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Resetting NTFS files security and permission in Windows 7 | lallous' lab

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Tags: howto windows windows-7 ntfs microsoft resetting-ntfs-file-security-permissions-file-security-permissions lallousx86.wordpress.com
Clipped on: 2014-01-11

Resetting NTFS files security and permission in Windows 7

Resetting NTFS files security and permission on Windows 7 RC
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I was running Vista with two NTFS partitions (OS and DATA), then formatted first partition and install Windows 7 RC.
The second partition (DATA) had some security settings on some files and folders.
After Win 7 was installed, some files on drive D were not accessible anymore and I was getting “Access Denied”
I tried to right-click on the folders that were not accessible and changed their owner and changed permissions but still some folders were still inaccessible not matter what I did.
Just before giving up, I remembered that since Windows NT, there was a tool named “cacls” that allows one to display or change ACLs (access control lists).
Ok, to make a long story short, on Windows 7 it is called “icalcs”.
So to reset files permissions:
1. Run “cmd” as Administrator
2. Go to the drive or folder in question, for example:
CD /D D:
3. To reset all the files permissions, type:
icacls * /T /Q /C /RESET
4. And that’s it!
After that, the file’s permissions were reset and I could access them back again.
cacls is a handy tool to change permissions of files en-mass.

 

 

UPDATE: I have released a new graphical user interface utility to reset the files permissions. Try it out.

 

I was running Vista with two NTFS partitions (C: and D:), then formatted C: partition and installed Windows 7 RC.

The second partition (D:) had some files security set on files and folders.

After Win 7 was installed, some files on drive D: were not accessible anymore and I was getting “Access Denied”

I tried to right-click/properties on the folders that were not accessible and changed their owner and changed permissions but still some folders were still inaccessible not matter what I did.

After some research, it turned out the tool “cacls” that allows one to display or change ACLs (access control lists) can help to reset ACLs.

In Windows 7 it is called “icalcs”. To reset files permissions:

1. Run “cmd” as Administrator

2. Go to the drive or folder in question, for example:

CD /D D:

3. To reset all the files permissions, type:

icacls * /T /Q /C /RESET

4. And that’s it!

After that, the files permissions were reset and I could access them back again.

Update:

It is possible that “icacls” might fail. For that try to take ownership of the files first.

Just before Step (3), please type the following command:

takeown /R /F *

cacls is a handy tool to change permissions of files “en masse”.

Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318754