a File
NOTE: You must be logged on to the computer using an account that has administrative privileges.

To take ownership of a file, follow these steps:
Right-click the file you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list click Administrator, or click the Administrators group, and then click OK.

The Administrator or Administrators group now owns the file. To change the permissions on the files and folders under this folder, continue to step 5.
Click Add.
In the Enter the object names to select (examples) list, type the user or group account to which you want to give access to the file. For example, Administrator.
Click OK.
In the Group or user names list, click the account that you want (for example, Administrator), and then click to select the check boxes of the permissions that you want to assign that user. For example, Full Control [Allow]. When you are finished assigning permissions, click OK.




REFERENCES
For additional information about file and folder permissions, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
161275 Interaction of File and Folder Security on NTFS Volumes

lets hope this saves users files b4 they format thinking it's lost forever :)
 
Nice one! :) I remember seeing several questions on this matter.
Thread Stuck
 
I have noticed at my workplace that some computers have the sharing tab missing when tweaking a files properties. Is there a setting that reenables the sharing tab or a registry tweak?
 
King Ratt said:
Disregard, didn't see that link in the 1st post.
You could have edited your post and chose the option to delete it ;)
 
*bump*
I have got a computer of a client with the same problem as this thread is about, which I am working on for a few days now. I followed the guide, which went fine, but I still have a problem. All the files/folders in the folder I have applied the steps to, have a Read Only mark. When I remove the Read Only mark, it seems to be gone, but then I reload the folders' properties and it's still there. I have tried to remove the mark in both the Administrators and the user's (which is in the Administrators group) account, but the Read Only mark stays there. The weird thing is, the tick at the Read Only is not a tick like a 'v', but it is a green square (Windows Luna) or a grey smudge (Classic theme). Does anyone know why this is?
I also have a question about the ownership, why can I only set or the Administrator or the Administrators group as an owner for the file/folder? Can't I just set the User as an owner?

Cheers :)
 
Every folder on XP has that, don't know why, it doesn't mean anything.
 
I noticed not every file on the folder had a read only mark, so I guess the square/grey field means that some, but not all, files in the folder are read only? But it doesn't matter anymore, the computer has been returned to the client, I have told him what I found, including the stuff I had questions about and he didn't mind.
Now all I have left is another computer for another client, who has seriously fuxored up his computer, I don't know how he did it, I tend to find out the the following week. But that's another problem, I won't bore you with that :D
 
Glaanieboy said:
*bump*
I have got a computer of a client with the same problem as this thread is about, which I am working on for a few days now. I followed the guide, which went fine, but I still have a problem. All the files/folders in the folder I have applied the steps to, have a Read Only mark. When I remove the Read Only mark, it seems to be gone, but then I reload the folders' properties and it's still there. I have tried to remove the mark in both the Administrators and the user's (which is in the Administrators group) account, but the Read Only mark stays there. The weird thing is, the tick at the Read Only is not a tick like a 'v', but it is a green square (Windows Luna) or a grey smudge (Classic theme). Does anyone know why this is?
I also have a question about the ownership, why can I only set or the Administrator or the Administrators group as an owner for the file/folder? Can't I just set the User as an owner?

Cheers :)

SP2?


I do believe the ownership and control of objects and files is based on teh same system. Just take control of the top level folder and choose "inherit properties from parent objects" or whatever BS winder chooses to use.
 
Steevo said:
SP2?


I do believe the ownership and control of objects and files is based on teh same system. Just take control of the top level folder and choose "inherit properties from parent objects" or whatever BS winder chooses to use.
I keep that in mind for the next time :) Thanks
 
And if all these fails, you can always do one of these two things:

1) Use a NTFS DOS reader in order to read the files from DOS (if your system is in NTFS) and move them elsewhere
2) You can use a livecd from Linux to do the same work :)
 
thats no help at all afaik mate, moving the files is ok, but you still will be unable to open and read them from windows as the permissions are set to a set user.
 
GoNz0 said:
thats no help at all afaik mate, moving the files is ok, but you still will be unable to open and read them from windows as the permissions are set to a set user.
Well I dont think so.I have come across several cases, which the help of these two tools the user was able to read the files that were locked from the previous installation of windows.And....what does this word afaik stands for, as it is an unknow word for me!?
 
maddoctor said:
Well I dont think so.I have come across several cases, which the help of these two tools the user was able to read the files that were locked from the previous installation of windows.And....what does this word afaik stands for, as it is an unknow word for me!?

afaik = as far as i know. :p

yes you may be able to read the files using the viewer, but can it remove the ownership issue or is it just a temporary answer?

i guess if you can resave the document it may circumvent the ownership. dunno never tried it as i found the M$ link when it happend to me :)
 
GoNz0 said:
afaik = as far as i know. :p

yes you may be able to read the files using the viewer, but can it remove the ownership issue or is it just a temporary answer?

i guess if you can resave the document it may circumvent the ownership. dunno never tried it as i found the M$ link when it happend to me :)
Since you can move the files from this folder to elsewhere and be able to open them, where is the problem!?Is this in the end that anyone wants to do!? :rolleyes:
 
gonzo - thanks so much for creating this post. this helped me solve some issues i was having with several folders. :)
 

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