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

 

[zapp22]

Error Peculiar to taking ownership of Vista folders?

Gang
have any run into this: I have a Vista drive lashed to my lab mule Windows 7 Ultimate x64, trying to save some, secure-delete other, files/folders off an older Vista drive so I can redeploy it to a recovering laptop.
It seems that no matter what I pick on the drive to deal with the files, when I hit the "Take Ownership" shortcut, it seems to get caught in a loop, acting upon the files over and over ad infinitum. I have yet to run it "till forever"... I usually cancel it after 15 minutes or so [we're talking about a small 80gb drive and way smaller folders - maybe a few hundred files at most on one operation[].
After doing this, its "broken" it seems. If I try to use "Take Ownership" again before restarting the system, it will just bail out [I get a cmd-prompt window that quickly closes... can't read anything]

any help with this would be really valuable

 

[LAV7Aryan]

Thanks A Load!

Thank You Very Much Dear!
This post is an older one but I believe Thanking anyone who has helped you is never Late! so Thank You!

 

[daiagon]

I couldn't just read this without saying a late thank you very much. Awesome tweak!!

 

[alwayscookn1964]

Great tip, But I would like to add....

The tip worked great on photos that I had loaded from my camera. However when I went to the files that were loaded from my iPhone-this didn't work as planned. Prior to "taking ownership", I couldn't even open in Microsoft Picture Manager to fix the issue, but I was finally able to make changes only in Microsoft Picture Manager. Not a major issue for me since now I can MAKE CHANGES!!! Just flipping the pics the right direction was a huge improvement. I just wanted to be sure to let others know if they were trying to fix iPhone pics, this was the only way I could resolve it.

 

[dmeston1975]

Thanks, I've been struggling all weekend with backup access denied etc. and I eventually found this and it's sorted it in 2 minutes flat

 

[mando007]

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks man
finally i deleted the damn folder

 

[weebles14207]

THANK U!!!!!!

 

[ardygtg]

thank you very much it helped and awesome faster

 

[spddemun]

Does this also work in Win8? I used it a lot in Win7!

I ask because it WAS carried over during install, so never got a chance to try it. All of my other-than-Windows programs got removed (by Windows) after a Refresh.
I'll be heading the Windows Eight forums so as to not go OT.

 

[Brink]

Hello spddemun,

We have a separate tutorial for Windows 8 below, but Yes, it works in Windows 8 as well.

Take Ownership - Add to Context Menu in Windows 8

 

[cryptoncore]

very handy for editing the host file, thanks !

 

[spddemun]

Thank you, Brink! I'll head over there and read.

BTW, it looks like I have re-register to post in the 8 Forums? It won't accept my current ID/password.

Hello spddemun,

We have a separate tutorial for Windows 8 below, but Yes, it works in Windows 8 as well.

Take Ownership - Add to Context Menu in Windows 8

 

[Brink]

spddemun,

Yeah, since it's a separate site it will require a separate registration as well.

Register at Windows 8 Forums

 

[goja]

Works for x64 systems too? Well i just added the .reg then system32 @addOwnership, go to security tab, can't change any permissions, can't add myself, still says access refused just like before i clic on addOwnership... What do i do :sarc:

 

[Brink]

Hello goja,

Yep, the "Take Ownership" context menu works in both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7.

Using the link in the yellow Tip box at the bottom of the tutorial, double check to make sure you are the "owner", and then try setting permissions for it.

What are you trying to take ownership of?

 

[goja]

As i just told you, i've done that, i'm trying it on system32 (as i wanted to overwrite a file in it) and when i add my account and set full control it says i can't, access denied.

Now i'm quite worried about all that so i'll add a question : After we took ownership, can we remove it? I'm not talking about account authorizisations.

 

[Brink]

Goja,

I suggested for you to double check that you actually had ownership since you couldn't set permissions. That's usually the cause.

You do not want to take ownership of the System32 folder, so it's a good thing it didn't let you.

Instead, only take ownership and set permissions of the specific file instead.

 

[goja]

Double check I had permission, how do I do that? Wanna know. And what shut my other question?

 

[Brink]

For single files, it's not hard to restore the default owner. If you take ownership of the System 32 folder, then forget it. There's no going back unless you created a restore point before doing it.

It's highly recommended to not do this with the System32 folder.

You could use OPTION THREE in the tutorial below to manually take ownership and set permissions of the file.

Take Ownership of file

 

[goja]

How dko.i.know if i took ownership or not?