How to give ownership to TrustedInstaller on Windows 10
Administrative rights on Windows 10 allow you to change a lot of critically important things on the system. Still, if you dig deep enough you will find that even admin rights aren’t enough to access certain files and folders, or to make certain changes. These files and folders are owned by TrustedInstaller and it takes precedence over admin accounts. Still, for when you’re absolutely sure you know what you’re doing, you can always change the ownership of a file or folder to a different account. If you’ve done that and need to give ownership to TrustedInstaller now that you’re done making your changes, you might be a little stuck since it’s not a user account. Here’s what you need to do to give ownership back to TrustedInstaller.
Ownership to TrustedInstaller
This same process works for whatever item you need to change ownership for. In this article, we’re going to use the example of a registry key. It was originally owned by TrustedInstaller and ownership was changed to a different account.
Right-click the key, and select permissions. For files or folders, you need to right-click it and select Properties. On the Properties window, go to the Security tab and click the Advanced button at the bottom. In both cases, you will see the window pictured below. Click the Change button next to the Owner account.
In the window that opens, you need to enter the following in the Enter the object name to select field;
NT SERVICE\ TrustedInstaller
Click Check Names, and then OK. Click Apply on the previous window, then Ok, and close the Properties window. The ownership will be reverted to TrustedInstaller.
If you ever need to take ownership away from TrustedInstaller, you should either make a note of the change that you’ve made, or revert it as soon as possible. The change may result in certain features no longer working, or no longer working properly. In such cases, the troubleshooter on Windows 10 doesn’t really manage to find problems with file or folder ownership. It’s rather basic though it still gets the job done for common bugs.
If an app ever asks to take ownership away from TrustedInstaller, make sure that it is required in order for the app to do what it needs to, and that the app is trustworthy. Normally, apps never need to take ownership of files or folders. You may have to run an app with admin rights but that is still not the same as transferring file ownership.
