Take Ownership of a File, Folder, Drive, or Registry Key in Windows 8

How to "Take Ownership" of a File, Folder, Drive, or Registry Key in Windows 8 and 8.1​

   Information

This will show you how to take ownership of a file, folder, drive, registry key objects to control how access permissions are set on the object and for what users and groups permissions are granted in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps below to take ownership of an item.

   Warning

DO NOT take ownership of the Windows 8 C: drive.

Doing so, could result in Windows 8 becoming very unstable.

CONTENTS:

• Option One: Take Ownership and Permission of an Object from the Context Menu
• Option Two: Take Ownership of an Object using TAKEOWN Command
• Option Three: Take Ownership of an Object using ICACLS Command
• Option Four: To Manually Take Ownership of Object in Advanced Security Settings

OPTION ONE

Take Ownership and Permission of an Object from the Context Menu

NOTE: This option will quickly grant your administrator account ownership of a file, folder (and contents), or drive (and contents), and grant "full control" permission to the administrators group by right clicking on the file, folder, or drive and clicking on Take Ownership.


1. For how, see: How to Add "Take Ownership" to the Context Menu in Windows 8


2. Afterwards, you or members of the administrators group will now be able to grant access permissions for this file, folder, or drive if you like.

OPTION TWO

Take Ownership of an Object using TAKEOWN Command

NOTE: You could also type takeown /? in the elevated command prompt for a complete list of available switches and options that you could use with the takeown command.


1. Open an elevated command prompt, and do step 2, 3, or 4 below depending on what object you would like to take ownership of.


2. To Take Ownership of a File using TAKEOWN Command

A) In the elevated command prompt, type the command you want below, press Enter, and go to step 5 below.
NOTE: Substitute full path of file with file extension with the actual full path of the file with it's file extension that you want to take ownership of within quotes.


(To grant currently logged on user ownership of)

takeown /F "full path of file with file extension"


(To grant administrators group ownership of)

takeown /F "full path of file with file extension" /A


For example:

takeown /F "C:\Windows\file.exe" /A





3. To Take Ownership of All Files with the same File Extension in a Folder or Drive using TAKEOWN Command


A) In the elevated command prompt, type the command you want below, press Enter, and go to step 5 below.
NOTE: Substitute full path of folder or drive with the full path of the folder or drive letter, and substitute file extension with the actual file extention that you want to take ownership of within quotes.


(To grant currently logged on user ownership of)

takeown /F "full path of folder or drive\*.file extension"


(To grant administrators group ownership of)

takeown /F "full path of folder or drive\*.file extension" /A


For example:

takeown /F "C:\Windows\*.txt" /A



4. To Take Ownership of a Folder or Drive using TAKEOWN Command
NOTE: This command will take ownership of the folder or drive, and all files and subfolders in the folder or drive.


A) In the elevated command prompt, type the command you want below, press Enter, and go to step 5 below.
NOTE: Substitute full path of folder or drive with the full path of the folder or drive letter that you want to take ownership of within quotes.


(To grant currently logged on user ownership of)

takeown /F "full path of folder or drive" /R /D Y


(To grant administrators group ownership of)

takeown /F "full path of folder or drive" /A /R /D Y


For example:

takeown /F "F:" /A /R /D Y

takeown /F "F:\Folder" /A /R /D Y




5. When finished, close the elevated command prompt.

6. You or members of the administrators group will now be able to grant access permissions for this file, folder, or drive if you like.

OPTION THREE

Take Ownership of an Object using ICACLS Command

NOTE: You could also type icacls /? in the elevated command prompt for a complete list of availble switches and options that you could use with the icacls command.



1. Open an elevated command prompt, and do step 2, 3, 4, or 5 below depending on what object you would like to take ownership of.


2. To Take Ownership of a File using ICACLS Command

A) In the elevated command prompt, type the command you want below, press Enter, and go to step 6 below.

   Note

Substitute full path of file with file extension with the actual full path of the file with it's file extension that you want to take ownership of within quotes.

