File permission problems are more common in Windows Vista and Windows 7 than in Windows XP. That’s something that Windows XP users for instance notice when migrating to those operating systems. A common problem encountered by many users is for instance the inability to write specific files like the Windows hosts file or settings of portable programs that have been transferred to the new operating system as well.
The standard way of dealing with file access rights is to change them so that files can be edited in Windows. This is done by right-clicking the file or folder, selecting properties from the context menu that is appearing and switching to the Security tab in the window that opens afterwards.
This window displays a list of user names and groups and their file access rights. Setting the file permissions this way is a lengthy process that becomes more than a nuisance if it has to be done for a lot of files and folders.
Take Ownership is a portable software program for Windows Vista and Windows 7 that can add an entry to take ownership of the selected file or folder to the context menu of Windows Explorer.
Changing ownership of a file or folder basically gives the new owner full file access rights so that the files can be modified. It is possible to change file ownership in the Properties menu as well but this requires quite a few clicks before the changes can be made.
Take Ownership simplifies that process making it extremely easy to change the owner of a file or folder.
The program will display a small window upon execution that can be used to install the shell extension so that the Take Ownership context menu entry appears in Windows Explorer. The application will automatically switch the install to an uninstall button after installation which can be used to uninstall the shell extension again.
The software program is mostly helpful for users who encounter file access rights errors regularly in their operating system. Take Ownership can be downloaded directly from the developer’s website.
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Wish you would have done this article on Saturday :) I spent the entire day changing ownerships because I had to install a new harddrive. And the old harddrive files are “owner not found”.
Now that must have been unpleasant ;)
o_O
You want ordinary user to be the administrator?
You must not change access rights and file owning in such a way! You should log in as administrator, then perform any administrating tasks and only them and then re-log as non-admin user!
Otherwise any program (including malware) can do anything with these system files without notifying you.
Even guys from Microsoft realized that ordinary internet user must not be superuser (administrator) as it make viruses less destructive and harder to distribute.
You can make a look at POSIX systems (MacOS, Linux) to realize why this ‘problem’ appeared, and that it’s actually not a problem, but feature :)