read only

I'm having trouble with files and folders on my second hard drive. These files existed before installing vista. It seems that Vista has marked all files and folders as read only and I can't change that. (un-checking it has no effect, just changes back to read only after closing and re-opening) Is this a bug, or something microsoft did as a safeguard? Is there anyway I can fix this or a workaround so I can modify files? (eg. rotate pictures, resize, replace existing files with modified ones, etc.) I've even tried using Irfanview to modify pictures and save them, but it won't let me replace existing with modified.

No similar problem here, though I installed Vista with the other drives disconnected and reconnected after the install. FWIW the files on my other drives update fine so far.
"Xiphoidfugu" wrote in message

I'm having trouble with files and folders on my second hard drive. These files existed before installing vista. It seems that Vista has marked all files and folders as read only and I can't change that. (un-checking it has no effect, just changes back to read only after closing and re-opening) Is this a bug, or something microsoft did as a safeguard? Is there anyway I can fix this or a workaround so I can modify files? (eg. rotate pictures, resize, replace existing files with modified ones, etc.) I've even tried using Irfanview to modify pictures and save them, but it won't let me replace existing with modified.

The problem here is that in Windows Vista, even though you are technically an administrator, the programs you run are only given "standard user" access. Because of this, and the fact that the files were created in another version of windows, means that you will not be able to modify these files without changing some settings.
In order to tell you how to fix this, I need some information ...
Are the files on your second hard drive part of another version of windows (for example, a windows xp installation), or is this a data only hard drive that contains only your files?
- JB

Jimmy,
I have the same problem except that the files are marked "read only" when I access them from another computer on my home network. The computer that I am using to access the files is running windows XP Professional. The computer that I am running Vista on had its files created in XP Professional. Can you help me with how to access and change these files?
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:

The problem here is that in Windows Vista, even though you are technically an administrator, the programs you run are only given "standard user" access. Because of this, and the fact that the files were created in another version of windows, means that you will not be able to modify these files without changing some settings.
In order to tell you how to fix this, I need some information ...
Are the files on your second hard drive part of another version of windows (for example, a windows xp installation), or is this a data only hard drive that contains only your files?
- JB

Wow...this went through. I got a message when I tried to post that I couldn't post, to try again later. So I tried posting again and got the same message. I see both messages were posted though, weird. Anyway. The files and folders are not from another OS. They are personal files, Pics, Word Docs, etc. I've tried changing permissions under 'Properties(of drive),Security tab'. It says I'm not allowed to change permisions.
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:

The problem here is that in Windows Vista, even though you are technically an administrator, the programs you run are only given "standard user" access. Because of this, and the fact that the files were created in another version of windows, means that you will not be able to modify these files without changing some settings.
In order to tell you how to fix this, I need some information ...
Are the files on your second hard drive part of another version of windows (for example, a windows xp installation), or is this a data only hard drive that contains only your files?
- JB

Its a well known bug.
"Xiphoidfugu" wrote in message

Wow...this went through. I got a message when I tried to post that I couldn't post, to try again later. So I tried posting again and got the same message. I see both messages were posted though, weird. Anyway. The files and folders are not from another OS. They are personal files, Pics, Word Docs, etc. I've tried changing permissions under 'Properties(of drive),Security tab'. It says I'm not allowed to change permisions.
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:
The problem here is that in Windows Vista, even though you are technically an administrator, the programs you run are only given "standard user" access. Because of this, and the fact that the files were created in another version of windows, means that you will not be able to modify these files without changing some settings.
In order to tell you how to fix this, I need some information ...
Are the files on your second hard drive part of another version of windows (for example, a windows xp installation), or is this a data only hard drive that contains only your files?
- JB

