Problems after taking ownership of Windows folder

Hello.



I have experienced some weird behaviour after I followed a tutorial on how to replace the Win7 start orb. The tutorial advised me to take ownership of the full Windows folder (I also took ownership of all the files and subfolders, etc.).

After a restart I couldn't access my network shares any more (worked perfectly fine before). I can still ping all the computers in my network but I can't access their shared folders.

Another thing I noticed... I use a MCE (Media Center) remote control and some special buttons like play/pause etc. stopped working.

I'm not sure if it's related to taking the ownership of the Windows folder, but I think that's the most likely cause of my problems.


Anyway... is there a way to fix this? I already tried changing the ownership back to TrustedInstaller for all the (sub)folders and files, but that didn't help. Any ideas?



Thanks in advance!

richc46 said:

See if you can go back with a system restore, from a date before you tried to improve the OS.

System Restore

That's kind of my last resort, are you sure a system restore is gonna restore the correct ownership/permissions?

boohbah said:

there is an easier way to change your start orb than taking ownership of windows
Windows 7 Start Button Changer: Change Windows 7 Start Button With One Click | tech-Know kishan

Yeah I tried that one, but it didn't work for me, it just exitted when I clicked change orb (also tried running as Admin).

richc46 said:

System restore does not change permissions, if limited to your individual account. If you changed more than that System Restore should work.

What do you mean "if I changed more than that"?

Yes, use system restore.

You have damaged your system by wholesale changing permissions on the system folder. There may be no end to the weirdnesses from that from now on. System restore may get you back, really it's your only chance. If it does not fix it, you may be looking at reinstalling the OS. There are thousands of files with varying permissions under /Windows and putting it all back by hand would be pretty daunting, maybe impossible.

Exactly.. messing with permissions and ownership is a real pandoras box.. best left unopened if you don't know the outcome beforehand

fseal said:

You have damaged your system by wholesale changing permissions on the system folder. There may be no end to the weirdness from that from now on.

Have to agree.
I don't know if a repair ("upgrade") re-install would reset them all before you do a total clean install. Got to be worth the 30 odd minutes it would take to try it out.