Who's taking ownership

[Chuck P 1613]

3 part question.
1 Why do I need to "take ownership" of files after I download them?
2 Who or what is taking ownership of my files?
3 Can that entity be removed?

I am the only user of this machine and not on any network. I can download a video and after a day or two it won't open until I take ownership of it. It will play just fine the first couple times and then it locks me out. This happens for e-books, video, pdfs and most other files except exes.

 

[Lance1]

Hi Chuck P 1613 and welcome to W7F. Post the owners name that is taking over. Post a screenshot please so we can see. Here's how Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

Example

 

[Barman58]

The use of permissions is there for your own protection, not from another person per se, but from potential malware that gets onto your system as any malware takes on the access rights of the user active at the time of infection. Although you are an administrator of your system you do not run with the full rights all the time, but as a standard user until you elevate the rights to full admin level.

Due to these safety restrictions you can see the issues that you describe, you should not see any of these issues when saving files to the users folders, pictures, documents, music, videos etc. which are set to give your user full control. If you wish to save into other folders you need to right click on the folder choose security and manually add full control to your specific user name, this will also cascade down to any folders under the initial folder. this is a better and more secure method that taking ownership as ownership can alter the way that windows operates.

There is also another issue that can arise with downloaded item, if these are downloaded from an area of the net that is not considered totally safe, ( basically anywhere outside your LAN / PC), especially with Microsoft browsers, a file will be marked as suspect, right click on the file and choose properties and you will see a button marked [Unblock], click this to allow access in future.

 

[RoWin7]

I've been following this because I'm new to Win7, and trying to be frenemies with UAC. I've added "Take ownership" into my right-click menu, but I don't have "Take full control."

 

[RolandJS]

I got this from The 'Net, I have no idea who the author is:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]
@="Grant Admin Full Control"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas2]
@="Grant Admin Full Control"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas2\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas]
@="Grant Admin Full Control"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

--------------------------------------------
Using notepad or any text file creator, copy and past the above into a text file, and then ren TXT to REG, and [double][click] on it.

 

[RoWin7]

So that puts the "Take Full Control" into your context menu. Is it a danger to your security to use that? And you don't know who wrote it or if it won't screw up the registry, after backup of course.

 

[RoWin7]

Hi Chuck P 1613 and welcome to W7F. Post the owners name that is taking over. Post a screenshot please so we can see. Here's how Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

Example

That Security screen looks familiar, from XP, but I'm not sure how to get there.

 

[Lance1]

I got this from The 'Net, I have no idea who the author is:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]
@="Grant Admin Full Control"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas2]
@="Grant Admin Full Control"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas2\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas]
@="Grant Admin Full Control"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

--------------------------------------------
Using notepad or any text file creator, copy and past the above into a text file, and then ren TXT to REG, and [double][click] on it.

Roland! Does this give you Full Control over the C:\ Root? (@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f)

 

[Lance1]

That Security screen looks familiar, from XP, but I'm not sure how to get there.

Are you referring to my post #2

 

[RoWin7]

Are you referring to my post #2

Yes. I like that the list is more than just all "yes" or all "no." But I've forgotten how to get there.

 

[Barman58]

I would strongly advise against the set-up and use of Right Click or other shortcuts for changing the permissions on a system.

The reason for this is that indiscriminate changes to the permissions can cause serious problems if the wrong permissions are set, doing things manually is slower, so gives you a little more time to think about what you require and indeed if you need to make the change at all.

 

[RoWin7]

I would strongly advise against the set-up and use of Right Click or other shortcuts for changing the permissions on a system.

The reason for this is that indiscriminate changes to the permissions can cause serious problems if the wrong permissions are set, doing things manually is slower, so gives you a little more time to think about what you require and indeed if you need to make the change at all.

I've been using Win a long time, I know my way around the registry and previous OS's, and I'm very careful. I managed to keep XP spotless for 3 years after updates ran out. I also avoid certain kinds of sites that I went to in years past.

I'm going to leave the permissions where they were.

I've thread-jacked the OP's thread, so if you feel I should leave, let me know

 

[RolandJS]

I've used the script I posted earlier for some time now, and it's always worked for any individual file I pointed it at. Now, whether it works for a folder or root folder - I have no idea, never used it for that.