Windows says it won't grant access permission, but it does grant.

I tried to take the following steps to get the "full control" permission on a "System Volume Information" folder for a user account I had created.


right-click on the folder -> Properties -> Security tab -> Edit -> the "Permissions for <object>" dialog appears -> Add -> the "Select Users or Groups" dialog appears -> Enter the user account's name and press OK -> back to the "Permissions for <object>" dialoge -> select "Full control" for the newly added name -> Click on the Apply button


After I clicked on the Apply button, a dialoge entitled "Error Applying Security" appears, stating:

"An error occcurred while applying security information to:

...\<GUID><GUID>

Access is denied."

Behind that dialog, there was another dialog entitled "Windows Security", which states:

"Setting security information on <drive>:\System Volume Information\tracking.log"

I thought maybe Windows didn't like people to mess with such an important folder, and therefore refused to grant the permission. So, I cancelled the front "Error Applying Security" dialog. (There's another Continue button)

At this point, a new "Windows Security" dialogue popped up, saying:

"Stopping the propagation of permission settings leads to an inconsistent state, in which some objects have the settings but others don't. If you made the change by mistake, you should apply the correct change immediately to achieve a consistent state."

In this dialogue, the only choice was to click on an OK button. So, I clicked on it. And the ""Permissions for <object>" was brought back to the front again.

But, surprisingly, I noticed that the user account's name I wanted was entered in the name list, with all the permissions (full control) being granted to it!

As I tested it, the "full control" permission has been effective for that "System Volume Information" folder.

So, why did I get the permission even after Windows had said it would refuse me?

drkh said:

I tried to take the following steps to get the "full control" permission on a "System Volume Information" folder for a user account I had created......

Why? Why would you do such a thing?

drkh said:

......So, why did I get the permission even after Windows had said it would refuse me?

There are a variety of security settings under that folder. It changed some of them and halted on the ones that it could not change (because you did not do things in the correct order). Having full control of the top level folder does not mean that you have full control of all of the objects under that top level folder.

How do you plan on putting the security settings back?

Thank you, guys, for the explanation.

I don't want to do anything in the "System Volume Information" folder. Just curious if I can take over the "full control" of a system folder.

I have restored the security settings by removing the user account's name I had added.