Permissions of my C Drive

[_danielpwils01]

Ok, so long story short, I was having trouble creating a new Steam downloads folder on my C Drive so I thought changing my Permissions would help. Anyways, I right clicked on the drive, clicked on Properties, clicked on Security, and then I clicked on the Administrator tab. I proceeded to check all of the boxes and I applied. Well, after testing to downloads in Steam, I saw that what I did had really made no difference and I had found the actual problem and fixed it. I then thought it might be a good idea to reverse what I had done in the Security Settings of my C Drive. So I went back in to properties, clicked on Security, clicked on Administrator, unchecked the boxed for permissions, and hit ok. After I hit OK, it popped up with a few different warning signs, such as I might not be able to access certain files, this decision could compromise the security of my Computer, etc. Basically, it just said what I had done was NOT a good idea, after I already unchecked the permissions. After it was done, the Administrators tab completely disappeared and I couldn't access any of the other permissions anymore. I know this is a very lengthy question, I am just not sure what I have done, and I want to restore it to how it was before. I get easily worried about these types of things. Is this a big deal? Should I still use my PC in the meantime? Any information would be helpful.

 

[dark_lord69]

"After it was done, the Administrators tab completely disappeared and I couldn't access any of the other permissions anymore."
You removed too many permissions including the ability to look at and change file permissions.

"Is this a big deal? Should I still use my PC in the meantime?"
Yes, you can still use your computer. It's not a huge issue. It just means that currently anyone logged into your computer with admin rights will not be able to change the permissions on those files/folders.

You can fix this though:
1. Go to the parent folder of the one you changed permissions, right click and go to properties > "Security"

Example: Lets say you changed permissions on this folder C:\program files\allgames\game saves
The parent folder I'm talking about is:
C:\program files\allgames
(See how it's one level closer to the root of C: )

2. Click "Advanced"
3. Click "Change Permissions..."
4. The key box that you need to check is "Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object"
5. Click "Apply"

fixed.

 

[_danielpwils01]

"After it was done, the Administrators tab completely disappeared and I couldn't access any of the other permissions anymore."
You removed too many permissions including the ability to look at and change file permissions.

"Is this a big deal? Should I still use my PC in the meantime?"
Yes, you can still use your computer. It's not a huge issue. It just means that currently anyone logged into your computer with admin rights will not be able to change the permissions on those files/folders.

You can fix this though:
1. Go to the parent folder of the one you changed permissions, right click and go to properties > "Security"

Example: Lets say you changed permissions on this folder C:\program files\allgames\game saves
The parent folder I'm talking about is:
C:\program files\allgames
(See how it's one level closer to the root of C: )

2. Click "Advanced"
3. Click "Change Permissions..."
4. The key box that you need to check is "Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object"
5. Click "Apply"

fixed.

Wait so how exactly does this work? I changed permissions to my whole C Drive. I just right clicked on the Drive. The administrator tab doesn't show up in the security of the actual Drive, but it shows up in the separate files within the drive.

 

[Colif]

Messing with permissions on C can have disastrous effects. Did you remove all permissions from admin or just the ones you had added?

Sounds like you removed all permissions for the Admin account? I don't exactly know what results are but it could mean PC won't even boot as it doesn't have permission to do some things.

The only real way to fix it is a fresh install as it can't even run reset commands with the permissions it has.

Copy anything off C you can't afford to lose. If you run into permissions problems, you can try making this on another PC: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/
Also, on another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB

change boot order in BIOS so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
follow this guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

when you reach the screen asking for licence, click "I don't have a key" and win 10 will continue to install and reactivate once finished

On the screen where you choose where to install win 10, if it gives you an error about GPT drives, delete all the partitions on the hdd and press next. If it still gives error, cancel out of the installer and restart PC and start installer again, it will accept next on that screen this time (some PC just need a restart here)

 

[_danielpwils01]

Messing with permissions on C can have disastrous effects. Did you remove all permissions from admin or just the ones you had added?

Sounds like you removed all permissions for the Admin account? I don't exactly know what results are but it could mean PC won't even boot as it doesn't have permission to do some things.

The only real way to fix it is a fresh install as it can't even run reset commands with the permissions it has.

