{"id":178,"date":"2012-06-29T12:59:15","date_gmt":"2012-06-29T10:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.npcglib.org\/~stathis\/blog\/?p=178"},"modified":"2013-10-01T05:54:55","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T03:54:55","slug":"reset-permissions-on-windows-7-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.npcglib.org\/~stathis\/blog\/2012\/06\/29\/reset-permissions-on-windows-7-files\/","title":{"rendered":"windows task: Reset permissions on Windows 7 files"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes when moving from one Windows computer to another with a removable drive or I upgrade an older windows system and reuse a partition from the old system, some files and folders may be inaccessible. Typically, Windows will pop up a window with the message “You need permission to perform this action” and further details of the user that can grant you these permissions. For instance trying to delete a directory will yield a similar window:

\"Folder<\/a>

Insufficient rights to delete a folder<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

The steps to take full control of the files again and carry on with the action you were intended to do requires of course Administrator rights. I use this two-step process: <\/p>\n

(a) First take ownership of the directory, and its contents (recursively), in question:<\/p>\n

\r\ntakeown \/F <dir> \/R \/D y\r\n<\/pre>\n
(b) Despite being the owner, you also need to have permissions to do what you are intended to do. Best is to allow Administrators full control:<\/p>\n
\r\nicacls <dir> \/grant Administrators:F \/T\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
 Right-click > Expropriate > Rinse > Repeat<\/h2>\n
Here is, upfront, the batch file that creates the Expropriate entry in the context menu: <\/p>\n
I like to have useful commands available in the context menu when right-clicking a directory. To turn the above two-step process into a right-click menu command, first create the context menu entry by executing from a Windows Command line:<\/p>\n
\r\nreg add HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\Directory\\shell\\Expropriate \/ve \/f \/d \"Expropriate dir\"\r\n<\/pre>\n
Then for the command to be executed when you click on that entry, execute (all in one line<\/u>):<\/p>\n
\r\nreg add HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\Directory\\shell\\Expropriate\\command \r\n        \/ve \/t REG_EXPAND_SZ \/f \/d \"%%comspec%% \/c takeown \/F %%1 \/R \/D y &&\r\n        icacls %%1 \/grant Administrators:F \/T\"\r\n<\/pre>\n
The command will be available whenever you right-click a directory from within Windows Explorer, as shown in the figure below.
\n
\"Expropriate<\/a>
Expropriate right-click context menu command, allows you to take ownership and set correct permissions with the click of a button!<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
You can also download the batch script expropriate-dir-cmd.bat<\/a> and run it (at your own risk) to create the relevant keys in your registry for the Expropriate command.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes when moving from one Windows computer to another with a removable drive or I upgrade an older windows system and reuse a partition from the old system, some files and folders may be inaccessible. Typically, Windows will pop up a window with the message “You need permission to perform this action” and further details […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[21,19,22],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n