   Note

Substitute user name with the actual user name of the user account you want to set as owner within quotes. For a Microsoft account, you would use the email address as the user name.

(To set any user as owner)

icacls "full path of file with file extension" /setowner "user name" /T /C


(To set administrators group as owner)

icacls "full path of file with file extension" /setowner "Administrators" /T /C


(To set TrustedInstaller as owner)




icacls "full path of file with file extension" /setowner "NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller" /T /C


For example:

icacls "C:\Windows\file.exe" /setowner "Administrators" /T /C




3. To Take Ownership of All Files with the same File Extension in a Folder or Drive using ICACLS Command


A) In the elevated command prompt, type the command you want below, press Enter, and go to step 6 below.

   Note

Substitute full path of folder or drive with the full path of the folder or drive letter, and substitute file extension with the actual file extension that you want to take ownership of within quotes.

   Note

Substitute user name with the actual user name of the user account you want to set as owner within quotes. For a Microsoft account, you would use the email address as the user name.

(To set any user as owner)

icacls "full path of folder or drive\*.file extension" /setowner "user name" /T /C


(To set administrators group as owner)

icacls "full path of folder or drive\*.file extension" /setowner "Administrators" /T /C


(To set TrustedInstaller as owner)

[B]icacls "[COLOR=red]full path of folder or drive[COLOR=#222222]\*.[/COLOR][COLOR=red]file extension[/COLOR][/COLOR]" /setowner "NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller" /T /C[/B]

For example:

icacls "C:\Windows\*.txt" /setowner "Administrators" /T /C



4. To Take Ownership of a Folder or Drive and All Contents using ICACLS Command

A) In the elevated command prompt, type the command you want below, press Enter, and go to step 6 below.

   Note

Substitute full path of folder or drive with the full path of the folder or drive letter that you want to take ownership of within quotes.

   Note

Substitute user name with the actual user name of the user account you want to set as owner within quotes. For a Microsoft account, you would use the email address as the user name.

(To set any user as owner)

icacls "full path of folder or drive" /setowner "user name" /T /C


(To set administrators group as owner)

icacls "full path of folder or drive" /setowner "Administrators" /T /C


(To set TrustedInstaller as owner)

icacls "full path of folder or drive" /setowner "NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller" /T /C


For example:

icacls "C:\Windows\Folder" /setowner "Administrators" /T /C



5. To Take Ownership of Only a Folder or Drive using ICACLS Command

A) In the elevated command prompt, type the command you want below, press Enter, and go to step 6 below.

   Note

Substitute full path of folder or drive with the full path of the folder or drive letter that you want to take ownership of within quotes.

   Note

Substitute user name with the actual user name of the user account you want to set as owner within quotes. For a Microsoft account, you would use the email address as the user name.

(To set any user as owner)

icacls "full path of folder or drive" /setowner "user name" /C


(To set administrators group as owner)

icacls "full path of folder or drive" /setowner "Administrators" /C


(To set TrustedInstaller as owner)

icacls "full path of folder or drive" /setowner "NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller" /C


For example:

icacls "C:\Windows\Folder" /setowner "Administrators" /C



6. When finished, close the elevated command prompt.

7. You or members of the administrators group will now be able to grant access permissions for this file, folder, or drive if you like.

OPTION FOUR

To Manually Take Ownership of Object in Advanced Security Settings

1. Do step 2 or 3 below depending on what object you would like to take ownership of.


2. To Take Ownership of a File, Folder, or Drive in Advanced Properties

A) Right click or press and hold on the file, folder, or drive that you want to grant a user or group ownership of, click/tap on Properties, and go to step 4 below.