Well, if the files weren't created from your current account in Vista, and they are on a drive formatted with NTFS, then they will inherit permissions from the drive, which are (roughly): Administrators full access, Owner full access (which is not your account in Vista), and everyone else read access.
So ... writing to these files will be a problem due to the standard-user nature of the programs you run (at least the ones that don't prompt for admin permissions, which is ... oh, any program not included in Vista, and most that are)
Isn't living in a pseudo-admin world bliss!! ;)
The solution (as you mentioned) is to give full access to your user account in vista to the drive, which will propagate down to all the container files that don't have overriden permissions.
Unfortunately, Vista Beta 2 makes this nearly impossible ... but here's how:
First thing, we're gonna open an "administrator" instance of explorer. This gets rid of those nag screens every time you try to do something dangerous, as well as avoids some bugs where the nag screens don't come up when they should.
- Click start - Type explorer - Right-click windows explorer under programs when it comes up, then click run as administrator
So far, so good ... Now, on Vista formatted NTFS drives, it doesn't give permission to edit permissions to Administrators ... OK, I have been fairly supportive of the new security things so far... but THIS IS REDICULOUS! lol.
So, we have to get around that ...
- Browse to Computer - Right-click on the drive in question - Click Properties - Click Security Tab - Click Edit - Click Advanced - Click Owner - Click Administrators - Click OK - Click OK - Click OK
All right .. we now have ownership of the drive, which overrides NTFS settings and allows us to change permissions (Sheesh)...
- Right-click the drive - Click Properties - Click Security tab - Click Edit
Allright ... from this screen you should now be able to edit the NTFS security on your drive :)
- Click Add - Type your username and press enter - Select full control - Click OK
You will get a warning about changing security settings on a drive. Click Yes to continue. It will then propagate down the filesystem to every folder file that you have access to and that doesn't have overridden settings.
Well ... wasn't that fun! lol
Let me know how it went
- JB
- JB

Oh yeah,
To everyone else reading this ... the reason I am suggesting that he give himself full permissions to the ENTIRE DRIVE is because he has a seperate hard drive just for storing his data ...
It is *not secure* to do this in any other case (and the permissions on drives with windows installed to them are set up to make this next to impossible to do correctly anyway).
For best security, you should only give yourself full access to folders that contain the data files you need to access, and no more.
For example, if you need access to a folder on a Windows XP partition that you dual-boot with:
- Following the steps in my previous post, but instead of going to the drive, browse to the folder you need access to
- COMPLETELY SKIP the "take ownership" part ... this is not necessary for folders, and may screw things up if you have a normal user account in the XP you are dual booting with.
- JB

OK...
First things first ... when you are accessing your files on Vista from the network, does it ask for your username and password?

Also,
Can you write to the files from the Vista computer OK?
- JB

That Helped. Thanks....worked great. Isn't Vista supposed to be more user friendly? I mean I understand all the security, but it shouldn't be that hard to change settings. I have another thought....just say I didn't do it this way. Would it work out if I disconnected the drive, rebooted, then shut down and reconnect the drive again. Would Vista then see the files and folders as newly created, and therefore allow full access? I noticed before I followed your instructions, that any files I added to the drive after installing Vista were fully accessible (modifiable [if that's even a word, lol])
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:

Well, if the files weren't created from your current account in Vista, and they are on a drive formatted with NTFS, then they will inherit permissions from the drive, which are (roughly): Administrators full access, Owner full access (which is not your account in Vista), and everyone else read access.
So ... writing to these files will be a problem due to the standard-user nature of the programs you run (at least the ones that don't prompt for admin permissions, which is ... oh, any program not included in Vista, and most that are)
Isn't living in a pseudo-admin world bliss!! ;)
The solution (as you mentioned) is to give full access to your user account in vista to the drive, which will propagate down to all the container files that don't have overriden permissions.
Unfortunately, Vista Beta 2 makes this nearly impossible ... but here's how:
First thing, we're gonna open an "administrator" instance of explorer. This gets rid of those nag screens every time you try to do something dangerous, as well as avoids some bugs where the nag screens don't come up when they should.
- Click start - Type explorer - Right-click windows explorer under programs when it comes up, then click run as administrator
So far, so good ... Now, on Vista formatted NTFS drives, it doesn't give permission to edit permissions to Administrators ... OK, I have been fairly supportive of the new security things so far... but THIS IS REDICULOUS! lol.
So, we have to get around that ...
- Browse to Computer - Right-click on the drive in question - Click Properties - Click Security Tab - Click Edit - Click Advanced - Click Owner - Click Administrators - Click OK - Click OK - Click OK
All right .. we now have ownership of the drive, which overrides NTFS settings and allows us to change permissions (Sheesh)...
- Right-click the drive - Click Properties - Click Security tab - Click Edit
Allright ... from this screen you should now be able to edit the NTFS security on your drive :)
- Click Add - Type your username and press enter - Select full control - Click OK
You will get a warning about changing security settings on a drive. Click Yes to continue. It will then propagate down the filesystem to every folder file that you have access to and that doesn't have overridden settings.
Well ... wasn't that fun! lol
Let me know how it went
- JB
- JB

