Take / Assign Ownership of file / folder

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  1. Posts : 10,200
    MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
       #1

    Take / Assign Ownership of file / folder


    Brink has written an excellent tutorial on this, however, for those of you who prefer to "roll your own":

    Take Ownership of file - Vista Forums


    Taking Ownership of Files and Folders
    As an administrator you can take ownership of a file or folder as follows:
    1. In Windows Explorer, rt-click on "properties" for the file or folder.
    2. Security tab | Advanced
    3. Owner tab| click Edit
    4. In the Change Owner To list, select the new owner. To take ownership of all subfolders and files within the folder, select Replace Owner On Subcontainers And Objects option.
    5. OK | OK

    Assigning Ownership
    As administrator or the current owner, you can assign ownership to another user or group as follows:
    1. In Windows Explorer, rt-click on "Properties" for the file or folder.
    2. Security tab | Advanced
    3. Owner tab | Edit
    4. Click Other Users Or Groups
    5. Type the name of a user or a group | click Check Names | Choose the name you want if its not already filled in | OK
    6. From the Change Owner list, select the new owner. For a folder, select Replace Owner On Subcontainers and Objects to assign ownership of all subfolders and files within the folder.
    7. Ok | OK

    karl
    Last edited by Brink; 23 Feb 2010 at 23:50. Reason: link
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  2. Posts : 2,737
    Windows 7 Enterprise (x64); Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64)
       #2

    Thank you for providing the above information. However, I keep seeing people on this forum saying they want to be the BOSS I want full control without understanding what they are doing and want to take ownership of every file and remove all others.....then 30 minutes later they are asking why their machine is crashing why it is doing weird stuff why this is not working, why they cannot install or uninstall software. Holy Cow you just took ownership of everything and the system has no access!!! Duh! You can’t uninstall or re-install or anything.

    If you (anyone) really want to take ownership of every file on the machine spend the time reading "Windows 7 Resource Kit" and "Windows 7 Inside Out" cover to cover twice and then do some research on the internet for several months. This way you can be absolutely sure you know what you are doing.

    I would add a disclaimer to your tutorial.

    :: WARNING! Making these changes without completely understand the full effects; can or will result in requiring a complete clean reinstall of your operating system (i.e. Windows 7).
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  3. Posts : 73
    Windows 7 Pro x64 (dual-booting XPSP3 and Win7)
       #3

    Ok, I understand the warning. I wish I had the time to read all that fun stuff. Seriously, I really do. But I don't. I'm a network admin, author and Web Developer, I need to use Windows 7, not study it. I just want to do one little thing, that was trivial in WinNT, Win2k, WinXP .... but seems to be nearly impossible and/or dangerous in Win7 ....

    I'm just trying to fix the horrible harsh white explorer window backgrounds so that I can join the rest of the world who uses Aero without blinding myself. Is this too much to ask? I don't want to break my system. I just want it to not blind me when I'm using an Aero theme.

    Through much reading and research I have learned that I need to muck with aero.msstyles. Have created a modified version that hopefully has subdued grey backgrounds like I enjoy with Classic theme. Have saved the original aero.msstyles in several places, also on thumb drive. I *think* I need to delete it and rename my modified version, then logout and back in. But, even though I have Taken Ownership of the darn thing, I still can't delete it.
    Take / Assign Ownership of file / folder-aero.msstylesclassicisniceandgrey.jpg
    Take / Assign Ownership of file / folder-cantdeleteeventhoughiamtheboss.jpg

    Any help much appreciated. Been working on this for months, off and on.

    Thanks,

    $teve
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 29
    XP Pro and Windows7 32 bit
       #4

    Raargh said:
    I'm just trying to fix the horrible harsh white explorer window backgrounds so that I can join the rest of the world who uses Aero without blinding myself
    Hello Steve,

    Try this little program:

    F.lux: software to make your life better

    The lighting is adustable and works quite well for me.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 2,737
    Windows 7 Enterprise (x64); Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64)
       #5

    Note: This will delete the file and there is NO quick recovery if you type the wrong file name in, so please be extremely careful. Create a restore point if you want to have a backup.

