Windows 10: Windows 10 permissions is doing my head in

Tracey, I just got over some permissions problems by following the very simple instructions in Brink's tutorial to add 'Take Ownership' to the Context Menu (which is right click, in case you didn't know that term, as I didn't). The only thing I would add is if you are applying to folders with lots of files, disable User Account Control to prevent the 'are you sure' popups. Edit to add, remember to turn it back on again...
Tenforums link

 

I believe that the most recent version of Windows actually is in charge of booting.

For example, when I installed W7 on a system that had XP on it, W7 became the "master boot controller".
I suspect that if you obliterate W10, W7 will refuse to boot.

I find fixing boot issues even more horrifying than fixing Permissions. *Eek
My normal method is to reinstall the OS.

Are you able to create a backup image of your entire PC (i.e. W10, W7 and personal files)?

Tutorials
System Image - Create in Windows 10
Macrium Reflect - Backup & Restore

I use Macrium Reflect to back up my physical systems (including W10 Home).
I just zip up my W10 VMs.

If you can create backup images, you could risk tinkering (assuming that you feel confident about your technical prowess).

If you can't create backup images, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to obliterate W10. *Sad

 

PJL

I think I may be a little further forward on this now but just how far I'm not really sure. Yes I did add Take Ownership to my context menu but when I checked to see who the owner was I found it had not added 'Administrators' but what appeared to be a standard account (yes, I'm the only user of this PC but I've set myself up to be an Administrator). As a result I've got a mixture of 'Administrators' and seemingly standard accounts in many folders. How do I reset them so that they are all 'Administrators' owners? I've had a level of success using Brink's tutorial and diving into the guts of the system but whether this is the only way of doing it or even the best way I have no idea. And is there any way of using a .reg key to take ownership which makes the owner 'Administrators'. Further to this, it would appear that if 'Administrators' is already the owner you cannot do anything about it without using Brink's tutorial -- at least that is how it seems to me at present. Apart from this I believe I really want 'Administrators' as I'm still having problems saving from apps into some folders that should be open to me.

I apologise if I'm being a bit dense over this but the concept of permissions really is something I'm struggling with although I suppose there must be a good reason. What that may be has me beat at the moment although I suppose security must come into it somewhere.

Anyway, any and all help really is most appreciated, thanks.

Tracey

 

Interesting proposition, got me thinking. Microsoft should have leveraged the use of groups more: made Administrators more powerful—trust users with it—and make Power Users the highest-in-power configureable group through the GUI. Adding oneself to Administrators is to be done through a command, and there’s a natural consent in that. A once-only occasion UAC.

Tracey, hello there. If you can assert the outermost branch of the file system you’re experiencing permission problems on, I might be able to serve up a script that will repair those permissions for you.

Before that though, many people who’ve jumped to Windows 10 from a Windows 7 machine are familiar with permission problems like this. Seeing as I haven’t experienced this, I’d appreciate it if I could grab a sample of the permissions from at least one of your problem folders to hopefully gain a little understanding as to what’s gone wrong with the upgrade process.

If you’re willing to help me on this, would you be able to run the below command in a PowerShell session for the outermost folder you’re experiencing problems with, and copy the output text here.
Code: (Get-Acl 'C:\path\to\folder').Sddl[/quote] And also one subdirectory would be great.
Code: (Get-Acl 'C:\path\to\folder\subfolder').Sddl[/quote]

 

Hi Pyprohly

Just at the moment I'm in no position at all to help anyone. It looks like I've got a catastrophic crash on my hands. Everything was going great for the first time in days and I decided to install another 1TB HD I have. Big mistake! Since then I've been struggling to get my PC up and running and its looking like the SSD with Win7 and Win10 partitions on it has crashed big time. I've checked out all the connections including those I haven't touched and as far as I can make out everything seems to be fine but the damned thing just will not fire up. Thankfully I only took a backup of both on Saturday so hopefully I'll be able to recover providing the SSD can be recovered, if indeed it is that SSD. At present Chkdsk is testing the SSD and its deleting a whole load of extended attribute sets from the Win10 partition - whatever extended attribute sets are!!!

Anyway, it's likely I shan't be posting to this forum for a while at least until I get my PC sorted out. This post is being prepared on a spare old PC but it is old and slow. Nevertheless it does enable me to get online.

Tracey

 

No need to apologise as the system is a bit convoluted on a single User system.

Basically "Groups and Users" are vaguely similar to "Folders (Directories) and Files".

A "Group" is a convenient way to handle multiple "Users".
This is useful when multiple "Users" need to access "Files" in the same "Folder" (i.e. business LAN).

Instead of adding each "User" to every "Folder", they are added to a "Group".
The "Group" is then added to the "Folder".



Here is a TechNet link about "Owner":
How Owners Are Assigned and Changed

Business setups may be using Active Directory and the recommended setup has an extra Group:User -> Global Group (AD) -> Local Group (specific PC) -> Folder