Windows 10: Change Owner of File, Folder, Drive, or Registry Key in Windows 10

Hello James, and welcome to Ten Forums.

Yeah, you never want to take ownership of the C: drive as per the red warning at the top of the tutorial. It never ends well.

You could see if you may be able to do a system restore at boot using a restore point dated before this happened. You may need to boot from USB installation media since Windows is stuck.

System Restore Windows 10

 

Quickest reply ever.

Thanks for the forum welcome. I'm about 90% done creating a USB installation at the moment and will try a restore point.

For future reference, when taking ownership of files and folders, are there any other locations which should be left alone? Would the program files folders be safe to grab ownership?

Thanks,
James

 

I wouldn't recommend to take ownership of an entire system folder or drive. Instead, only of specific system files as needed.

I hope the system restore will undo this for you. *Smile

 

On this topic of ownership issues with file or drive I have managed to loose ownership and therefore access of C drive. Is there
anything I can do to save this 4 year old Acer desktop, was running perfect up to my mistake with permissions.

 

Hello gbanker, and welcome to Ten Forums.

You could see if doing a system restore using a restore point dated before this happened may be able to undo it.

System Restore Windows 10

 

I am familiar with restore, reset system etc. I tried all these but wont run. Tried to boot in safe mode no luck and
when used a back up restore from flash drive booted up but just comes up to regular system but problem remains.
Shows drive c not accessible and shows o bytes. It seems as if windows system has locked out admin or users and
most apps wont run. system very unstable but all items show on desktop. Tried going into advanced security does
not show owner and just freezes when try to access any items. Thanks for the welcome and hope you can help.

 

If you don't have a system image to restore, then you may need to reinstall Windows. *Sad

 

I don't have system image not sure it would run thru any external source based on what I have tried ie back up restore with
flash drive. I am no sure how to reinstall windows when only have source on hard drive which I cannot access.

 

Were you able to boot from a Windows 10 installation USB when trying to do a system restore?

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

If so, then are you may need to do a clean install from the USB if able.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1...n-install.html

 

I did see this info in your forums and will try. Thanks for your time. Will work on tonight and let you
know. One last thought regarding built in admin. Do you think if able to enable thru command prompt
that I might gain access to c drive.?

 

It would certainly be worth a try.

 

I got lucky, was able to do full restore to factory specs having found my 4 year old dvd restore discs that
were buried with a lot of old computer junk. Will be keeping all restore material for all my computers in top
drawer from now on. Lessons learned make sure you do external rescue disk, never touch C drive permissions.
When in doubt leave alone or come to this forum for answers first...!

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

If so, then are you may need to do a clean install from the USB if able.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1...n-install.html[/QUOTE]

 

Tried the TAKEOWN method (elevated command prompt) on a folder created by SYSTEM (AVAST) and got the above message. 'Take Ownership' in Context Menu also fails as does trying to edit or change ownership in "properties". Any suggestions?

 

Hello zephyrus, *Smile

If this an Avast folder, it may be protected/blocked by Avast to prevent tampering with.

 

Thanks Shawn. Been getting help from your forums for years and cannot tell you how much I appreciate you assistance.
Ted Breslin