How to Take Ownership of a Folder or File in Windows

It’s not often but every once in a while, you might need to take ownership of a folder or a file so that you can modify or delete it. Generally, when you create a file or folder, it belongs to that specific user. You can read, modify, and delete those files and folders as needed. The same is true for system files and folders. i.e., all the important system files and folders belong to a special system user account called Trusted Installer. Even as an administrator, you cannot modify or delete files and folders belonging to the Trusted Installer.

However, what if you want to modify a system file or folder? For example, maybe you are encountering the infamous Access Denied error due to folder restrictions, managing old backup files, migrating user data, etc. Whatever the reason may be, in those cases, you can take ownership of that specific file or folder and make changes as required. In this tutorial, I will show the exact steps on how to do it. Let’s get started. Let’s get started.

Before You Start

• You need administrator rights to take ownership of any folder or file.
• Back up your computer and/or create a restore point just to be on the safe side. If anything goes wrong, you can simply restore your computer to a known good state.
• The steps below are tested to work on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Steps to Take Ownership of a Folder or File

1. Open the File Explorer using the “Windows key + I” shortcut.
2. Right-click on the file or folder.
3. Select the “Properties” option.
4. Go to the “Security” tab.
5. Click on the “Advanced” button.
6. Click on “Change” next to Owner.
7. Press the “Advanced” button.
8. Click “Find Now.”
9. Select your user account under “Search results.”
10. Click “OK“.
11. Click “OK” in the “Select User or Group” window.
12. Press “Apply” and “OK“.
13. Select your user account under “Group or user names”.
14. Click “Edit“.
15. Select your user account under “Group or user names”.
16. Select the “Full Control” checkbox under the “Allow” column.
17. Ensure the entire “Deny” column is unchecked.
18. Click “Apply” and “OK“.
19. Click “OK” in the main window.
20. With that, the ownership of the file or folder is transferred to your user account.

Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)

First thing, find the file or folder from which you want to take ownership, right-click on it, and select the “Properties” option. In the “Properties” window, go to the “Security” tab and click the “Advanced” button.

In the “Advanced Security Settings” window, click the “Change” option next to the “Owner” heading.

To take ownership, you need the proper user name of your account. To get that, click the “Advanced” button.

Next, click the “Find Now” button.

Select the user account under the “Search results” section, and click “OK“.

The above action adds the user account to the blank field. Click the “OK” button in the “Select User or Group” window to save changes.

Click on the “Apply” and “OK” buttons in the “Advanced Security Settings” window.

Note: If you are taking ownership of a folder, don’t forget to select the “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects” checkbox under the “Owner” section. This ensures all the files and sub-folders in the target folder have the same ownership.

After taking ownership, you need to make sure your user account has proper permissions. To do that, select your user account under the “Group or user names” section and click the “Edit” button.

Now, select your user account at the top and select the “Full Control” checkbox under the “Allow” column. Next, make sure that the entire “Deny” column is unchecked, and click the “OK” button.

Click the “OK” button in the main window.

That is it. With that, you’ve successfully taken ownership and full control of the file or folder. From now on, you can modify or delete it as needed.

Wrapping Up — Taking Ownership of a File or Folder

As you can see, while the entire taking ownership process is a bit long-winded, it is fairly. Just make sure to select your user account and apply the appropriate permissions and you are good to go. Now, if you don’t want to go through the manual route or you are in situations where you need to take ownership of multiple files or folders, you can add the take ownership option to the File Explorer’s right-click menu. Once added, select the option in the right-click context menu instantly gives you the ownership.

Optionally, you can also restore the Trusted Installer as the owner once you are done making changes. That way, you don’t have to worry about accidental changes in the future.

If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to help.