That Helped. Thanks....worked great.

I'm glad :)

Isn't Vista supposed to be more user friendly? I mean I understand all the security, but it shouldn't be that hard to change settings.

Agreed! Microsoft needs to do so MAJOR, MAJOR work to make NTFS security settings easier to use, now that they are forcing them on everybody!

Would it work out if I disconnected the drive, rebooted, then shut down and reconnect the drive again.

No.

I noticed before I followed your instructions, that any files I added to the drive after installing Vista were fully accessible (modifiable [if that's even a word, lol])

modifiable ... eh, I'll allow it!
The reason you could modify files you created from within Vista is because whenever you create a file you are set as the owner. Generally, the owner of the file or folder has full access to that item.
(If you go into one of those security dialogs, take a look at the permissions for CREATOR/OWNER ... this is what access the creator of that folder or file has to that folder or file)
Because your other files were created from Windows XP, the user account set as the creator doesn't match your user account in vista (not even if they are the same name). So the CREATOR/OWNER permission doesn't get applied to you ... instead, you get the USERS permission, which is generally read-only.
The opposite would happen to you in Windows XP if you were running as a normal user ... you would be able to modify the files you created from Windows XP, but you wouldn't be able to modify any files you created from Windows Vista.
You see, this problem isn't a Vista-specific problem. This is a NTFS permissions problem. And this is going to make running a multiboot with WinXP a nightmare for the techies out there that know nothing about NTFS.
So ... why hasn't this been a problem before?
Because 99% of people run in XP as Administrator, which pretty much negates ALL of the security that is built-in to NTFS.
Now that Vista makes it much harder to run as full Administrator, this is now a huge problem. Microsoft really needs to re-think the tools they have available for messing with permissions and make this easier!
- JB

That makes everything clearer. Thanks for the education on NTFS, I never knew that before.
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:

That Helped. Thanks....worked great.
I'm glad :)
Isn't Vista supposed to be more user friendly? I mean I understand all the security, but it shouldn't be that hard to change settings.
Agreed! Microsoft needs to do so MAJOR, MAJOR work to make NTFS security settings easier to use, now that they are forcing them on everybody!
Would it work out if I disconnected the drive, rebooted, then shut down and reconnect the drive again.
No.
I noticed before I followed your instructions, that any files I added to the drive after installing Vista were fully accessible (modifiable [if that's even a word, lol])
modifiable ... eh, I'll allow it!
The reason you could modify files you created from within Vista is because whenever you create a file you are set as the owner. Generally, the owner of the file or folder has full access to that item.
(If you go into one of those security dialogs, take a look at the permissions for CREATOR/OWNER ... this is what access the creator of that folder or file has to that folder or file)
Because your other files were created from Windows XP, the user account set as the creator doesn't match your user account in vista (not even if they are the same name). So the CREATOR/OWNER permission doesn't get applied to you ... instead, you get the USERS permission, which is generally read-only.
The opposite would happen to you in Windows XP if you were running as a normal user ... you would be able to modify the files you created from Windows XP, but you wouldn't be able to modify any files you created from Windows Vista.
You see, this problem isn't a Vista-specific problem. This is a NTFS permissions problem. And this is going to make running a multiboot with WinXP a nightmare for the techies out there that know nothing about NTFS.
So ... why hasn't this been a problem before?
Because 99% of people run in XP as Administrator, which pretty much negates ALL of the security that is built-in to NTFS.
Now that Vista makes it much harder to run as full Administrator, this is now a huge problem. Microsoft really needs to re-think the tools they have available for messing with permissions and make this easier!
- JB

