changing file owner


  1. Posts : 50
    Win 7
       #1

    changing file owner


    I'm getting a few problems that seem related to the fact some of my files and folders are owned by the administrator or require administrator permissions.

    I use GFI Backup. It reports problems with lacking permissions to access certain files -- unless I turn off UAC.

    Also there are many folders on a hard drive which is separate from my system hard drive and existed before I installed Windows 7. It seems many of those folders require administrator permission to rename and move and such.

    How can change the owner or permissions to remove these problems?

    Mike
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 71,977
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #2

    Hello Mike,

    If you like, you could use the "Take Ownership" context menu item added with the tutorial below to quickly take ownership and permission of files to help.

    Take Ownership Shortcut

    Hope this helps, :)
    Shawn
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 50
    Win 7
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thanks, that seems like a nice idea, but I'm a programmer and I'm curious how the system works. I notice that the tutorial you linked to has many related tutorials about permissions and owners. I think I'll read those and try to understand the underlying system. Assuming I'll find my answer somewhere in there, I'll mark this as solved.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 71,977
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #4

    I hope they can help. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. :)
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 50
    Win 7
    Thread Starter
       #5

    I'm going to re-open this question because I have a specific question.

    So my problem is that when UAC is active, GFI Backup can't read some files (or I don't know if the problem is reading specifically, but it just gives an access permissions error). I looked over the tutorials for changing permissions, but I really don't have a clue what to do, because:

    - I don't know what user GFI Backup runs as (note that it makes a snapshot of the disk so that it can read files that in use)
    - I don't know what permissions it needs to read a file (that seems weird, it can't even *read* a file). I mean, there is a long list of permissions associated with every file.
    - I can't find how to manually change the owner. I realize you have a nice shortcut tutorial there, but I really want to understand how to do it through Windows 7

    Thanks,
    Mike
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 71,977
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #6

    Mike,

    If you haven't already, see if using Run as administrator with GFI Backup may give it the rights it needs to have access.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 50
    Win 7
    Thread Starter
       #7

    I don't manually run GFI backup. Looking at msconfig, I see two related services and one related startup item. How do I run these three items as administrator? (GFI backup does automatic scheduled backups, hence the need to run in the background at startup)
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 71,977
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #8

    If GFI Backup runs an exe file, then you could use OPTION FIVE in the tutorial above to set the .exe to run as administrator using compatibility mode.
      My Computer


 

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