How do I fix folder permissions?
SummaryWhen you try to access or work with files and folders in Windows, you experience one or more of the following issues: Show
ResolutionTo resolve a particular issue, follow the steps for the issue that best describes your situation. Use the method for your version of Windows. Note You may not always receive an “Access Denied” error message for these kinds of issues. If particular steps do not resolve the issue, try a different set of steps. Cause An "Access Denied" error message can occur for one or more of the following reasons:
Resolution Windows 8 You may not have ownership of a file or folder If you recently upgraded your computer to Windows 8 from an earlier version of Windows, some of your account information may have changed. Therefore, you may no longer have ownership of some files or folders. You might be able to resolve this issue by restoring your ownership of the files and folders. To take ownership of a file or folder, follow these steps:
You may not have the appropriate permissions Issues that you experience when you try to access files and folders may be related to permissions. Permissions are rules that determine whether you can access or change files and folders. To check permissions on a file or folder, follow these steps:
To open a file, you have to have the Read permission. To change the permissions of a file or folder, follow these steps. Important You must be logged on as an administrator to change permissions on files and folders.
The file or folder may be encrypted Encryption can help protect files and folders from unwanted access. You cannot open an encrypted file or folder without the certificate that was used to encrypt it. To determine whether a file or folder is encrypted, follow these steps:
If the Encrypt contents to secure data check box is selected, you have to have the certificate that was used to encrypt the file or folder to be able to open it. In this situation, you should obtain the certificate from the person who created or encrypted the file or folder, or have that person decrypt the file or folder. Windows 7 You may not have ownership of a file or folder If you recently upgraded your computer to Windows 7 from an earlier version of Windows, some of your account information may have changed. Therefore, you may no longer have ownership of some files or folders. You might be able to resolve this issue by restoring your ownership of the files and folders. To take ownership of a file or a folder, follow these steps:
You may not have the appropriate permissions Issues that you experience when you try to access files and folders may be related to permissions. Permissions are rules that determine whether you can access or change files and folders. To determine the permissions of the file or folder, follow these steps:
To open a file, you have to have the Read permission. To change permissions on a file or folder, follow these steps. Important You must be logged on as an administrator to change permissions on files and folders.
For more information about permissions, see What are permissions?. The file or folder may be encrypted Encryption can help protect files and folders from unwanted access. You cannot open an encrypted file or folder without the certificate that was used to encrypt it. To determine whether a file or folder is encrypted, follow these steps:
If the Encrypt contents to secure data check box is selected, you have to have the certificate that was used to encrypt the file or folder to be able to open it. You should obtain the certificate from the person who created or encrypted the file or folder, or have that person decrypt the file or folder. For more information, see Import or export certificates and private keys. Cause A problem that prevents you from accessing or working with files and folders can occur for one or more of the following reasons:
Resolution Windows 8 You may not have ownership of a file or folder If you recently upgraded your computer to Windows 8 from an earlier version of Windows, some of your account information may have changed. Therefore, you may no longer have ownership of some files or folders. You might be able to resolve this issue by restoring your ownership of the files and folders. To take ownership of a file or folder, follow these steps:
You may not have the appropriate permissions Issues that you experience when you try to access files and folders may be related to permissions. Permissions are rules that determine whether you can access or change files and folders. To check permissions on a file or a folder, follow these steps:
To open a file, you have to have the Read permission. To change the permissions of a file or folder, follow these steps. Important You must be logged on as an administrator to change permissions on files and folders.
