Take Ownership Shortcut

Add "Take Ownership" to Context Menu of Files, Folders, and Drives in Windows​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to add Take Ownership to the context menu of all files, folders, and drives for all users in Windows.

This will allow you to be able to instantly take ownership of a file, folder (and all contents), or drive (and all contents) by changing the owner to the current user and grant the Owner_Rights SID (current owner) full access permission.

You must be an administrator to be able to add, remove, and use the "Take Ownership" context menu.

   Note

Application files (ex: EXE, CMD, MSI) will continue to have Run as administrator instead of Take Ownership in their context menu.

---

When you right click or press and hold on a file, folder, or drive, and click/tap on Take Ownership, you may be prompted by UAC for permission to do so first.

If a user is logged in as an administrator, then the user would just click/tap on Yes to approve and take ownership. The owner of the file, folder, or drive would be changed to the current administrator user account. Permissions would be set to allow the Owner_Rights SID (current owner) full control of the file, folder, or drive.

If a user is logged in as a standard user, then the user would need to enter a selected administrator's password to approve and take ownership. The owner of the file, folder, or drive would be changed to the selected administrator account, and not the standard user. Permissions would be set to allow the Owner_Rights SID (current owner) full control of the file, folder, or drive.

---

The Take Ownership context menu will not be available when you right click on the C: drive, C:\Program Files folder, C:\Program Files (x86) folder, C:\ProgramData folder, C:\Users folder, and C:\Windows folder. This was done because taking ownership of these system folders can make Windows unstable since it would also take ownership of all the folder's content at the same time.

You will still be able to use the Take Ownership context menu of files inside the folder locations above.

If you would like to have a custom location(s) of your own to not have the context menu, then please feel free to post a request in this tutorial thread. I'll be happy to post back with a custom .reg file for it.

   Warning

This context menu will only work with English Windows installations.

If you have a different language, then please post a reply with what language you have instead. I'll be happy to post back a translated version for you.

EXAMPLE: Take Ownership in Context Menu






Here's How:

1. Do step 2, 3, or 4 below for what you would like to do.


2. To Add "Take Ownership" to Context Menu

   Note

Application files (ex: EXE, CMD, MSI) will still have Run as administrator instead of Take Ownership in the context menu when you use this step.

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 5 below.

Add_Take_Ownership_to_context_menu


Download


3. To Add "Take Ownership" with Pause to Context Menu

   Note

This option pauses the command when you use the "Take Ownership" context menu to be able to see the command results. This can be handy to verify setting ownership and permissions was successful or not.

Application files (ex: EXE, CMD, MSI) will still have Run as administrator instead of Take Ownership in the context menu when you use this step.

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 5 below.

Add_Take_Ownership_with_Pause_to_context_menu.reg


Download


4. To Remove "Take Ownership" from Context Menu

   Note

This is the default setting, and will also restore the default Run as administrator for .exe files.

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 5 below.

Remove_Take_Ownership_from_context_menu.reg


Download


5. Save the .reg file to your Desktop.

6. Double click on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

7. If prompted, click on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

8. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.



That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Add or Remove the Security Tab from Properties in Windows 7
• How to Restore TrustedInstaller as Owner of a File in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Allow or Deny Permissions to Users and Groups
• How to Add or Remove Users and Groups from "User Rights Assignment"
• How to Allow or Prevent Users and Groups to Take Ownership
• How to Add Reset Permissions to Context Menu in Windows
• Enable or Disable Inherited Permissions for Files and Folders in Windows

Related Windows 10 Tutorials

---

• How to Add View Owner to Context Menu in Windows
• Change Permissions of File, Folder, Drive, or Registry Key for Users and Groups in Windows 10
• How to Change Owner of File, Folder, Drive, or Registry Key in Windows 10
• How to Add Advanced security to context menu in Windows 8 and Windows 10
• How to Add a File Attributes context menu in Windows 10
• How to Remove Security tab from Drives, Files, and Folders Properties in Windows 10
• How to Add Reset Permissions to Context Menu in Windows
• Enable or Disable Inherited Permissions for Files and Folders in Windows
• How to Add Inherited Permissions Context Menu in Windows
• How to Add List Permissions Context Menu in Windows
• How to Backup and Restore Permissions of Files, Folders, or Drives in Windows 10
• How to Add Change Owner to Context Menu in Windows 10

 

[Brink]

Can I use this to take owner ship of the whole drive C if I want to?

Hello Chiumiento,

:warn:WARNING, DO NOT TAKE OWNERSHIP of the C: drive!!

Doing so will mess up Windows 7 severely, and you will most likely end up having to reinstall Windows 7 to fix it.

 

[Chiumiento]

Can I use this to take owner ship of the whole drive C if I want to?

