couple big problems for first-time 7 user

unknown00 · Sep 20, 2009

so i have 3 big problems. background- my laptop's harddrive died, so i took the harddrive out of my external western digital passport and put it into my laptop and installed windows 7. i've never used vista before, so this jump from xp to 7 is quite annoying

1. so a lot files i can't access until i grant it access. i guess i'm not an admin or something, but i am an admin. i'm the only user on this computer with administration rights, but a lot of my files can't write over other files unless i "run it as admin", but again i am an admin! also, sometimes i can't move files because i don't have read access to it (even though i'm admin!) but when i "allow" it it works fine. i have already disabled UAC, but that doesn't fix anything. what's going on and how do i fix this?

2. so like i said, i put my external harddrive into my laptop to use as an external. in my taskbar when i go to the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media", it detects my internal harddrive as an external harddrive, so i can technically eject it. wtf? when i go to "Device and Printers", it agains shows my internal harddrive as an external and lets me eject it. how do i get rid of this? i don't want to accidentally eject my internal boot harddrive

3. after i download a new movie/music/document and go to it in windows explorer, the icon has a lock in it. what does this mean and again how do i get rid of it? i don't want these files limited in anyway

thanks in advance for any help!

Tews · Sep 20, 2009

When you switched hard drives, it kept the permissions from the previous install... You should back up all your data and format the drive before installing Windows 7...or... you can take ownership of the entire drive, which may take a while ... see Brinks tutorial -=> here

unknown00 · Sep 20, 2009

already took ownership doesn't seem to fix it...

harpua · Sep 20, 2009

You can try using a free app that simplifies correctly taking ownership of entire drives, folders or files. Here's a screen shot of the page in the app that allows you to easily add/remove a "take ownership" entry for drives, folders or files to the explorer right click context menu. It usually works quite well. This is a portable .exe app that doesn't have to be installed to work.

Btw, I hope you stick with W7. After you get these little issues worked out and have a chance to get used to where everything is in W7, I'm sure you will really start to love it.

Snufffed · Sep 20, 2009

you might also try this method>

open notepad.
copy paste what is between the lines.
=============================================

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

========================================================

saveas "rightclick_take ownership.reg"

then merge it should work almost instantly.

This is how Windows 7 says do it.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>takeown /?
TAKEOWN [/S system [/U username [/P [password]]]]
/F filename [/A] [/R [/D prompt]]
Description:
This tool allows an administrator to recover access to a file that
was denied by re-assigning file ownership.
Parameter List:
/S system Specifies the remote system to
connect to.
/U [domain\]user Specifies the user context under
which the command should execute.
/P [password] Specifies the password for the
given user context.
Prompts for input if omitted.
/F filename Specifies the filename or directory
name pattern. Wildcard "*" can be used
to specify the pattern. Allows
sharename\filename.
/A Gives ownership to the administrators
group instead of the current user.
/R Recurse: instructs tool to operate on
files in specified directory and all
subdirectories.
/D prompt Default answer used when the current user
does not have the "list folder" permissio
on a directory. This occurs while operat
recursively (/R) on sub-directories. Vali
values "Y" to take ownership or "N" to sk
/? Displays this help message.
NOTE: 1) If /A is not specified, file ownership will be given to the
current logged on user.
2) Mixed patterns using "?" and "*" are not supported.
3) /D is used to suppress the confirmation prompt.
Examples:
TAKEOWN /?
TAKEOWN /F lostfile
TAKEOWN /F \\system\share\lostfile /A
TAKEOWN /F directory /R /D N
TAKEOWN /F directory /R /A
TAKEOWN /F *
TAKEOWN /F C:\Windows\System32\acme.exe
TAKEOWN /F %windir%\*.txt
TAKEOWN /S system /F MyShare\Acme*.doc
TAKEOWN /S system /U user /F MyShare\foo.dll
TAKEOWN /S system /U domain\user /P password /F share\filename
TAKEOWN /S system /U user /P password /F Doc\Report.doc /A
TAKEOWN /S system /U user /P password /F Myshare\*
TAKEOWN /S system /U user /P password /F Home\Logon /R
TAKEOWN /S system /U user /P password /F Myshare\directory /R /A

Your choice but wanted you to know... The Official Way also.

musiclover7 · Sep 20, 2009

I think the suggestion that old permissions are cached on the drive is accurate.. If you right click the drive, go to poperties, and then the security tab, do you see a user listed that is not a real user, or is listed as a long string of characters.. ie encrypted..??

Another thing to try, that has simplified things for me..