OR

B) Select a file, folder, or open a drive that you want to grant a user or group ownership of, click/tap on the Share tab, click/tap on the Advanced security button in the ribbon, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)




3. To Take Ownership of a Registry Key in Advanced Properties


A) In the left pane of Registry Editor (regedit), right click or press and hold on the registry key that you want to grant a user or group ownership of, click/tap on Permissions, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)






4. Click/tap on the Security tab, and click/tap on the Advanced button. (see screenshots below)

   Note

If you see the top screenshot below, then it means that you have access to this item, and can change the owner to any user or group you like.

If you see the bottom screenshot below, then it means that your user account does not have at least Read permission for this item. Basically, no access rights. When you get to step 9 below, you will need to select your user account name to change the owner to.

5. At the top to the right of the current Owner, click/tap on the Change link. (see screenshot below)




6. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.


7. Click/tap on the Advanced button. (see screenshot below)

   Note

If you wanted to set the Administrators group as the owner, then type Administrators in the "Enter the object name to select" box, and go to step 10 below instead.

If you wanted to set TrustedInstaller as the owner, then type this below in the "Enter the object name to select" box, and go to step 10 below instead.

NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller

8. Click/tap on the Find Now button. (see screenshot below)




9. At the bottom under the Name column, select a user (username) or group that you would like to grant ownership to, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This would normally be your administrator account's name, or the administrators group.




10. Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)




11. If this is a folder, drive, or registry key, then you will also have the option to check the Replace owner of subcontainers and objects box to also change the ownership of the folder/drive contents or registry key subkeys as well if you like. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: A file will not have this option available.




12. Verify that the new owner is correct, and click/tap on OK to apply. (see screenshot above)


13. If prompted, click/tap on Yes. (see screenshot below)




14. You and the owner (set at step 9), will now be able to grant access permissions for this file, folder, drive, or registry key if you like.
NOTE: See OPTION TWO in the link in this step.



That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Add "Take Ownership" to Context Menu in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Allow or Deny Access Permisions to Users and Groups in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Allow or Prevent Users and Groups to be able to Take Ownership in Windows
• How to Add Advanced security to context menu in Windows 8 and Windows 10
• How to Add Reset Permissions to Context Menu in Windows
• Enable or Disable Inherited Permissions for Files and Folders in Windows

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. Glad to have helped.

 

[svnpenn]

Can ownership of registry key be taken from the command line?

 

[Brink]

Hello svnpenn, and welcome to Eight Forums.

You can, but it's involved to do so. The Microsoft KB articles below can help show you more on this.

How to: Use a Script to Change Registry Permissions from the Command Line

How to change registry values or permissions from a command line or a script

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[aceventura2]

Excellent...Brink, you have made my day....cheers

 

[vviper]

Fantastic !

 

[Der Snoober]

Great tutorial Brink. You've just saved my life there after I made a stupid stupid stupid mistake last night .

Greetz,

Rover

 

[blueman24]

Hi Brink!
This is a great guide, and helped me gain access to a folder, but I am still unable to access the files which are inside a subfolder, which itself is in the main folder, for which i ran the command.
Basically what I did was: Right click a folder named " abc " > Properties > Security > Click the edit button > Deny all permissions to "Users" group (what a noob mistake) And now even administrator cannot access that folder with the message 'You currently don't have permission to access this folder'

So, after reading this guide, I ran the following command: takeown /F "full path of folder or drive" /R /D Y ​(with the correct path) After using this command, I am able to access the folder and even subfolders, but not able to open any of the files inside both, the folder and subfolders.

What can I do, to take ownership of Everything inside a folder? All its subfolders, files, the folders and files inside the subfolders, everthing?

Hope I did not mess up with my question

 

[Brink]

Hello Blueman, and welcome to Eight Forums.

That's correct. You would need to take ownership and set permissions for the parent folder, and check the Replace owner of subcontainers and objects box to apply to all subfolders and files using step 11 in Option Four.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[blueman24]

Thanks for the reply!
I can't do that, as when i try to do that, it says that I do not have the permissions to do that(replace owner of subcontainer and objects)
The above is not possible because I have denied EVERY permission to every user.
But, after whole day searching for a solution to this, I finally found the answer.
Here is what I just found on the internet

To fix really broken permissions, the best is to run these two commands one after the other:
takeown /f "C:\path\to\folder" /r
icacls "C:\path\to\folder" /reset /T
The first one will give you ownership of all the files, however that might not be enough, for example if all the files have the read/write/exec permissions set to "deny". You own the files but still cannot do anything with them.
In that case, run the second command, which will fix the broken permissions.

