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- Last updated on July 27, 2011 by VG

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automatically using following context menu option

method:
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But sometime people complain that they are
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unable to take ownership of the file and we
Installer (64-bit, 32-bit)
suggest them to take the ownership manually.

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Since taking the ownership manually is a bit
22635.4082 Released, Here is What’s New and
complicated task, today we are going to post a
Fixed
detailed guide with screenshots which will help you
in taking ownership and granting full Tip: How to Uninstall or Remove Copilot App in
permission and control to yourself on a file or Windows 11 PC
folder in Windows.
 Download K-Lite Codec Pack and Media Player
Classic (64-bit, 32-bit)

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 8/8.1, Windows 10 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?

Published in: Windows 10, Windows 7,

Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as

VG) has been awarded the Microsoft MVP (Most
Valuable Professional) award. He holds a
Masters degree in Computer Applications
(MCA). He has written several tech articles for
popular newspapers and magazines and has
also appeared in tech shows on various TV
channels.

You are here: Home » Windows 10 » [Guide] How

to Take Ownership (Permission) of a File or Folder
Manually in Windows?

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to

reduce database overhead.

adeel says:
November 22, 2015 at 11:49 am

1- when i open video file with vlc media message

shown File reading failed: VLC could not open the
file “E:\New folder\SURA E REHMAN(QARI
SADAQAT ALI).mp4” (Bad file descriptor). Your
input can’t be opened:
VLC is unable to open the MRL
‘file:///E:/New%20folder/SURA%20E%20REHMAN%
28QARI%20SADAQAT%20ALI%29.mp4’. Check the
log for details.
&
2 – when i open video file with vlc media message
shown Windows Media Player cannot access the
file.The file might be in use, you might not have
access to the computer where the file is stored, or
your proxy settings might not be correct.

3 – then i open video file property in

general,advanced open,Encrypt contents UN
chick,click OK,apply massage shown ACCESS
DENIED you will need to provide administrator
permission to change these attributes,click
CONTINUE Massage shown ERROR APPLYING
ATTRIBUTES an error occurred applying attributes
to the file: ignore/ignore all/try again/cancel i press
ignore all result Encrypt contents not UN chick.
why?
&
4 – in security advance section inherited from not
properly work,not changing applying,not changing
ownership applying i very triaged, i no have code
or password & backup.
please help me.

adeel says:
November 22, 2015 at 11:56 am

history i install win8.1 few month used then this

problem crate then i format the win8.1 & install
win 7 but problem still then again i install win 8.1
but problem still why ?…

alexandra says:
December 1, 2015 at 4:53 am
please help me whit windows 8 picture password
enrollment failure

michelle says:
December 24, 2015 at 10:00 am

thanks so much for the info! worked perfectly!

ian says:
December 24, 2015 at 7:18 pm

Thanks for this very useful post.

For Win10 users – as with Mike’s comment
regarding Win 8.1 – I found that I couldn’t change
the settings of the specific file I needed to
rename/replace – but I was able to change them
on the Windows folder itself, first selecting the
option for permission changes to apply to all files
and subfolders. I was then able to rename my file
and replace it with a different version.
Incidentally – this was because the WinHlp32.exe
file supplied with Win 10 is not backwards
compatible with some apps developed back in XP
times – so (following advice in another forum) I
replaced the Win 10 version with the XP version
(after renaming the Win 10 one, for safety) – and
that worked perfectly. Similar logic may apply
elsewhere.

jeanet says:
December 29, 2015 at 11:49 am

I had to look this over a few times before I got it

right but it worked
Thank You!
Michael Scott says:
January 26, 2016 at 9:52 am

I had a problem relevant to this thread, a Windows

10/Cortana issue:

Thank you each, one and all! I have spent hours on

the Internet trying to do this very thing (take
ownership of folders/files) so that I could repair
damages done that I will not blame on the good
folks at Microsoft (ahem). As many visitors are
likely to know, the Microsoft instructions don’t
come close to describing the relevant screens or
their functions. Do you get how grateful I am for
your direction?