For more information about permissions, see What are permissions?. The file or folder may be encrypted Encryption can help protect files and folders from unwanted access. You cannot open an encrypted file or folder without the certificate that was used to encrypt it. To determine whether a file or folder is encrypted, follow these steps:
If the Encrypt contents to secure data check box is selected, you have to have the certificate that was used to encrypt the file or folder to be able to open it. In this situation, you should obtain the certificate from the person who created or encrypted the file or folder, or have that person decrypt the file or folder. The file or folder may be corrupted Files can become corrupted for several reasons. The most common reason is that you have a file open when your computer crashes or loses power. Most corrupted files cannot be repaired. In this situation, you should either delete the file or restore the file from a backup copy. For more information about corrupted files and how to fix them, see Corrupted files: frequently asked questions. Your local user profile may be corrupted Occasionally, Windows might not read your local user profile correctly. This may prevent you from accessing files and folders. In this situation, you may have to use a new local user profile. To create the profile, you must first create a local user account. When the new account is created, the profile is also created. To create a local user account, follow these steps:
Windows 7 You may not have ownership of a file or folder If you recently upgraded your computer to Windows 7 from an earlier version of Windows, some of your account information may have changed. Therefore, you may no longer have ownership of some files or folders. You might be able to resolve this issue by restoring your ownership of the files and folders. To take ownership of a file or a folder, follow these steps:
You may not have the appropriate permissions Issues that you experience when you try to access files and folders may be related to permissions. Permissions are rules that determine whether you can access or change files and folders. To check permissions on a file or a folder, follow these steps:
To open a file, you have to have the Read permission. To change permissions on a file or folder, follow these steps. Important You must be logged on as an administrator to change permissions on files and folders.
For more information about permissions, see What are permissions?. The file or folder may be encrypted Encryption can help protect files and folders from unwanted access. You cannot open an encrypted file or folder without the certificate that was used to encrypt it. To determine whether a file or folder is encrypted, follow these steps:
If the Encrypt contents to secure data check box is selected, you have to have the certificate that was used to encrypt the file or folder to be able to open it. You should obtain the certificate from the person who created the file. For more information, see Import or export certificates and private keys. The file or folder may be corrupted Files can become corrupted for several reasons. The most common reason is that you have a file open when your computer crashes or loses power. Most corrupted files cannot be repaired. In this situation, you should either delete the file or restore the file from a backup copy. For more information about corrupted files and how to fix them, see Corrupted files: frequently asked questions. Your user profile may be corrupted Occasionally, Windows might not read your local user profile correctly. This may prevent you from accessing files and folders. In this situation, you may have to use a new local user profile. To create the profile, you must first create a local user account. When the new account is created, the profile is also created. For more information about how to create user profiles, see Fix a corrupted user profile. After the new user profile is created, you can copy your existing user files to the new profile so that you can access them. Cause Problems that prevent you from accessing files and folders after you upgrade to a new version of Windows can occur for one or more of the following reasons:
Resolution Windows 8 You may not have ownership of a file or folder If you recently upgraded your computer to Windows 8 from an earlier version of Windows, some of your account information may have changed. Therefore, you may no longer have ownership of some files and folders. You might be able to resolve this issue by restoring your ownership of the files and folders. To take ownership of a file or a folder, follow these steps:
You have to recover files from the Windows.old folder If you recently upgraded your computer to Windows 8 from an earlier version of Windows, and you did not reformat the hard disk, you might still be able to access your old files from the Windows.old folder. To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix it button or link. In the File Download dialog box, click Run, and then follow the steps in the Fix it Wizard. If you prefer to fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section. Fix it for me Notes
Let me fix it myself To manually retrieve the files, follow these steps:
For more information about how to recover data from an earlier version of Windows, see Recover lost or deleted files. Windows 7 You may not have ownership of a file or folder If you recently upgraded your computer to Windows 7 from an earlier version of Windows, some of your account information may have changed. Therefore, you may no longer have ownership of some files and folders. You might be able to resolve this issue by restoring your ownership of the files and folders. To take ownership of a file or a folder, follow these steps:
You may have to recover files from the Windows.old folder If you recently upgraded your computer to Windows 7 from an earlier version of Windows, and you did not reformat your hard disk, you might still be able to access your old files from the Windows.old folder. To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix it button or link. In the File Download dialog box, click Run, and then follow the steps in the Fix it Wizard.If you prefer to fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section. Fix it for me Notes
Let me fix it myself To manually retrieve the files, follow these steps:
For more information about how to recover data from an earlier version of Windows, see Recover lost or deleted files. |