Windows 10: Windows destroyed file permissions instead of adding them

Hello, so, I was replacing my hard drive and decided to simply remove the old one and install Windows 10 in the new hard drive, then I wanted to move the files from the old drive to the new one so I just popped the old drive into an external USB enclosure; inserted the drive into the USB port and then to access my profile Windows asked to change file permissions (I did and this was the problem), but until now all was good since I was able to copy my files into the new drive.


The issue was that when I decided to install the old drive back into the computer (to check what programs had installed and possibly make more backups), the Windows installation was a huge mess because apparently when I accepted to change file permissions; Windows (instead of simply adding the new user permissions) made a huge mess and deleted many original file permissions.


The question is. Why does Windows destroys file permissions when in theory it should simply add one permission to all the files?


And how am I supposed to access files (from my USB enclosure) without destroying the permissions?

:)

 

cannot access file/or permissions

I have a file i need to run on Windows 7 Home Premium. I get the error message saying "Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."

So I right click and choose Properties to access the permissions but I cannot. In the Security tab I get a message saying, " You do not have permission to view or edit this objects permission settings.".

Next I boot into the Windows 7 Hidden Administrator Mode - and even with this I get all the same error messages.

Please help me as I really need to run This file.

 

No permissions

Hi,

I would suggest you to right click on the user's folder for your profile and check if the permissions shows as "read only'. If this is the case, it might be causing the issue. In this case, I would suggest you to go to C:\User folder, right click on the
folder with your username and follow these steps:

• Open the properties of the main user profile folder where the files are located (such as Documents, Pictures, etc).
  
• Go to the Security tab and click Advanced.
• Check the box at the bottom of this window. It is labeled "Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object" and then click Ok.
  

This does a one-time action that replaces the security on all the files/subfolders. It’s one-time, so you won’t find that box checked if you peek at it later. Try these steps and let us know the results for further assistance.

 

Reset Windows 10 file permissions to default

Hi,

Welcome to Microsoft Community and thank you for your interest in Windows 10.

• Are you receiving any error message while accessing any files?

I suggest you to follow the below methods and check if it helps.

Method 1: Startup troubleshooter.

• Open the Task manager. Here’s a tip: Press CTRL+Shift+ESC.
  
• Click File > Run New Task
• Make sure you have a check mark beside “Create this task with administrative privileges”
• Type Powershell
• Type the following in the Powershell prompt:

$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsStore).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest


6. Close the Powershell window

7. Reboot

Method 2: If you are facing issues accessing files, then I suggest you to follow the below steps and check if it helps.

This may be caused by incorrect permissions on the files.

You can fix this using these steps:

• Open the properties of the main user profile folder where the files are located (such as Documents, Pictures, etc).
  
• Go to the Security tab and click Advanced.
• Check the box at the bottom of this window. It is labeled "Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object" and then click Ok

Hope this information was helpful and do let us know if you need further assistance. We will be glad to assist.