"Jimmy Brush" wrote:

Well, if the files weren't created from your current account in Vista, and they are on a drive formatted with NTFS, then they will inherit permissions from the drive, which are (roughly): Administrators full access, Owner full access (which is not your account in Vista), and everyone else read access.
So ... writing to these files will be a problem due to the standard-user nature of the programs you run (at least the ones that don't prompt for admin permissions, which is ... oh, any program not included in Vista, and most that are)
Isn't living in a pseudo-admin world bliss!! ;)
The solution (as you mentioned) is to give full access to your user account in vista to the drive, which will propagate down to all the container files that don't have overriden permissions.
Unfortunately, Vista Beta 2 makes this nearly impossible ... but here's how:
First thing, we're gonna open an "administrator" instance of explorer. This gets rid of those nag screens every time you try to do something dangerous, as well as avoids some bugs where the nag screens don't come up when they should.
- Click start - Type explorer - Right-click windows explorer under programs when it comes up, then click run as administrator
So far, so good ... Now, on Vista formatted NTFS drives, it doesn't give permission to edit permissions to Administrators ... OK, I have been fairly supportive of the new security things so far... but THIS IS REDICULOUS! lol.
So, we have to get around that ...
- Browse to Computer - Right-click on the drive in question - Click Properties - Click Security Tab - Click Edit - Click Advanced - Click Owner - Click Administrators - Click OK - Click OK - Click OK
All right .. we now have ownership of the drive, which overrides NTFS settings and allows us to change permissions (Sheesh)...
- Right-click the drive - Click Properties - Click Security tab - Click Edit
Allright ... from this screen you should now be able to edit the NTFS security on your drive :)
- Click Add - Type your username and press enter - Select full control - Click OK
You will get a warning about changing security settings on a drive. Click Yes to continue. It will then propagate down the filesystem to every folder file that you have access to and that doesn't have overridden settings.
Well ... wasn't that fun! lol
Let me know how it went
- JB
- JB

I'm having difficulty with a drive from my old (nonfunctional) computer. The files I want are in My Documents on this drive and have high security settings (I was paranoid). When I try to change the permissions for these folders I am denied access.
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:

Well, if the files weren't created from your current account in Vista, and they are on a drive formatted with NTFS, then they will inherit permissions from the drive, which are (roughly): Administrators full access, Owner full access (which is not your account in Vista), and everyone else read access.
So ... writing to these files will be a problem due to the standard-user nature of the programs you run (at least the ones that don't prompt for admin permissions, which is ... oh, any program not included in Vista, and most that are)
Isn't living in a pseudo-admin world bliss!! ;)
The solution (as you mentioned) is to give full access to your user account in vista to the drive, which will propagate down to all the container files that don't have overriden permissions.
Unfortunately, Vista Beta 2 makes this nearly impossible ... but here's how:
First thing, we're gonna open an "administrator" instance of explorer. This gets rid of those nag screens every time you try to do something dangerous, as well as avoids some bugs where the nag screens don't come up when they should.
- Click start - Type explorer - Right-click windows explorer under programs when it comes up, then click run as administrator
So far, so good ... Now, on Vista formatted NTFS drives, it doesn't give permission to edit permissions to Administrators ... OK, I have been fairly supportive of the new security things so far... but THIS IS REDICULOUS! lol.
So, we have to get around that ...
- Browse to Computer - Right-click on the drive in question - Click Properties - Click Security Tab - Click Edit - Click Advanced - Click Owner - Click Administrators - Click OK - Click OK - Click OK
All right .. we now have ownership of the drive, which overrides NTFS settings and allows us to change permissions (Sheesh)...
- Right-click the drive - Click Properties - Click Security tab - Click Edit
Allright ... from this screen you should now be able to edit the NTFS security on your drive :)
- Click Add - Type your username and press enter - Select full control - Click OK
You will get a warning about changing security settings on a drive. Click Yes to continue. It will then propagate down the filesystem to every folder file that you have access to and that doesn't have overridden settings.
Well ... wasn't that fun! lol
Let me know how it went
- JB
- JB