Copy anything off C you can't afford to lose. If you run into permissions problems, you can try making this on another PC: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/
Also, on another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB

change boot order in BIOS so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
follow this guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

when you reach the screen asking for licence, click "I don't have a key" and win 10 will continue to install and reactivate once finished

On the screen where you choose where to install win 10, if it gives you an error about GPT drives, delete all the partitions on the hdd and press next. If it still gives error, cancel out of the installer and restart PC and start installer again, it will accept next on that screen this time (some PC just need a restart here)

I can still boot and everything seems to be working fine. I am fairly certain I only unchecked the ones I had checked, but its very possible I unchecked more. Just to be safe, would restoring Windows to an earlier point work?

 

[dark_lord69]

"I changed permissions to my whole C Drive."
*Slaps you on the face*
NO!

If you removed your admin rights from the root of the C drive...
I think you may be forced to re-install Windows to get it back.
but... I would keep using windows as normal and see if any programs start having issues. (Most of them don't save to the root of C)

 

[Colif]

If you only removed the ones you added, you might be okay.

As above says, just use PC and see if it behaves. You might be fine... but I wouldn't mess with permissions on C. OR touch those of trustedInstaller at all, but that is another story.

What is problem with Steam?

 

[_danielpwils01]

"I changed permissions to my whole C Drive."
*Slaps you on the face*
NO!

If you removed your admin rights from the root of the C drive...
I think you may be forced to re-install Windows to get it back.
but... I would keep using windows as normal and see if any programs start having issues. (Most of them don't save to the root of C)

If worst comes to worst, I can reinstall Windows. I would rather have Software issues than Hardware issues. But as I said before, I click on the properties and security of my C Drive, and the Administrator Tab doesnt show up and I cant edit anything, but everything INSIDE my C Drive the Administrator Tab still shows up and I can change the permissions. The ONLY thing I cant change inside my C Drive (which I remember seeing this in the warnings) is that I cant change my AMD Relive/Software that I downloaded with my GPU. Thats it. Wait theres a couple more but thats it lol.

 

[Colif]

can you make a new folder on C drive?

showing hidden files reveals very little on C so you might be all right

 

[dark_lord69]

can you make a new folder on C drive?

That was my next question.

 

[_danielpwils01]

can you make a new folder on C drive?

showing hidden files reveals very little on C so you might be all right

I just restored my Windows to an earlier date and it did nothing. And to answer your question, yes I can create a new folder

 

[_danielpwils01]

Are there any more tests I can do that to test my authority as Admin?

 

[Colif]

its not really your authority, its more what can system do.

Just use PC as normal and if anything weird like windows updates not working happens, you may need to reinstall windows to fix it.

 

[_danielpwils01]

its not really your authority, its more what can system do.

Just use PC as normal and if anything weird like windows updates not working happens, you may need to reinstall windows to fix it.

So did I mess anything up by just doing a quick system restore to an earlier Windows? I know restores to earlier dates shouldn't harm anything. I'm just very inexperienced with software and get paranoid when it comes to things like entering command prompts and restoring Windows. Ill just use it like normal until it affects something.

 

[Colif]

its not really your authority, its more what can system do.

Just use PC as normal and if anything weird like windows updates not working happens, you may need to reinstall windows to fix it.

So did I mess anything up by just doing a quick system restore to an earlier Windows? I know restores to earlier dates shouldn't harm anything. I'm just very inexperienced with software and get paranoid when it comes to things like entering command prompts and restoring Windows. Ill just use it like normal until it affects something.

only things system restore seem to mess up are anti virus programs. You should be okay... I don't know if it stores the permissions of system users in those settings. It might, or they might be created as users and not touched.

just use PC as normal unless it effects something, it might not at all.

 

[_danielpwils01]

its not really your authority, its more what can system do.

Just use PC as normal and if anything weird like windows updates not working happens, you may need to reinstall windows to fix it.

So did I mess anything up by just doing a quick system restore to an earlier Windows? I know restores to earlier dates shouldn't harm anything. I'm just very inexperienced with software and get paranoid when it comes to things like entering command prompts and restoring Windows. Ill just use it like normal until it affects something.

only things system restore seem to mess up are anti virus programs. You should be okay... I don't know if it stores the permissions of system users in those settings. It might, or they might be created as users and not touched.

just use PC as normal unless it effects something, it might not at all.

Thank you for answering my question and helping to put my mind at ease at least a little while longer lol.