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[Guide] How to Take Ownership (Permission) of a File or Folder

Manually in Windows?
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We here at AskVG post various themes, skins and other customization stuff which require you to a
replace or modify existing system files in Windows. You need to take ownership of that file or folder
before modifying or replacing it.
We always suggest you to use take the ownership automatically using following context menu
option method:
How to Add "Take Ownership" Option to File or Folder Context Menu in Windows
But sometime people complain that they are unable to take ownership of the file and we suggest
them to take the ownership manually.
Since taking the ownership manually is a bit complicated task, today we are going to post a detailed
guide with screenshots which will help you in taking ownership and granting full permission to
yourself of a file or folder in Windows.
So without wasting time, here are the required steps:
1. Go to the folder which contains the file or folder on which you want to take ownership. Right-click
on the file or folder and select Properties.
2. It'll open its Properties window. Now go to "Security" tab and select your username from the
given list. You'll see that it doesn't have full control.

3. Click on "Advanced" button and it'll open a new window.

For Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7:
Go to "Owner" tab. You'll see that the owner would be set to "TrustedInstaller".

Click on "Edit" button, select your username given in "Change owner to" section and click on
"Apply" button. It'll ask for confirmation, click on OK button.
If you are not a Windows 8 or later OS user, jump to Step 4.
For Windows 8 and later:
Click on "Change" button near "TrustedInstaller" as shown in following image:

It'll open new dialog box. Now type your username and click on "Check Names" button. It'll
automatically convert the username to correct format.

Now click on OK button.

4. Exit from both Ownership dialog boxes and come to the first Properties window again. Now select
your username again and click on "Edit" button. It'll open a new window:

Select your username and click on "Allow" checkbox given for "Full control" option. Click on
"Apply" button and then OK. It'll ask for confirmation, click on Yes button.
5. That's it. Now you'll have full permission on the file or folder.

Now you can modify or replace it without any problem. Before doing anything, first take a backup of
the file by renaming it to some other name.
Also check:
[Guide] How to Restore "TrustedInstaller" as Default Owner of a File or Folder in Windows?
[Guide] How to Take Ownership (Permission) of a Registry Key in Windows?

Posted by: Vishal Gupta | Categories: Windows 7, Windows 8 / 8.1, Windows Vista, Windows XP

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Comments

Joe
hello im kinda frustrated here when i try takin owner of trustedinstaller it tells me i dont have access
and it tells me the program is terminating what is the deal with that and i recently purchaced
recovery disk from hp will that format my c drive and install new windows some please give me some
answers

Jay
Thanks for guide, Tried it all and it still failed, I have complete ownership and It won't let me delete.
Have tried an unlocker with no luck either. This is exhaustingly frustrating. It shouldn't take Hours to
delete a damn folder. So far have spent about 6 hours over 2 nights trying to delete this folder, so
much googling lol. Windows 8.

Dave
These instructions sometimes work, but most people wind up on this blog because they've already
taken the normal steps and they failed. How do you fix the problem when you are logged in as an
administrator, have full control of the file in question, get to the "Owner" tab, select the administrator
account from the list, click "Apply", and Windows still refuses to change ownership and throws an
error message? What kind of permissions do you need beyond "full" in order to take ownership?

VG
^^ Try to use the context menu option:
http://www.askvg.com/add-take-ownership-option-in-file-folder-context-menu-in-windows-vista/

TW
Per Dave: These instructions sometimes work, but most people wind up on this blog because they've
already taken the normal steps and they failed. How do you fix the problem when you are logged in
as an administrator, have full control of the file in question, get to the "Owner" tab, select the
administrator account from the list, click "Apply", and Windows still refuses to change ownership and

throws an error message? What kind of permissions do you need beyond "full" in order to take
ownership? I am having the same issue on this migration
john

i only have the general tab. What should i do?

VG

^^ Which Windows are you using?

Me

Need to delete a folder? Follow these steps:

Step 1: Make a Linux boot disk (I recommend Ubuntu) and boot up in it.
Step 2: Find your folder.
Step 3: Delete.
Done!

Julie
I have a window7 dell 1yr old laptop. The trusted installer will not let me edit the security settings, all
settings are grayed out. Cant change it to administrator. How do I get this to work? I have files that
need to delete and ti wont let me.