    Open an elevated Command Prompt and type:

    Code:
     
    c:
    cd c:\windows\resources\themes\aero
    takeown /F aero.msstyles /R /A
    attrib -r -s -h aero.msstyles 
    del aero.msstyles /q
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 31
    Windows 7
       #6

    that might work if you first change to the right folder

    CD \windows\resources\themes

    and also spell it aero.msstyles not areo.msstyles
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  7. Posts : 2,737
    Windows 7 Enterprise (x64); Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64)
       #7

    OldBloke said:
    that might work if you first change to the right folder

    CD \windows\resources\themes

    and also spell it aero.msstyles not areo.msstyles
    Good catch...I fixed it.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 73
    Windows 7 Pro x64 (dual-booting XPSP3 and Win7)
       #8

    Thanks WindowsStar and OldBloke. I appreciate the details; prefer command prompts when they facilitate things.

    Still having problems, though. The errors I get via cmd prompt are the equivalent of what I'm getting via GUI efforts. Dir /Q shows I'm already the owner, having taken ownership last night via GUI. It is as if something is locking the file. I'm using a Classic theme during all of this. Wondering if Win7 is using aero.msstyles while I'm trying to work with it?

    Code:
    C:\Windows\Resources\Themes>dir
     Volume in drive C is WIN7
     Volume Serial Number is 38E3-D77A
    
     Directory of C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
    
    07/14/2009  01:45 AM    <DIR>          .
    07/14/2009  01:45 AM    <DIR>          ..
    03/19/2010  08:29 PM    <DIR>          Aero
    06/10/2009  02:57 PM             1,897 aero.theme
    06/10/2009  02:57 PM             2,376 architecture.theme
    06/10/2009  02:57 PM             2,366 characters.theme
    06/10/2009  02:57 PM             2,360 landscapes.theme
    06/10/2009  02:57 PM             2,319 nature.theme
    06/10/2009  02:57 PM             2,326 scenes.theme
                   6 File(s)         13,644 bytes
                   3 Dir(s)  414,666,899,456 bytes free
    
    C:\Windows\Resources\Themes>cd Aero
    
    C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Aero>dir *.* /Q
     Volume in drive C is WIN7
     Volume Serial Number is 38E3-D77A
    
     Directory of C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Aero
    
    03/19/2010  08:29 PM    <DIR>          NT SERVICE\TrustedInsta.
    03/19/2010  08:29 PM    <DIR>          NT SERVICE\TrustedInsta..
    07/13/2009  05:54 PM         1,187,984 BUILTIN\Administrators aero-orig.msstyles
    
    07/13/2009  05:54 PM         1,187,984 BUILTIN\Administrators aero-origWithAdmin
    Ownership.msstyles
    07/13/2009  05:54 PM         1,187,984 T3400-win7\steve       aero.msstyles
    03/19/2010  07:52 PM         1,186,960 BUILTIN\Administrators aero1.msstyles
    07/13/2009  11:37 PM    <DIR>          NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaen-US
    03/19/2010  07:29 PM           216,816 BUILTIN\Administrators NORMALmoddedStc.re
    s
    03/19/2010  06:47 PM           216,816 BUILTIN\Administrators NORMALstc.res
    07/13/2009  11:32 PM    <DIR>          NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaShell
                   6 File(s)      5,184,544 bytes
                   4 Dir(s)  414,667,075,584 bytes free
    
    C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Aero>takeown /F aero.msstyles
    
    SUCCESS: The file (or folder): "C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Aero\aero.msstyles"
    now owned by user "T3400-win7\steve".
    
    C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Aero>attrib -r -s -h aero.msstyles
    Access denied - C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Aero\aero.msstyles
    
    C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Aero>ren aero.msstyles aero-origAfterTakeOwn.msstyle
    s
    Access is denied.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 6,285
    Windows 10 Pro X64
       #9

    What happens if you boot to Safe Mode then do the rename or delete?
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 2,737
    Windows 7 Enterprise (x64); Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64)
       #10

    @Raargh, I think the problem may be because the Shell is still running. Close all applications, Open your Command Prompt as Admin, then Open Task Manager and end all explorer.exe. Then run the above commands to delete/edit/replace the file. Once that is done type explorer.exe in the Command Prompt Window to re-start the shell. Or better yet reboot, with shutdown -r -f -t 0.
      My Computer


 
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