I know that there is a great deal of work behind

these posts. I hope you know that those of us who
benefit are grateful.

Mike

ankit says:
February 25, 2016 at 12:54 pm

HELP !!
i m not able to enter C: drive (windows 8.1), not
even able to run any software as admin.
Can’t run system restore, elevated cmd. Nothing
works in my case due access denied.

VG says:
February 25, 2016 at 3:58 pm

^^ Try to enable built-in Administrator account:

https://www.askvg.com/how-to-enable-activate-
hidden-administrator-account-in-windows-vista/

Bob says:
May 28, 2016 at 2:09 pm

Msoft’s programmers are mad. Tried to rename

iexplore.exe inside a system folder. Wouldn’t let
me, so tried to delete it. It went. Then tried to
Undo delete from the Explorer menu, and it said I
didn’t have permission. Ha! Bit of an own goal
there, Msoft. Incidentally, the Take Ownership on
the context menu doesn’t appear for some files,
including that iexplore.exe.
The hidden admin account… It’s the first thing I do
following a fresh Win install, then I delete the
account created during the install, so always work
as Administrator. It doesn’t, though, give you full
control, as proven by the messages received in the
above example. You still have to be prepared to
get down and dirty. Sometimes you have to have
more than one go at a file before you can fully own
it – using the instructions in the article and the
other mentioned tools. OK all the way out, then try
again. Try again after a reboot. Persist. Being told I
can’t do something on a machine that I own and
built used to send me into conniptions, now I just
enjoy the chase, and savour the victory when it
happens. (I often turn off at the wall without
shutting down, just to annoy the thing.) 😉

Aidan says:
July 12, 2016 at 6:55 pm
After a bit of tinkering I fixed most of the issues in
Windows 10.

tl;dr: replace owner on subcontainters and objects

After step 3 when you change the owner and click

OK, you are returned to “Advanced Security
Settings” window. Underneath the owner (which
you have just changed from trustedinstaller to you)
is a checkbox for “replace owner on subcontainters
and objects”

In step 4, it can be helpful to give “users” full

control too.

JM says:
July 19, 2016 at 10:47 pm

Step 4, owner is changed to Administrator, trying

to change permissions: “Access denied”

Changed owner to my username, trying to change

permissions: “Ok”

What, but it works.

MDM says:
July 23, 2016 at 11:14 pm

HI CHECK THIS OUT IT WORKS!

How to get permission from TrustedInstaller to

delete a folder
It’s quite simple to delete such folders you just
need to become an owner of the folder and gain
the necessary permissions. Here are the steps you
should follow to do so:
Right click on the folder and select “Properties”
from context menu. Then open “Security” tab.
Folder security options
Click “Advanced” button.
In “Owner” field click “Change” to change folder
owner from TrustedInstaller. Change folder owner
from TrustedInstaller
Click “Advanced” button in “Select user or group”
window. Advanced User Settings
Click “Find now” button then select your user name
from the list. Click Ok, then Ok, again. Select User
Check “Replace owner on subcontainers and
objects”. Click Ok. Apply new folder owner
Once again click “Advanced” button in folders’
security options.
Click “Change permissions” then “Add” button.
Click “Select a principal” and find your user name
like in step 5.
Check “Full Control” in permissions. Click Ok. Set
full access to folder
Check “Replace all child object permission entries
with inheritable permission entries from this
object”. Change folder permissions
Click Ok button.
Once you’ve done all the steps, you are now able
to delete the folder and you will not see any Acess
Denied messages saying that you require
permission from TrustedInstaller.

angry says:
August 28, 2016 at 8:13 am

IT WORKS !!!! nice script 🙂 saved a lot of time

Mike DeMeo says:

October 24, 2016 at 3:16 am

It did not work. I do not know if Windows updated

something to prevent this BUT, when I get to the
final step to allow Administrators to take Full
Control of the System 32 folder, all the options are
grayed out, both Allow and Deny. I am beginning
to really detest Windows 10!