Hi,
Did you encrypt them? If so, you need the encryption certificate or recovery agent from that installation in order to access them. Without them, the data will not be accessible.
-- Best of Luck,
Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
"dharmageek" wrote in message

I'm having difficulty with a drive from my old (nonfunctional) computer. The files I want are in My Documents on this drive and have high security settings (I was paranoid). When I try to change the permissions for these folders I am denied access.
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:
Well, if the files weren't created from your current account in Vista, and they are on a drive formatted with NTFS, then they will inherit permissions from the drive, which are (roughly): Administrators full access, Owner full access (which is not your account in Vista), and everyone else read access.
So ... writing to these files will be a problem due to the standard-user nature of the programs you run (at least the ones that don't prompt for admin permissions, which is ... oh, any program not included in Vista, and most that are)
Isn't living in a pseudo-admin world bliss!! ;)
The solution (as you mentioned) is to give full access to your user account in vista to the drive, which will propagate down to all the container files that don't have overriden permissions.
Unfortunately, Vista Beta 2 makes this nearly impossible ... but here's how:
First thing, we're gonna open an "administrator" instance of explorer. This gets rid of those nag screens every time you try to do something dangerous, as well as avoids some bugs where the nag screens don't come up when they should.
- Click start - Type explorer - Right-click windows explorer under programs when it comes up, then click run as administrator
So far, so good ... Now, on Vista formatted NTFS drives, it doesn't give permission to edit permissions to Administrators ... OK, I have been fairly supportive of the new security things so far... but THIS IS REDICULOUS! lol.
So, we have to get around that ...
- Browse to Computer - Right-click on the drive in question - Click Properties - Click Security Tab - Click Edit - Click Advanced - Click Owner - Click Administrators - Click OK - Click OK - Click OK
All right .. we now have ownership of the drive, which overrides NTFS settings and allows us to change permissions (Sheesh)...
- Right-click the drive - Click Properties - Click Security tab - Click Edit
Allright ... from this screen you should now be able to edit the NTFS security on your drive :)
- Click Add - Type your username and press enter - Select full control - Click OK
You will get a warning about changing security settings on a drive. Click Yes to continue. It will then propagate down the filesystem to every folder file that you have access to and that doesn't have overridden settings.
Well ... wasn't that fun! lol
Let me know how it went
- JB
- JB

Right-click folder, then, Properties | Security | Advanced | Owner -> set yourself as the owner of the whole drive. Then, try again.
-Frank
"dharmageek" wrote in message

I'm having difficulty with a drive from my old (nonfunctional) computer. The files I want are in My Documents on this drive and have high security settings (I was paranoid). When I try to change the permissions for these folders I am denied access.
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:
Well, if the files weren't created from your current account in Vista, and they are on a drive formatted with NTFS, then they will inherit permissions from the drive, which are (roughly): Administrators full access, Owner full access (which is not your account in Vista), and everyone else read access.
So ... writing to these files will be a problem due to the standard-user nature of the programs you run (at least the ones that don't prompt for admin permissions, which is ... oh, any program not included in Vista, and most that are)
Isn't living in a pseudo-admin world bliss!! ;)
The solution (as you mentioned) is to give full access to your user account in vista to the drive, which will propagate down to all the container files that don't have overriden permissions.
Unfortunately, Vista Beta 2 makes this nearly impossible ... but here's how:
First thing, we're gonna open an "administrator" instance of explorer. This gets rid of those nag screens every time you try to do something dangerous, as well as avoids some bugs where the nag screens don't come up when they should.
- Click start - Type explorer - Right-click windows explorer under programs when it comes up, then click run as administrator
So far, so good ... Now, on Vista formatted NTFS drives, it doesn't give permission to edit permissions to Administrators ... OK, I have been fairly supportive of the new security things so far... but THIS IS REDICULOUS! lol.
So, we have to get around that ...
- Browse to Computer - Right-click on the drive in question - Click Properties - Click Security Tab - Click Edit - Click Advanced - Click Owner - Click Administrators - Click OK - Click OK - Click OK
All right .. we now have ownership of the drive, which overrides NTFS settings and allows us to change permissions (Sheesh)...
- Right-click the drive - Click Properties - Click Security tab - Click Edit
Allright ... from this screen you should now be able to edit the NTFS security on your drive :)
- Click Add - Type your username and press enter - Select full control - Click OK
You will get a warning about changing security settings on a drive. Click Yes to continue. It will then propagate down the filesystem to every folder file that you have access to and that doesn't have overridden settings.
Well ... wasn't that fun! lol
Let me know how it went
- JB
- JB

