Files on external drive cannot be accessed (owner + permissions hell!)

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  1. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 x64
       #1

    Files on external drive cannot be accessed (owner + permissions hell!)


    Hi there,

    I know similar issues have somehow been addressed elsewhere, but it seems my particular problem hasn't quite been faced by many others, so here we go:

    I have thousands of files on an external drive. My computer recently crashed, so I had to fresh-install windows 7 (ultimate x64). While some files on the extenal hdd work fine, others won't work given that the owner and permissions are screwed. I can manually right-click any file and go to the properties>security tab and then add "Everyone" or my new user and then add full control and that's it, the file works fine.

    BUT I can't be doing this manually for thousands of files!

    So I've researched a bit and have installed the registry hack for "Take ownership" on right-clicking a file/folder (Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista - How-To Geek), I've ran a bunch of commands from an admin-level command prompt (icacls, takeown, grant, etc., as per here: Tools to Manage Access Control Lists - Tutorials,Articles,Algorithms,Tips,Examples about Security, Solved changing permissions on multiple files - Vista Forums).

    All I now see is some weird user on most files, but no permissions set for me to access them (user is something like S-1-5-123445678890...). And so nothing seems to have been solved. I still have to manually right-click a file and use the security tab to add a new user, set permissions, etc.

    How come it works through the gui and not on the command line? My hope is to do it for a whole folder (E:\music) which has literally hundreds and hundreds of folders and mp3 files. It would suck if I'm stuck doing it manually!

    Thanks in advance for your help, if any!

      My Computer


  2. Posts : 115
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
       #2

    I saw some User like S-1-5-... on my XP machine when my Recycle Bin malfunctioned while trying to clear a drive. Had to get bit-unlocker to keep the Recycle Bin from locking up on a folder with that username every time I tried to empty the Recycle Bin. The problem eventually went away, maybe after I repartitioned the other drive.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       #3

    You want to be able to write/delete/read so have full control of the drive?
    Or just a folder (and everything [files/folders]) in it?

    Right click the item you want to change permissions for. Then properties, then security. then button advanced.
    Post screenshot
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       #4

    Open elevated command prompt Elevated Command Prompt

    Code:
     
    TAKEOWN /F  Q:\somefolder  /R  /D  Y
    Do this if you wanna be the owner of Q:\somefolder and all objects in it (files/folders, als in subfolders)
    Or:

    Code:
     
    TAKEOWN /F Q:\  /R  /D  Y
    If you do that you become owner of all files/folder on Q drive.

    Already done that?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 x64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Hi all,

    Thanks for the replies!

    Here are screenshots of the folders. This is just an example, most of the files are organized like this

    Oh yeah, and I'd like to eventually have full control of the files (write, copy, erase, etc.).
    I'm just running the command you posted, Kaktussoft, I'll check how it turns out!
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Files on external drive cannot be accessed (owner + permissions hell!)-main-folder.jpg   Files on external drive cannot be accessed (owner + permissions hell!)-sub-folder-level1-.jpg   Files on external drive cannot be accessed (owner + permissions hell!)-sub-folder-level2-.jpg   Files on external drive cannot be accessed (owner + permissions hell!)-subfolder-level3-.jpg   Files on external drive cannot be accessed (owner + permissions hell!)-sub-folder-level4-.jpg  

    Files on external drive cannot be accessed (owner + permissions hell!)-song-level5-.jpg  
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 115
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
       #6

    I have a Q: drive with 0 bytes on it. What is that?
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       #7

    Cymbal Man Freq said:
    I have a Q: drive with 0 bytes on it. What is that?
    office 2010 click and run most likely. E is drive letter of external disk

    What a mess with permissions!! Most permissions you made are explicit permissions , not inherted from folder above!! And the permissions are for that folder/file only. Not the way to do it!!

    Do you want to be able to do everything on that disk? or just music folder and below?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       #8

    Right click on E drive itself. Then properties, then security. then button advanced.
    Post screenshot
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 x64
    Thread Starter
       #9

    I know! this is probably the messiest set of files ever

    I'd like to keep full use of everything on the disc, but I seem to only have run into problems when using my mp3s on itunes, for example.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Files on external drive cannot be accessed (owner + permissions hell!)-main-drive.jpg  
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 115
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
       #10

    Speaking as a second poster in this thread.
    I tried to Takeown from an Elevated Command Prompt. It gave me an error, invalid argument error/option - 'Eric
    Maybe spaces should be underscores? idk
    It told me to try TAKOWN /? FOR HELP, and I don't see any Y listed.
    This is so DOS and most of that is before my time.

    C:\Users\1 Eric Bentsen>TAKEOWN /F C:\Users\1 Eric Bentsen /R /D Y
      My Computer


 
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