Accidently changed security permissions for a file.

[darksoul5150]

When editing permissions in the "Security" tab inside properties I messed up and edited my own to not be able to change the file anymore. Can someone tell me how to fix this.(this is a re-post because I posted in the wrong section before.)

 

[Golden]

Hi,

Can you login as adminsitrator, and change the permissions then?

Regards,
Golden

 

[lehnerus2000]

Inheritance

Can you go to a higher level and cascade the permissions down (apply to child objects)?

 

[darksoul5150]

The account I'm using is already administrator. I tryed "net user administrator /active:yes" in command prompt. Even that administrator account but is unable to change the security setting on the file. If I could go to a higher level of access I would but administrator is the highest state unless there is a higher one I am unaware of.

 

[lehnerus2000]

My Bad

The account I'm using is already administrator. I tryed "net user administrator /active:yes" in command prompt. Even that administrator account but is unable to change the security setting on the file. If I could go to a higher level of access I would but administrator is the highest state unless there is a higher one I am unaware of.

I explained that poorly.
I meant higher directory level.

Oh-oh.
The etc directory is owned by "Trusted Installer", as a result I don't think that you'll be able to modify the permissions (i.e. add yourself back in again).

Do not remove "Trusted Installer".
If you remove "Trusted Installer", you won't be able to add it back in and that will cause trouble.
You might be able to restore your rights using icacls (Command Prompt) but I've never had any success using it.

I deleted "Trusted Installer" (when I was messing around with the W7 betas) and I was forced to restore Windows from my backup image.

It looks like you'll have to hope one of the experts can suggest a solution.
Sorry.

 

[Golden]

The account I'm using is already administrator.

Hi,

Can we just check something quickly? Can you run the following commands in a cmd window, and then take a screencapture of the result and post it here?

net user

and also

net localgroup

Regards,
Golden

 

[darksoul5150]

Here you go Golden, and if I have messed something up terribly bad, restoring my PC won't be so bad just need to back up some of my important files.

 

[logicearth]

Should not have been modifying permissions to begin with...Without knowing exactly what it is you changed, would be hard to give you step by step instructions. Did you set any DENY permissions? Or just removed your accounts?

 

[lehnerus2000]

IMO, that's a bit harsh

Should not have been modifying permissions to begin with...Without knowing exactly what it is you changed, would be hard to give you step by step instructions.

IMO, that's a bit harsh.
The OP may have just "twitched" at the wrong moment and clicked on the wrong button.
It's happened to me.

It is a bit like Linux forum denizens saying RTFM (which is generally useless anyway).
Most modern software help assumes that you already know, how to do, what you are asking for help about!
If I don't know how to do something, I invariably I have to do an Internet search (especially for Linux help).

The only way to find out what things do, is to try them out.

Knowing the theory, is only half the battle.
When I worked as a technician, I used to be sent projects by engineers (that I had to construct) and a lot of them were never going to work.
Engineers should be well versed in theory (they got paid a lot more than I did, for that very reason).

IMO, the real lesson is:

When you are not sure of the outcome,
ALWAYS make a backup image,
BEFORE messing around with things.​

 

[Golden]

Mmm. I'm at a loss. Does anyone else have a suggestion...........

One other thing you might try that I have just thought of:

In an elevated command prompt, type this:

sfc /scannow

and hit enter. Copy and paste the window contents here when it has finished, and then reboot the PC. Is there still a problem? If so, re-run the sfc command another two times, rebooting after each run.

If that doesn't work, then perhaps a restore might be in order.

Regards,
Golden

 

[Shibumi]

Just a shot in the dark, but if you're going to reinstall, I'd first try [creating and] logging into another admin account to see if you can edit permissions or just delete the file and make a new one (it's just a few lines of text at default, which is what you'll wind up with if you reinstall anyway). You may also be able to delete it using a bootable CD if you have one.

 

[Bill2]

Try this, it resets all the Security Settings in Windows 7 to the defaults.

Start Menu - type in Search box -> CMD, then at the top - Right Click on - RUN AS ADMIN

Type or Copy and Paste this at the prompt :

secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

Hit Enter.

Since you say you can easily restore if things go bad..........

 

[lehnerus2000]

Ctrl + Shift + left mouse button

Ctrl + Shift + left mouse button

You can provoke an elevation of your privileges (when clicking on items which only require a single mouse click) such as:

• Pinned Taskbar items.
• Start Menu items.
• Start Menu Search results.

 

[rraod]

Method 1.
-----------
You need to be logged in as Administrator for this method.

To take control of your system's hosts file, go to the properties, select Security tab, click on Advanced button in the bottom of the dialog box.

In the second dialog box "Advanced Security Settings for hosts" go to the Owner tab press "Edit" button.

You will see that the System account is the default owner of this file. Now take ownership of the file.

After taking ownership of the file you can change the permissions for any user listed there. You can also add new user account or delete existing accounts from the permissons dialog box. Set the permissions to your satisfaction and close all the dialog boxes by clicking OK buttons.


Method 2.
-----------

etc/hosts file is just a text file which can be modified easily. I am including the contents of the hosts file from my windows 7 home premium system.



# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost



If your hosts file is not working you may create a new text file named "hosts" without extension and copy the above contents in to the file and save it. You can replace your system's hosts file with this file.