The ownership does not propagate down to all the files and folders one the drive. I have to go through and get control of each folder and file individually. I'm trying to find an easier way to do this.
"Frankster" wrote:

Right-click folder, then, Properties | Security | Advanced | Owner -> set yourself as the owner of the whole drive. Then, try again.
-Frank
"dharmageek" wrote in message I'm having difficulty with a drive from my old (nonfunctional) computer. The files I want are in My Documents on this drive and have high security settings (I was paranoid). When I try to change the permissions for these folders I am denied access.
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:
Well, if the files weren't created from your current account in Vista, and they are on a drive formatted with NTFS, then they will inherit permissions from the drive, which are (roughly): Administrators full access, Owner full access (which is not your account in Vista), and everyone else read access.
So ... writing to these files will be a problem due to the standard-user nature of the programs you run (at least the ones that don't prompt for admin permissions, which is ... oh, any program not included in Vista, and most that are)
Isn't living in a pseudo-admin world bliss!! ;)
The solution (as you mentioned) is to give full access to your user account in vista to the drive, which will propagate down to all the container files that don't have overriden permissions.
Unfortunately, Vista Beta 2 makes this nearly impossible ... but here's how:
First thing, we're gonna open an "administrator" instance of explorer. This gets rid of those nag screens every time you try to do something dangerous, as well as avoids some bugs where the nag screens don't come up when they should.
- Click start - Type explorer - Right-click windows explorer under programs when it comes up, then click run as administrator
So far, so good ... Now, on Vista formatted NTFS drives, it doesn't give permission to edit permissions to Administrators ... OK, I have been fairly supportive of the new security things so far... but THIS IS REDICULOUS! lol.
So, we have to get around that ...
- Browse to Computer - Right-click on the drive in question - Click Properties - Click Security Tab - Click Edit - Click Advanced - Click Owner - Click Administrators - Click OK - Click OK - Click OK
All right .. we now have ownership of the drive, which overrides NTFS settings and allows us to change permissions (Sheesh)...
- Right-click the drive - Click Properties - Click Security tab - Click Edit
Allright ... from this screen you should now be able to edit the NTFS security on your drive :)
- Click Add - Type your username and press enter - Select full control - Click OK
You will get a warning about changing security settings on a drive. Click Yes to continue. It will then propagate down the filesystem to every folder file that you have access to and that doesn't have overridden settings.
Well ... wasn't that fun! lol
Let me know how it went
- JB
- JB

Checkmark the box that says.... "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects".
-Frank
"dharmageek" wrote in message

