Changing the Owner of a folder back to SYSTEM

permissions external-hard-drive data-recovery

8,776

While the owner should not matter, you can change it back to the default by running icacls "C:\Documents and Settings\" /setowner SYSTEM

Looks like official documentation for Windows 7 is missing but you can find it for Windows Server here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753525(v=ws.10).aspx - Behavior should not differ.

8,776

A User

The more code you write, the more right you code

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

A User almost 2 years

ISSUE1:

This is what I get when I try to open my C:/Documents and Settings.Although I am the owner of the computer I was denied permissions to open the folder. So, I changed the owner of Documents and Settings from SYSTEM to Fasih(HP-PC\HP) and this is me. Still I cant access.

Also, I want to revert the owner back to SYSTEM, just in case to prevent anything stupid. So I retraced the steps and now.. I cant change the owner back to SYSTEM (strange).
Help!

NOTE: I realized from another question that this folder doesn't exist any more. So please tell me how to revert the Owner back to SYSTEM
- A User almost 12 years
  
  no no, I changed the permissions on C:/ Drive to try to access Documents and Settings
- A User almost 12 years
  
  I will rephrase the entire questions!
- Moab almost 12 years
  
  Changing permissions on the system drive C: is a bad idea, back up your data and reinstall the OS, too many different permissions on sub folders on C, may be impossible to restore them.
- Gurken Papst almost 12 years
  
  Did I understand you correctly, that your drive letter C is on the external HDD and not your system volume? While this is possible it is quite uncommon. If the external drive behaves weird, check it's S.M.A.R.T. status with a tool like GSmartcontrol. Do not attempt to write to it (chkdsk, changing ACLs) until you know it is healthy. Depending on the worth of your files, do a sector based backup immediately. You might get better results if you access the drive directly and not through a USB bridge which you probably use at the moment.
- A User almost 12 years
  
  Rephrasing the question has been done!!!
- A User almost 12 years
  
  and I changed the permissions on C:/Documents and Settings . Disaster Averted! my bad in typing, nervousness has gottn the better of me
- Gurken Papst almost 12 years
  
  Putting two completely different problems in one question is a really bad idea. I suggest you to remove your first question to prevent your question from being closed as it is likely answered in superuser.com/questions/49582/… anyway.
A User almost 12 years

Well, if the owner doesnt matter then I wont worry about it. How does the owner matter anyways?
Gurken Papst almost 12 years

Being the owner of a file system object always allows you to change permissions on that object, even if you do not have the explicit right to change permissions for that object. This is why you had to become the owner of the junction point to change the permissions. Learn more about permissions in Windows NT based systems on technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc783530(WS.10).aspx.