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How to Take Ownership of a Folder or File in Windows 10
If you don’t want to invest in third-party software, try using File Explorer
3 min. read
Updated onOctober 30, 2023
updated onOctober 30, 2023
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Key notes
In order to access any file or folder on Windows 10, you have to have the appropriate privileges. Unfortunately, certain issues can occur if you don’t have the privilege to edit certain files and folders, and this is when you have to take ownership of that folder or file.
Taking ownership of a certain folder isn’t that complex, and today we’re going to show you how to do it.
How do I take ownership of a file or folder?
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Right-click the folder you want to gain access to and choosePropertiesfrom the menu that opens.
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WhenthePropertieswindow opens, navigate toSecuritytab. In the group or user name section you can see the list of users and groups on your computer that can access this folder.
3.Click theAdvancedbutton.
- When theAdvanced Security Settingswindow opens, check theOwnersection at the top.
5.ClickChangein order to modify the owner of the folder.
6.Select User or Groupwindow will now open. Click onAdvanced.
If you know the name of the group or the user, you can just enter it in the Enter the object name to select section and clickCheck NamesandOKand skip to step 9.
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ClickFind Nowbutton and the list of all groups anduserson your computer should appear in Search results.
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Select the name or the group from the list and click OK. In our example we selected Users group, but you may select a group or a user that you wish to assign ownership to.
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ClickOKagain.
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CheckReplace owner on subcontainers and objectsto change the owner for all subfolders in this folder.
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SelectApplyandOKto save changes.
Certain issues onWindows 10might require you to take ownership of a file or folder on Windows 10. When you have ownership of it, you can modify it however you want.
What to do to gain full control over a folder?
Now you have taken ownership of the folder, but you might not have full control over it, meaning that you cannot make any changes such as modifying the files or folders. To change that, do the following:
Alternatively, you can use third-party solutions such as TakeOwnershipEx to take ownership over a certain file or folder. To do that, you can do the following:
Taking ownership over a folder isn’t as hard as it seems, and sometimes you might have to take ownership of a specific file or folder or even a registry key in order to fix a problem onWindows 10.
We hope our little guide was useful to you and that you can now easily take ownership of certain files and folders. Besides, you can alwaysadd comments to folders in Windows 11for better identification and to state the purpose.
If you have any questions or know another way to take ownership of a file or a folder, tell us in the comments section below and we will be sure to check them out.
More about the topics:File Explorer,Windows 10 Guides
Milan Stanojevic
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He’s a PC enthusiast and he spends most of his time learning about computers and technology.
Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s one of the Troubleshooting experts in our worldwide team, specializing in Windows errors & software issues.
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Milan Stanojevic
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s specialized in Windows errors & software issues.
