How to take ownership (Permission) of a file or Folder in Windows 8 (Either System or not)

MERCENIE TEAM
April 28, 2013

How to take ownership of a file and Folder in Windows 8 – will show you the step by step process to take the ownership of a file or Folder (either system or not) and the permission to access the file completely in Windows 8. The process will complete in two stages, One is to change the ownership of that file from system to your local user and another is to give permission to that local user to access that completely (Full Control). It works on all versions of Windows 8 (Windows 8. Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise and Windows RT). The process is slightly different from how to take ownership and change permission setting in Windows 7 and XP.

Also Check: How To Create A Folder Without Name And Icon In Windows 8

Whenever you are trying to modify any of the system file or folder then you need to give the full ownership and permission to full control to your local or logged user otherwise you will not able to modify it. By default the system files are owned by the System or the Administrator. But whenever you are logging to Windows 8 then a local user with the same name to administrator (If another user is not created) logged in. So before modifying the System files and folder give full permission and ownership to the local user (Not the Administrator).

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows 8

1. Go to the folder that contains the file or Folder whose ownership you want to change.
2. Right Click of mouse on that file or Folder and Choose “Properties“.
3. Navigate to “Security” tab.
4. Click on “Advanced” on the Security tab to open the Advance security setting for the file.
5. On the Owner ; Click on “Change“.
6. Click on “Advanced” on the open “Select User or Group” Window.
7. Click on “Find Now” on the open Window.
8. It will show you all the available user on the Search results.
9. Now select the user that you want to give the ownership and click on “OK“.
10. Again Click on “OK” on the “Select User or Group” to change the ownership.
11. Now the Ownership for that file or folder is changed.
12. Now apply all the changes and Click on OK and close all the open Window.
13. That is it.

How to change permission of a file or folder in Windows 8

1. Go to the folder that contains the file or Folder whose ownership you want to change.
2. Right Click of mouse on that file or Folder and Choose “Properties“.
3. Navigate to “Security” tab (You need to enable the missing security tab in the property windows  of Windows 8 if that is not present there).
4. Click on “Edit” on the Change permission.
5. Now it will the Windows to change the permission.
6. Now select the user whose permission you want to change on the “Group or User names“.
7. Now on the permission for Selected user tick below the Allow Section of Full Control.
8. Now click on “Apply“.
9. It will show you a warning message “You are about to change the permission setting on system folders. This can reduce the Security of your computer and cause users to have problems accessing the files. Do you want to Continue?“. Just ignore the message and Click on “Yes“.
OK 10. Now click on “OK” and close all the open Windows.
11. That is it. Now you have change the permission for the selected user and give them Full control.

Also Check: How to Install Ubuntu latest version with Windows 8 without using Virtual Machine inside Windows Program

10 Comments

  1. jaded says:

    That’s how it should be done but I’ve never seen it actually work before. Usually fails with some ridiculous message that you need permission from yourself to do it.

    Easiest/fastest way to remove something that Windows wants to fight with you about is to boot a live Linux CD and delete it while Windows is asleep 😉

    • frustrated says:

      Yep.

      Followed step by step and I get a nice message saying

      Error Applying Security: Access is denied.

      Good to see that micrsoft is saving us from ourselves.

      • sam says:

        I’m having exactly the same problem — only way around it has been to change the ownership and permission, folder by folder, file by file (deeper and deeper into the file tree) ONE AT A TIME…

        Thanks MS! Waste of time!

  2. Deb says:

    I have no security tab in properties …

  3. Ninja07 says:

    I tried it, but just added a few additional steps and I now have full permission on all the files. You should basically make yourself owner of the file first, and apply. Exit the properties box. Then change your permission. And also apply, then exit your properties. Thereafter that file would be permeable. I found that this only works for individual files and not folders.

  4. Please Help says:

    I want permission to edit a certain document but I have done both procedures and it still says access is denied.

  5. Barbara says:

    Oh my gosh THANK YOU! Finally somebody that explained it! It worked perfectly. I wasn’t seeing the change owner at the top so was trying to give permission without changing the owner! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  6. John says:

    This DOES NOT WORK!

  7. ram says:

    i need to change the permission of large number of files (approx 100)…how can i change them in few steps. …….otherwise i still have to change the permissions of all individually…..

  8. Alx says:

    Thank You

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