Ejelonu Ikechukwu says:

February 8, 2017 at 3:44 pm

The process to gain ownership permission back

cannot be completed on my window 8. After right
clicking on the app and selecting “property”, then
to “security” to “advance”, the “change” stage
refused to give me further access permit. Please
urgently need help. Thank you.

John says:
July 21, 2017 at 7:38 pm

When i try to get through the third step an error

will pop up when i click ”check names” telling me
that my username doesn’t exist even though i
typed it correctly

porter martin says:

December 10, 2017 at 10:40 pm

I need to restore TrustedInstaller to a registry key

in W10. I followed your guidance except when W10
display an Error Message, and would not accept
the needed entry, NTSERVICE\TRUSTEDINSTALLER,
in the “Select User of Group box”. Therefore
TrustedInstaller was not added to the owners list…..
i followed the directions carefully, i understand the
process for working with a registry key, and never
had any problems assigning or restoring user
names, except TrustedInstaller, for a registry key….
I need to restore TrustedInstaller as the rightful
owner of a registry key to repair an DCOM Error
Event (10016). I am at a loss as to what I am doing
wrong??

Mario says:
January 8, 2018 at 6:04 pm

I want to change the sounds in C:\Windows\Media,

I followed these steps, but I receive errors for all
the files in this folder (Windows 8.1)…

SC Tom says:
January 19, 2018 at 10:04 pm

That skips one very important step:

While changing ownership, you’ll have to check the

“Replace owner on subcontainers and objects”.

Then you have to make sure your name is listed in

the Permissions window as a Principal, with Full
Control.

Plus, don’t forget to exit and re-open the

Properties window when prompted to do so.

Other than that, it works well 🙂

Ali says:
January 22, 2018 at 10:12 pm
By the way, I encountered a problem that involved
myself for several months. Please read carefully
and please help. After installing Windows 10, all
data and files are encrypted, unwanted, and
without permission and copyrights. Do not open or
open them. Please help with thanks

Anthony says:
April 7, 2018 at 7:37 pm

Perfect!!!

Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Bill P says:
May 26, 2018 at 8:30 pm

You may also have to disable inheritance to take

power away from TrustedInstaller.

Jaxer says:
September 26, 2019 at 4:16 pm

When the notify screen was supposed to show all I

saw was a black screen and could do nothing.

If I quickly located and ended the process

“sipnotify.exe” in the task manager the computer
ran smooth until the next restart. Deleted the
update “KB4493132” and was fine until the next
round of updates witch I left that box unchecked as
to not download it. Microsoft added it with a core
update. And Black screen was back.

Found this article and followed the steps to safely

remove sipnotify.exe file
Worked perfectly. Was able to delete the file and
restart computer.

Thanks! 9/26/2019

Sharon says:
October 25, 2019 at 2:30 am

Thanks so much for this. It has been driving me

mad. Your explanation has finally helped me to
delete those unwanted files. Time consuming but
satisfying!

Andre says:
January 31, 2020 at 9:28 pm

Beste MDM ,

Hartelijk dank voor de uitleg, deze heeft geholpen

na uren lang zoeken.
Andre

alyana says:
March 31, 2020 at 9:35 am

how can I uninstall a software? when i try to

uninstall it, it says that the administrator has
blocked me but i am the administrator

VG says:
March 31, 2020 at 1:01 pm

^^ Which software are you trying to uninstall? You

can also share a screenshot to better understand
the problem.

Dan says:
April 13, 2020 at 12:26 pm

With step 4:
On my properties page there is no edit button but
all the permissions are set on the same window as
step 3.
Inconveniently, this still doesnt let me edit the files.
Any fixes for this?

Ken Argent says:

October 24, 2023 at 12:45 am

I downloaded files from One Drive. It compressed

them and made a zip folder. I opened the folder
and was trying to move the pictures to another
drive but after 10 min only 50 were moved. I
cancelled the move progress window. Now I can’t
open the zip folder. I’ve tried all of the suggestions
but none work. I think this is a unique problem.
Please email me if you have a solution to this
problem. Thanks.

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