Solved Windows 8 messed up file permisions

burtie

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Since installing W8 CP when ever I boot back into W7 I can no longer access any of my files on my external HDD (1TB worth of documents)
How do I get them back? :cry:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 7
Can you see the files? When you right click on a folder or file, are you allowed to change the permissions? If not, I had the exact same issue with a folder that I dragged from one place to another in Win8. I simply could not run anything as I had no write privileges and no way to change them.
Fortunately, there is a reg hack called Take Ownership which puts a "Take Ownership" line in the right click context menu. Right click on the folder and click on Take Ownership. When it's done, THEN YOU NEED TO CHANGE PERMISSIONS in the security tab on properties. That worked for me.
Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista - How-To Geek
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit GA
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-4770K Haswell
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-PRO
    Memory
    16 GB of Corsair 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX 780
    Sound Card
    Cooler Master Storm Headphones
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 27 inch U2711 IPS
    Screen Resolution
    2560 by 1440
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Pro 250GB SSD plus 2 3 TB drives
    PSU
    Corsair-750
    Case
    Corsair White Graphite Series 600T
    Cooling
    Corsair H00i Water
    Keyboard
    Corsair K90
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser
    Internet Speed
    6.3 MBps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    MS
Thank you! Its fixed the problem for me! Phew I nearly had a heart attack then!

:D

Can I always use this shortcut in the future because I am really worried about it messing up again!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 7
Did you access the 1TB drive from Win8 or did that happen all by itself.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Yeah I accessed it from within W8...and when booting back into W7 it would not let me view the files!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 7
Yeah I accessed it from within W8...and when booting back into W7 it would not let me view the files!

I had the same problem with the Developer Preview. I wanted to use a data partition from both operating systems, but I got the same mess as you. Fortunately I did not have a lot of data and it was all backed up. So I just deleted the partition and recreated it. That was the easiest solution for me.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Think I will have to be more carefull in the future....I nearly lost 1TB of important data!
Time to invest in another HDD, have been putting it off due to recent price hikes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 7
Best is to move the files you want to use in Win8 to a completely seperate data partition dedicated to Win8. Then you will not get this problem.

Or you could do like I do - move it to a big USB stick. The sticks do not seem to get the problem when you move them back and forth.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
I am scratching my head over this. I have 3 hard drives, one with WIN8 CP, one Win7, and the other with media files. I have had issues on the other two drives where I had to GIVE PERMISSION to look at the files. That was done by just a click on a button. Only a few of the folders had this tho, who knows why?
I have my UAC turned off. Anyone else? Do permissions change with the level of UAC?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit GA
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-4770K Haswell
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-PRO
    Memory
    16 GB of Corsair 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX 780
    Sound Card
    Cooler Master Storm Headphones
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 27 inch U2711 IPS
    Screen Resolution
    2560 by 1440
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Pro 250GB SSD plus 2 3 TB drives
    PSU
    Corsair-750
    Case
    Corsair White Graphite Series 600T
    Cooling
    Corsair H00i Water
    Keyboard
    Corsair K90
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser
    Internet Speed
    6.3 MBps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    MS
I cant make sense of it either. Upon further inspection it looks like it was only applied to some of the folders, others were perfectly fine. Also some folders within folders were readable while others were not! It just doesn't make any sense! Even after playing with file permissions some were visible and others not, luckily johnpombrio's solution worked.
So what if I were to build a new computer or buy a new laptop and I had a different user account and tried to access the HDD, would I be locked out of my own files again because I do not have permissions or ownership?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 7
I cant make sense of it either. Upon further inspection it looks like it was only applied to some of the folders, others were perfectly fine. Also some folders within folders were readable while others were not! It just doesn't make any sense! Even after playing with file permissions some were visible and others not, luckily johnpombrio's solution worked.
So what if I were to build a new computer or buy a new laptop and I had a different user account and tried to access the HDD, would I be locked out of my own files again because I do not have permissions or ownership?
I have UAC turned on, and I run my main account as a standard user account (I keep the admin account seperate to do work on the PC)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 7
Got the answer. It is due to inherited permissions. I will post an new thread in general about the problem with inherited permissions, a web page and a couple of ways of handling the problem.
You can mark this problem as solved.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit GA
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-4770K Haswell
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-PRO
    Memory
    16 GB of Corsair 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX 780
    Sound Card
    Cooler Master Storm Headphones
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 27 inch U2711 IPS
    Screen Resolution
    2560 by 1440
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Pro 250GB SSD plus 2 3 TB drives
    PSU
    Corsair-750
    Case
    Corsair White Graphite Series 600T
    Cooling
    Corsair H00i Water
    Keyboard
    Corsair K90
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser
    Internet Speed
    6.3 MBps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    MS
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