The ownership does not propagate down to all the files and folders one the drive. I have to go through and get control of each folder and file individually. I'm trying to find an easier way to do this.
"Frankster" wrote:
Right-click folder, then, Properties | Security | Advanced | Owner -> set yourself as the owner of the whole drive. Then, try again.
-Frank
"dharmageek" wrote in message I'm having difficulty with a drive from my old (nonfunctional) computer. The files I want are in My Documents on this drive and have high security settings (I was paranoid). When I try to change the permissions for these folders I am denied access.
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:
Well, if the files weren't created from your current account in Vista, and they are on a drive formatted with NTFS, then they will inherit permissions from the drive, which are (roughly): Administrators full access, Owner full access (which is not your account in Vista), and everyone else read access.
So ... writing to these files will be a problem due to the standard-user nature of the programs you run (at least the ones that don't prompt for admin permissions, which is ... oh, any program not included in Vista, and most that are)
Isn't living in a pseudo-admin world bliss!! ;)
The solution (as you mentioned) is to give full access to your user account in vista to the drive, which will propagate down to all the container files that don't have overriden permissions.
Unfortunately, Vista Beta 2 makes this nearly impossible ... but here's how:
First thing, we're gonna open an "administrator" instance of explorer. This gets rid of those nag screens every time you try to do something dangerous, as well as avoids some bugs where the nag screens don't come up when they should.
- Click start - Type explorer - Right-click windows explorer under programs when it comes up, then click run as administrator
So far, so good ... Now, on Vista formatted NTFS drives, it doesn't give permission to edit permissions to Administrators ... OK, I have been fairly supportive of the new security things so far... but THIS IS REDICULOUS! lol.
So, we have to get around that ...
- Browse to Computer - Right-click on the drive in question - Click Properties - Click Security Tab - Click Edit - Click Advanced - Click Owner - Click Administrators - Click OK - Click OK - Click OK
All right .. we now have ownership of the drive, which overrides NTFS settings and allows us to change permissions (Sheesh)...
- Right-click the drive - Click Properties - Click Security tab - Click Edit
Allright ... from this screen you should now be able to edit the NTFS security on your drive :)
- Click Add - Type your username and press enter - Select full control - Click OK
You will get a warning about changing security settings on a drive. Click Yes to continue. It will then propagate down the filesystem to every folder file that you have access to and that doesn't have overridden settings.
Well ... wasn't that fun! lol
Let me know how it went
- JB
- JB

Then go get a cup of coffee, as this takes a while to propogate.
-- Best of Luck,
Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
"Frankster" wrote in message

Checkmark the box that says.... "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects".
-Frank
"dharmageek" wrote in message The ownership does not propagate down to all the files and folders one the drive. I have to go through and get control of each folder and file individually. I'm trying to find an easier way to do this.
"Frankster" wrote:
Right-click folder, then, Properties | Security | Advanced | Owner - set yourself as the owner of the whole drive. Then, try again.
-Frank
"dharmageek" wrote in message I'm having difficulty with a drive from my old (nonfunctional) computer. The files I want are in My Documents on this drive and have high security settings (I was paranoid). When I try to change the permissions for these folders I am denied access.
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:
Well, if the files weren't created from your current account in Vista, and they are on a drive formatted with NTFS, then they will inherit permissions from the drive, which are (roughly): Administrators full access, Owner full access (which is not your account in Vista), and everyone else read access.
So ... writing to these files will be a problem due to the standard-user nature of the programs you run (at least the ones that don't prompt for admin permissions, which is ... oh, any program not included in Vista, and most that are)
Isn't living in a pseudo-admin world bliss!! ;)
The solution (as you mentioned) is to give full access to your user account in vista to the drive, which will propagate down to all the container files that don't have overriden permissions.
Unfortunately, Vista Beta 2 makes this nearly impossible ... but here's how:
First thing, we're gonna open an "administrator" instance of explorer. This gets rid of those nag screens every time you try to do something dangerous, as well as avoids some bugs where the nag screens don't come up when they should.
- Click start - Type explorer - Right-click windows explorer under programs when it comes up, then click run as administrator
So far, so good ... Now, on Vista formatted NTFS drives, it doesn't give permission to edit permissions to Administrators ... OK, I have been fairly supportive of the new security things so far... but THIS IS REDICULOUS! lol.
So, we have to get around that ...
- Browse to Computer - Right-click on the drive in question - Click Properties - Click Security Tab - Click Edit - Click Advanced - Click Owner - Click Administrators - Click OK - Click OK - Click OK
All right .. we now have ownership of the drive, which overrides NTFS settings and allows us to change permissions (Sheesh)...
- Right-click the drive - Click Properties - Click Security tab - Click Edit
Allright ... from this screen you should now be able to edit the NTFS security on your drive :)
- Click Add - Type your username and press enter - Select full control - Click OK
You will get a warning about changing security settings on a drive. Click Yes to continue. It will then propagate down the filesystem to every folder file that you have access to and that doesn't have overridden settings.
Well ... wasn't that fun! lol
Let me know how it went
- JB
- JB

Unable to get read only off files on vista machine ,have tried everyway possible , says its done it , go and check and read only is back on.
able to read files on vista from xp ,have shared,permissioned everything known to man,but still unable to write to directories or files on vista. thanks