Hello Chiumiento,

:warn:WARNING, DO NOT TAKE OWNERSHIP of the C: drive!!

Doing so will mess up Windows 7 severely, and you will most likely end up having to reinstall Windows 7 to fix it.

I already have taking owner ship. I will go and change it right now. Hey do you think I could ask you a huge favor?

 

[Brink]

Sure, I'll see what I may be able to do.

 

[Chiumiento]

I put the ownership all back to normal.

 

[dazco]

Is this dangerous at all? I did this already but have since reinstalled 7 because the system was so screwed up. Everyone was telling me not to mess with permissions. Could this have caused any of that or can i still use it?

 

[Brink]

Hello Dazco,

It could be if abused. You would want to be carefull of what you took ownership of. For example, you would not want to take ownership of the entire C: drive (Windows 7 drive). Also, if you take ownership of a file and granted your account permission to access it, then anything running while you are logged into your account will also be able to access it as well.

 

[CHUCKPERKINS]

THANKS A MILLION

I can't thank you enough! I've been having trouble with this issue ever since I upgraded to Windows 7, and this shortcut fixed it in a jiffy.

 

[fiestababy]

Thank you very much! This saved a lot of time for me!
One file allows you to take ownership and the other removes the registry.

 

[Sammy888]

Thanks for this great utility. how do you change the ownership back to normal or default?

 

[Brink]

Thanks for this great utility. how do you change the ownership back to normal or default?

Hello Sammy,

Unfortunately, you would have to manually change the ownership back to whatever was set as the owner previously. If you forgot who or what the owner was previously, you can always create a new thread to ask what it was for that file.

Take Ownership of file - Vista Forums

TrustedInstaller - Restore as Owner - Vista Forums

 

[Sammy888]

Thanks Brink. I am having issues with the ownership with my Downloads directory. It looks like my AV did some changes to it. I have used the app to select ownership of the folder, which I already was. Full Control is ticked and I have also added "Everyone". I know from previous experience when removing some directories, say, Adobe, I had to go to each individual subfolder and mess around to delete the folders. However, in my case, an online AV can't read the files in the directory yet I have and always had full ownership.

Any suggestions? Or is it a trial and error process?

 

[Brink]

Sammy,

What's the path to your Downloads directory?

Is it the C:\Users\Public\Downloads folder? If so, did you allow "Full Control" for "Everyone"?

 

[Sammy888]

Hi Brink, it's C:\Users\Download. Full Control to Everyone was given.
I am not happy with the upgrade/repair installation. I am going to do a follow-up post in the Repair/Upgrade thread.

 

[Brink]

Sammy,

Try using the C:\Users\Public\Downloads folder instead to see if it will work better for you. It allows access to all accounts by default.

 

[galaxys]

Just found this and it worked great for deleting some wallpapers (C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\Scenes) that only trustedinstaller had access! Thanks OP & Brink!

 

[blockie]

I downloaded the zip file, extracted "Add take ownership" right clicked it and left clicked MERGE. It opened in NOTEBOOK without doing anything else. DID NOT alter the REGISTRY. If I double click it opens in NOTEBOOK. Properties show that it is a .reg file. What might be wrong?
Doing this in W7 Home.

 

[Brink]

Hello Mariner,

Sounds like your .reg file associations got messed up. You would just need to check in Default Programs to set the reg file extension to have it's Current Default program set as Registry Editor (C:\Windows\regedit.exe). Afterwards, try merging the REG file again.

 

[iqandjoke]

It works for install TTS files!

System protected Folder: C:\Program Files\Common Files\SpeechEngines\Microsoft\TTS20

Originally I cannot add / move folders into this folder. Finally with the aid of the program it works like a charm.

 

[MrElectrifyer]

Hi Brink,

I just tried this on a friends new Windows Se7en SP1 Home Premium PC and I notice that although it had added the option to the menu, for some strange reason, it also made the "Take Ownership" option the default action for double clicking directories. That is, when I double click a directory, instead of it simply opening up; it starts taking ownership of the directory. This also seems to be affecting restoring of previously opened Windows on startup; instead of re-opening the Windows; it starts taking ownership of them.

Would you know a way of making "Open" the default double click action for directories again without removing the take ownership option?

THanks in advance; please reply ASAP.

 

[Brink]

Hello Raashid,

That is a strange one. I'm not sure what may have happened, but it's not possible for the REG files in this tutorial to do that. It doesn't affect the double click, single click, or Open option at all. They do not do that at all on my system.

See if downloading and merging the Directory and Folder options in the tutorial below may be able to fix this for you. Afterwards, you may need to merge the Add_Take_Ownership.reg again though to add "Take Ownership" back to directories.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html