couple big problems for first-time 7 user

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!

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

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.

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

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...

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.

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

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...