Download the following regedit, which will add 'take ownership' to the right click window.

http://www.howtogeek.com/downloads/TakeOwnership.zip

Here is a link to the how to full how to page..

Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista :: the How-To Geek

unknown00 · Sep 20, 2009

i "took ownership" of my entire harddrive, and it took like 1sec...not a long time like people said

also, it didn't remove the lock on any of my files (even after i took ownership to individual files)

when i go to the security tab, i don't see my actual user name, i see Authenticated Users, SYSTEM, Administrators, and Users...

kegobeer · Sep 20, 2009

When you take ownership, you have to take ownership of all files/folders on that drive (select "replace owner on subcontainers and objects"). That's why it takes a long time - there are quite a few files to go through.

My recommendation is to back up all of the files you want to keep, then install Windows 7 again, but do a custom installation. Select drive options (advanced), delete all partitions, create at least one partition (I make two, as I prefer to keep my data on a different partition), format the partition, the continue with the installation. You don't have to delete all of the partitions, that's just something I recommend. You can get away with just formatting the partitions.

unknown00 · Sep 20, 2009

where can i select "replace owner on subcontainers and objects"? when i right cilck a folder and click take ownership buttons it just goes away in 1 sec

kegobeer · Sep 20, 2009

unknown00 said:
where can i select "replace owner on subcontainers and objects"? when i right cilck a folder and click take ownership buttons it just goes away in 1 sec

You should re-read Tews's post...

unknown00 · Sep 20, 2009

kegobeer said:
unknown00 said:

where can i select "replace owner on subcontainers and objects"? when i right cilck a folder and click take ownership buttons it just goes away in 1 sec

Click to expand...

You should re-read Tews's post...

i did...i did step by step...

where can i select "replace owner on subcontainers and objects"? when i right cilck a folder and click take ownership buttons it just goes away in 1 sec

kegobeer · Sep 20, 2009

Try doing it the old fashioned way: open up a directory on your drive, right click, select security -> advanced -> owner -> edit -> tick "replace owner on subcontainers and objects", and select the user to change owner to. Click ok. See how long that takes.

unknown00 · Sep 20, 2009

kegobeer said:
Try doing it the old fashioned way: open up a directory on your drive, right click, select security -> advanced -> owner -> edit -> tick "replace owner on subcontainers and objects", and select the user to change owner to. Click ok. See how long that takes.

this works...but why can't the newer version work? so much easier

also, it still doesn't remove the lock on files even though i am the owner

Zidane24 · Sep 21, 2009

I have read the entire first post many times and yet I can not forsee how any permissions were "cached". My reasoning is what the OP did...he did a clean format install on the new drive that he took from his external. It is a clean fresh OS so permission errors shouldn't be occurring...certaintly not because of cached permissions

As far as the Safely Remove Hardware issue...I am thinking that the firmware on the HD might be broadcasting itself as an external which would mean that there is no way to make Windows think it isn't.

This is a very rare situation as I have personally never heard of someone butchering an external 2.5 to make an internal 2.5...if anyone can help the OP further than please step up

Antman · Sep 21, 2009

Zidane - two points.

The OP did not state that the did a format, just an install.

The internal drive (formerly the external) is showing up as removable because the controller is set as AHCI or RAID (RAID will support a single drive as AHCI).

Zidane24 · Sep 21, 2009

I see that now Antman...I guess I read it too many times that eventually my mind catered to the clean install sort of things...

As far as the Safely Removal Issue my laptop is set to AHCI mode and I don't have the entry for my HD in the list. Is the reason mine and his are different is because of the fact that the OP likely installed Win 7 to the same partition as where his external storage was? Would the partition itself carry such details as if it was a fixed or removable disk?

Zidane24 · Sep 21, 2009

I just restarted to check that I wasn't remembering anything that was wrong...

I indeed have AHCI enabled

kegobeer · Sep 21, 2009

unknown00 said:
kegobeer said:

Try doing it the old fashioned way: open up a directory on your drive, right click, select security -> advanced -> owner -> edit -> tick "replace owner on subcontainers and objects", and select the user to change owner to. Click ok. See how long that takes.

Click to expand...

this works...but why can't the newer version work? so much easier

also, it still doesn't remove the lock on files even though i am the owner

At this point, I highly recommend formatting the drive and installing Windows 7 again.

musiclover7 · Sep 21, 2009

Unknown.. If what I just read is true, I think you should perhaps move forward with re-installing windows. Be sure to delete the partition, and format a new one when you do..

unknown00 · Sep 21, 2009

so outa curiosity, what exactly will be "fixed" or changed when i reformat?

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