How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP

[tonyblair]

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.
  
• 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.

Notes: Credits and thanks to "WinXPTutor's XP Resources" and to demoneye.