Easy Ways to Fix “You Don’t Have Permission to Access this folder”
“You Don’t Have Permission to Access this folder” is a fairly common error. Many users have faced this issue after upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10. The error pops up when you are trying to access a particular folder or file. Due to this error, Windows users are not able to access, delete, or rename their files and folders.
Fix: You Don’t Have Permission to Access this folder issue
The “You Don’t Have Permission to Access this folder” issue is apparently due to specific changes that take place when upgrading to Windows 10. Furthermore, you might be using a legacy user feature in Windows 7. This feature is not available on Windows 10, and thus you will end up getting the above error. The best way to solve this error is by rightly reassigning folder and file ownership.
1. Grant Folder/Files permission to everyone
In this method, we will tell how you can get permission to access a folder. The solution involves granting permission to everyone. Follow the steps below to grant access to a folder,
- Open File Explorer and right-click on the affected folder.
- Select Properties.
- Click on Security Tab, and click Edit.
- Click on Add for adding a new user.
- Type “Everyone” in the box titled “Enter the object name to select”. Then click, OK.
- Now click on Everyone under Group or user names.
- Check the Allow box next to Full Control and click on Ok to apply the changes.
- Now try opening the affected folder. If you can do so, then the problem is resolved if not proceed to the next step.
2. Use Command Prompt to take Ownership of the Windows root folder.
The above method is useful if only one or two folders are not accessible. However, it is very cumbersome to grant files permission to several affected folders. Thankfully, you can use Command Prompt to take ownership of the Windows root folder.
- Open Search by pressing Windows Key+S keyboard shortcut.
- Type Command Prompt.
- Right-click on Command Prompt from the result.
- Select “Run as Administrator ” from the context menu.
- After opening Command Prompt, run this command.
takeown /F “full path of folder or drive” /A /R /D Y
- Restart your computer for the changes to take place.
Conclusion
You should now be able to open all files and folders on Windows 10 without the “You Don’t Have Permission to Access this folder.” The first method mentioned in this article is useful if the access is restricted for a small number of folders. However, the second method is advisable when access to multiple folders is restricted.
It worked !!! Thank you!