Recurring Ownership Issues - Windows 7 Ultimate N

roma1625 · 30 Sep 2013

It seems as if folders/files are, in effect, "locking" themselves. Whenever it happens, I use the "Take Ownership" utility to fix the problem, but I don't understand what is causing this and how to permanently fix it. FYI, I have UAC turned off, if that matters.

This has been going on for a while, but here are two recent examples:

1. I was trying to install the latest version of iTunes and it repeatedly popped up messages that I didn't have permission to access certain files/folders. I used "Take Ownership" and eventually got it installed.

2. Windows search indexer turned itself off and I couldn't turn it back on without using "Take Ownership" of the files/folders.

Thanks!

roma1625 · 01 Oct 2013

Does anybody have any theories as to why this is happening?

Thanks

Brink · 01 Oct 2013

Hello Roma,

Did you do anything like try to change your user name or user profile folder name? A mistake made there could cause the new name to no longer have access rights.

As a test, you might create a new administrator account, and log in to it to see if you have the same issues.

Hope this may help some, :)
Shawn

roma1625 · 02 Oct 2013

No, I have not done anything with my user name, but what you said made me think: Is there a way to reset my permissions to "factory" settings? Anyway, aren't all administrator accounts the same? In other words, even if I did create a new account, why would it be different from my current account? Just trying to get a better understanding, not questioning what you're saying.

Thanks

Brink · 02 Oct 2013

No way to reset permissions that I know of. Creating a new account would have it using default user permissions to see if you may be able to use the new account instead.

andrew129260 · 02 Oct 2013

A virus or some kind of malware could cause issues like this. I recommend you scan your system with A good AV such as avast and run a scan with malwarebytes. Full scans.

Also, I recommend that you leave UAC on. Much of the security in seven depends on having UAC on, if you have it off, you might as well be using windows xp.

roma1625 · 03 Oct 2013

Brink,

OK, I'll follow your recommendation to test it. I'm not having the issue at the moment, so I guess I'll have to wait for it to happen again and then create a new account to see if it happens on that one also.

If I set up a new administrator account, could i delete the existing one and just start using the new one? In other words, could I set up a new user just in case it is the problem? Or would that just create a whole new set of issues? I don't understand the concept of users except in a very basic sense. I've never done anything in this regard as I am the only person who has ever used this computer.

Brink · 03 Oct 2013

Yes, you could create a new administrator account at anytime to use to see if it happens in it as well. I would recommend waiting to see what your results are before deleting the old account though. This way you could copy anything (shortcuts or files) you may want from it to the new one first.

If you still have issues in the new account, then you could just delete it.

User Account - Create

User Account - Delete