VG
^^ You can try Unlocker:
http://www.askvg.com/download-unlocker-file-unlocking-utility-for-windows/

morgn
it says I don't have read permisions, help please.

ishanka
Thanks Bro.....A Helpfull Post..... :)

Pierre
Trying to edit [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Device Association
Framework\InboxProviders\DAFUPnPProvider\Plugins\DlnaMetadataProvider\DeviceShims
At step 3 of this tutorial (last screenshot) (select user or group) nothing appears in "enter the object
name to select" even after clicking on "check names"

Owner of the registry key is system

Any idea ?

d
All of the boxes to check for permission and ownership are grey and inactive. I cannot check them. It
will not let me change permissions or ownership at all.

VG
^^ Did you change the owner first using step 3?

henry-gerret
the windows 7 one says ic ant do it but im a admin

Hakam
I can't open some files and the massage is (access to the file was denied)
and I've tried the way that you put about permission and check full control, but it's already checked
(full control ) please help me because this file is very important for the university and tomorrow I'll
have exam......please

PHb787
Hello VG!
Can I take ownership if I am using a standard account? Because I did the the exactly same thing but
my user name didn't pop up in step 4... Please help me. Thank you!
2014/1/25

luis
will this work for windows 7 to change explorerframe skin to windows 8?

Mike
Thanks. While it didn't look exactly the same on Windows 8.1 on my computer, your guide was all
close enough & seems to have worked. I actually started at the highest level folder & gave myself full
control both by user name & by Administrator. I had to enable "inheritance" or something like that &
check the box for allowing permissions on children folders to be inherited, too. Then it sequenced
through all the files & at least the first doc that I had been working on, then allowed me to edit &
save in the same folder, without the error message saying I didn't have permission to do it. So, we'll
see if it holds up for the other folders & docs I'm working on. Thanks for your help. -- Mike

VG

^^ You are welcome. :)

@luis
Yes. It'll work for taking ownership of any file or folder.
@PHb787
It should work. If it doesnt, you can try to enable built-in Administrator account:
http://www.askvg.com/how-to-enable-activate-hidden-administrator-account-in-windows-vista/
TommyC

I tried all the instructions in VG's post and it wasn't successful. For both user accounts on my Win8
laptop, I made sure that all boxes under "Full Control" were checked. Then when I repeatedly went to
annoying subfolders in C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\
I could not delete them! In a vicious circle: Folder Access Denied !!
Himanshu Goel

Awesome...! It worked perfectly... Though I learned as my Sir taught me many times but this time it
seems I got it perfectly...!
Andrei

Thanks, this works!

ste46co

I have used your Registry tweaks to take ownership of as well as restore ownership to specific folders
or files very successfully in Windows 8.1 -- they're a great help. However, the label in the right-click
context appears as "Take Ownership" whichever tweak is activated. Just to check that I had done
what I thought I had done, I have rechecked ownership through the security menus, and they are
indeed correct. How can the label be changed? I don't suppose it's possible to activate both tweaks
at the same time, is it, since I presume there can only be one 'runas' command at the same time?
Thanks!

Pierre Atmadjian
Yeah, running CHKDSK /R C:\ (at the next boot) did the trick! Afterwards it sounds relevant that the
file system ought to be corrupted if you cannot take ownership of a file or folder you would be
authorized to. Especially if Windows cannot state who's the owner of such a file or folder.
Permissions have been clearly corrupted in such case. Cheers from France (Pierre de Grenoble)

Meloney

Thank u so muchnezzz!!! Sukel my vrek met die probleem! En hier loop ek julle raak! Baie dankie

Troy
Hey no matter what I change the user to it still says i need permission.

VG
^^ Did you try automatic context menu method?
http://www.askvg.com/add-take-ownership-option-in-file-folder-context-menu-in-windows-vista/

james
I'm having trouble
for me it shows that everyone has full permission..
and yes i cannot access this folder..
but it doesn't say special permissions.. that's the only thing.. the folder shows a lock image on it but
it won't open
and i just solved the problem. once you go to that first list by following these instuctions. it shows
this list of people who are allowed. not people but whatever
but there was also one called deny.. and it was selected to everyone. so this deny option was
overriding all the allows..
so i clicked remove on the deny one and now i can access it

james
ie this whole thing doesn't work

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