Windows 7: How do I reset Permissions, Ownership and Sharing?

Hi - I just joined Sevenforums to see if you guys can help. I searched around and found some useful info but I want to make sure I don't screw up my rig any more than I have already done.

Is there a way I can change ALL my folders and files back to their default settings so that I may have full permissions and ownership without having to change each one individually?

Background: I am the only one who uses this computer and it's not networked. I have only one account - the administrator account.

Somehow some permissions got changed on files and folders. I searched around the internet for solutions and learned about changing permissions, ownership and sharing. I then mucked around and changed a whole bunch of folders so I could access them. I changed permissions on some, ownership on others, and sharing on still more. And every kind of combination of the three. And there's the parent/child rules on top of all that. I have tons of folders and it would take a lifetime to manually fix all these.

In addition, all but three programs disappeared from my start menu so now I have to start most of my programs by navigating to its .exe

After a period of frustration I thought it best to do a complete backup & reformat. After the format I transfered my backup files onto the fresh computer and STILL had the same problems. I guess the changes stick with the files/folders and get carried over to the fresh install.



Acer Aspire Laptop 7741Z-5731
Windows 7 Home Premium

I'm wondering the exact same thing..

Hiya Tony!

I searched everywhere for solutions but it just seemed easier to reformat than to keep on searching and finding nothing that would help.

I ended fixing the problem by doing a 2nd complete reinstall. Been 2 weeks and my comp is just like new. When I did my back-up I used WinRAR to compress all my files and then burned them to CD's. After the reformat I copied those files back onto my rig and the screwed-up permissions didn't hold and everything was cool again. There is a setting in WinRAR that is defaulted for this so if you didn't mess any of the settings it should be OK.

I got better prepared for this reformat though. I went out and got RollBack. It's like system restore but it works on NOT just the computers files but all your files too. Everything.

SO..

now if for any reason this reformat gets messed up by some corrupt software install or any other reason I can roll this baby back to just before I installed it.

You were prolly looking for a different solution other than a reformat - good luck. I found it easier to do that than waste all my time searching for answers and not finding any.


Roger

Thanks for your response. That's unfortunate, but I was somewhat expecting to have to reformat. Let the fun begin..