But anyways, ultra thanks for your help. I am amazed by your helpful nature

 

[Brink]

After taking ownership, you would indeed need to set permissions to "Allow" you "Full control" first, then check the box to apply to all subfolders and files.

It's not common for "Deny" to be checked unless done so by mistake.

I'm glad to hear that you got it sorted though. Thank you for posting back with your results.

 

[blueman24]

I did not "deny" permissions by mistake, but did it like a noob, when i was trying to accomplish a specific task.
Anyways, thanks again for the help!

 

[BigFatBoy]

with regard to the Warning: "WarningDO NOT take ownership of the Windows 8 C: drive.
Doing so, could result in Windows 8 becoming very unstable."

Is it simply fair to say that the "Administrators" should have ownership of the drive where Windows 8 is installed; eg; C:

thank you

 

[Brink]

Hello BFB,

Some system files will not behave properly if the owner was changed from "System" to "Administrators". Plus, you will get a few errors when trying to take ownership of C:.

For this main reason is why I would not recommend to take ownership of C:, but to only take ownership of specific files as needed instead.

To each their own though.

 

[hannelius]

hi shawn
just noticed while doing it
that the note and screenshot under step 7
in option four
should be between steps 6 and 7
(before clicking the advanced button)

 

[Brink]

Hello Hannelius,

They look correct to me. Are you sure of the steps and options in the tutorial?

 

[David Bailey]

I've noticed that taking ownership doesn't help in some cases.

So I right click something & click Properties & click the Security tab to change ownership there.
Most of the time taking ownership works without having to do that.

An example would be the folder containing system restore points.
Right clicking & taking ownership didn't work for me.
I had to change ownership in Properties/Security tab.

Even though I took ownership of System Volume Information I had to use the Security tab to take ownership of things in the folder.

 

[hannelius]

They look correct to me. Are you sure of the steps and options in the tutorial?

i wrote that as i was doing it...
fortaking ownership of a registry key
i saw that when you do step 5 and click change
to type in the name of the owner
the window that appears is the one under step 7
before you click advanced if you need to...
but i can see you put it there to show where the advanced button was...

i used your tutorial on getting rid of the network link
in the explorer pane and the save window
cause i kept clicking it all the time
which led me over here... thank you...

i used your taking ownership with delay reg file
and took ownership of the entire WindowsApps folder
to see what was in it... a lot...
that shouldn't have been there cause i uninstalled it...
took a while but it worked...

 

[Brink]

Ah, ok. Yep, the screenshot under the step was there to help show you what you would see for that step.

I'm glad to hear that you got the rest sorted.

 

[Brink]

I've noticed that taking ownership doesn't help in some cases.

So I right click something & click Properties & click the Security tab to change ownership there.
Most of the time taking ownership works without having to do that.

An example would be the folder containing system restore points.
Right clicking & taking ownership didn't work for me.
I had to change ownership in Properties/Security tab.

Even though I took ownership of System Volume Information I had to use the Security tab to take ownership of things in the folder.

View attachment 56140

Hey David,

The "Take Ownership" context menu changes the owner to the "Administrators" group and grants "Administrators" full control of the item.

However, on system files or folders where you see this below in their security properties, the owner would have to be changed to your account instead of "Administrators" before you gain access. Strange, but it won't let you any other way that I know of either.

 

[soulblazer]

About this: Favorites - Change Default Icon - Windows 7 Help Forums

I don't understand how to take ownership of the registry key (I'm on Windows 8.1):
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\DefaultIcon

Please, help... I don't understand what to do.