How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP?
When you access a file or a folder
in your system, you may receive an error "Access Denied", which
indicates that you don't have permissions to access that folder or the file.
Typical scenario where the error is seen is after you reinstall Windows XP and
try to access your old profile. If you are an Administrator (or
Administrator-level User account) and want to access the contents of the folder,
you can take Ownership of that folder or the file.
Prerequisites for taking ownership of a file or a folder
-
You must be logged on to the
computer with an account that has administrative privileges.
-
If you are running
Microsoft
Windows XP Home Edition, you must start the computer in safe
mode, and then log on with an account that has Administrative rights to have
access to the Security tab. To start Windows
XP in Safe Mode, see article Start
Windows XP in Safe Mode
-
For Microsoft
Windows
XP Professional, you need to disable Simple File Sharing, in
order to see the Security tab. To disable simple file sharing, follow
these steps: Click Start, and then click My Computer. On the Tools menu,
click Folder Options, and then click the View tab. In the Advanced Settings
section, clear the Use simple file sharing
(Recommended) check box. Click OK.
To take ownership of a
folder, follow these steps:
-
Right-click the folder that you want to take
ownership of, and then click Properties.
-
Click the Security
tab, and then click OK on the Security
message (if one appears).
-
Click Advanced,
and then click the Owner tab.
-
In the Name
list, click your user name, or click Administrator
if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators
group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, select
the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects
check box.
-
Click OK,
and then click Yes when you receive the
following message:
You do not have
permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you
want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full
Control?
All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.
where folder name
is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of.
-
Click OK,
and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the
folder and its contents.
To take ownership of a file, follow these steps
-
Right-click the file that you want to take
ownership of, and then click Properties.
-
Click the Security
tab, and then click OK on the Security
message (if one appears).
-
Click Advanced,
and then click the Owner tab.
-
In the Name
list, click Administrator, or click the Administrators
group, and then click OK.
The administrator or the Administrators group now owns the file.