Take Ownership Shortcut

Help! I tried your Take Ownership shortcut, but now the file on which I used it has vanished.

I was trying to use the hard drive from my old computer as an external, but had trouble accessing the Programs and Settings folder. When I tried to open it, I was told I didn't have access. Right clicking and changing the access in the Security tab under Properties didn't help. So I used the Take Ownership shortcut on that folder. It did its thing on the DOS screen. Then when I tried to double-click and open the Documents and Settings folder, it froze up and I got a Not Responding message. I closed the program and restarted the computer. When I went back to the external hard drive, the Documents and Settings folder had disappeared. What happened? How do I get it back?

Brink said:

Tutorial updated with more options. :)

Nice Job Shawn, Thanks

I tried #4. It doesn't do the job. I had XP Pro 32 bit on a computer. Then I installed Win 7 Ultimate x64 on a different drive then deleted the old XP Windows, Documents and Settings and Program Files folders, and all files in the root of the old C: drive, which is now D:

The problem is there are many files created with the old XP which programs on 7 can open but are completely blocked from being able to re-save. A *copy* can be saved, usually have to save to a different folder because write access to the old folder is also blocked. BUT that new file can be moved into the old folder and overwrite the old file - from then on that file can be used normally on Windows 7 - even though other files in the folder can be opened but not written to.

It's like a bank where a teller won't allow you to withdraw your money, and on the vault door there's a sign that says "Absolutely No Admittance. Lock Broken. Press Button to Open Vault.". Security? What security? The front door is locked but there's a back door with a sign that says turn the knob and come in, and once you're inside, the front door unlocks. It doesn't do anything except annoy the user.

Another problem in these old folders is on the New right click menu, only New Folder is available. If I make a new folder and go into it, everything on the New menu is available.

What can I do to go through an entire drive and force out all the old XP file settings that Windows 7 is having problems with?

Brink can you please help me, I did step 3 and downloaded "To Add "Take Ownership" to Context Menu including EXE Files" and I cannot remove it. I deleted the file that I downloaded, even from the recycling bin, but "Take Ownership" still shows up instead of "Run as Administrator." The main problem I'm facing with this is, I cannot run any programs or do any actions that require admin rights. For example, I cannot see the "resource monitor", nor could I even try a system recovery, because that required admin rights too. What usually happens is, after I click run as admin for these things, the command prompt (the black sceen thing) opens up quickly and in like half a second closes and nothing happens. I'm pretty sure anything that requires admin rights I cannot do. Please help, I really want to fix this.

I'm sorry, I should've read the initial post completely.. thank you so much for the help.