If you are getting Access Denied error in Windows 7 then you are not alone. This error is quite common and occurs due to permission issues. There are some files and folders that are meant only for Administrators to access, if you are not an administrator then you cannot access it and will instead get Access Denied error.
To enhance security Microsoft has even denied Administrators access to some folders. The way to fix this error is to give yourself permission to access the file or folder. This can be done by going to Properties and then navigating to Security tab.
Remember that we are taking about two different things – Permission and Ownership. By giving all permission to your account, you will be able to get complete control of a folder. But in some cases only the owner can assign the permission for various users, we will also cover how you can change the ownership.
Changing Ownership
First, lets talk about ownership. To change ownership, right-click any file or folder, select Properties, and go to Security tab. Now click the Advanced button(shown in the screenshot below).
Next, you need to go to Owner tab and hit the Edit button. Then in the new dialog window choose the new owner and then click OK.
Changing Permission
If you are an administrator and cannot access a folder, this is due to permission error. To give complete permission to yourself, right-click the file or folder and select Properties. Now go to Security tab, and hit the Edit button.
Here select your username(account) and check the Full Control checkbox. When done, hit OK. Note that when you will check the Full Control checkbox, all others will be automatically checked too.
Update: This method is not working for most users. Since many folders and files are locked, the only way to access them is to first unlock them using LockHunter.
Now go ahead and open the file or folder and you will be able to access it. Note that Permissions is a great way to lock your folder too, go here to learn more about how to lock your folder.
Enjoy!
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I wanted to find a text string inside a .ini file and I was losing my patience with Windows 7 search, so I decided to give SuperFinder a try to see if whenever I need to do a search like this I don’t have to go through a manual. Little I knew that I was going to stumble upon another Win7 major annoyance.
I was unable to install the application as Comodo Antivirus said it had some virus. Ok, been there, done that. Let’s uninstall and try again with the antivirus disabled.
Uninstall left behind these 2 folders with one of the files that Comodo said to be a virus:
C:\Program Files (x86)\FSL\SuperFinder\is-IS6M.tmp
Ok, whatever, let’s just delete the FSL folder and try installing again.
“Access denied” on the file. My user is Administrator.
Things I’ve tried:
- The damn antivirus must have locked it. Let’s unlock it, remove it from the pending files, un-sandbox it, disable the antivrus. Nope. “Access denied”.
- Let’s disable Windows beloved UAC. Nope. “Access denied”.
- Setting permissions in the file’s Security tab. Nope. “You do not have permission to view or edit this object’s permission settings”.
- Change ownership of all files in C: to Administrator. Nope. It took forever and failed for a bunch of files including the one I wanted. “Access denied”, of course.
- Take ownership of the file. Nope. “Access denied” on command line commands and through the Explorer context menu option “Take ownership” added with Ultimate Windows Tweaker. I guess the menu command just executed the same commands I tried in the prompt.
- Activated the Windows built-in Administrator account using Ultimate Windows Tweaker. Ah, God mode!! Nope. You know what.
- Start Windows in safe mode and delete the #@!*#! file. Nope. The file was deleted. Yes, you read it right, it was deleted. But it was back when I restarted Windows in normal mode. Great! This OS is haunted with ghosts, files appear and disappear misteriously. Like when UAC puts them in the Virtual Store folder but you can see them in the folder where you could swear you put them when you go through a File Save/Open dialog box. Now you see it, now you don’t. (by the way, just disable UAC to solve this one, don’t start pulling you hair out).
- Start Windows in safe mode again and shift-delete the FSL top folder (the permissions problem was only on the file). Restart Windows in normal mode and login with the BS God mode Administrator account. The folders and file were gone. Login with my regular not-so-much-administrator account. Solved. By now it would be stupid to be happy.
I’ve migrated to Win7 from XP64 a few of months ago, I had been delaying it as much as possible since I had tried Win7 before and was aware that despite the many improvements some things are just unexplainable. Like the setbacks in search usability, the start menu many bugs in maintaining the shortcuts, and of course these permission problems.
I’ve tried also Mac OS X for the first time recently and I must say that I don’t see the point of people that say they’ll migrate to Mac to get away from Win 7. Fancy 3D shining task bar with genie fumes icons mixed with vintage top menu bar and schizofrenic window controls and behaviours, in an overall UI which definition doesn’t seem to include consistency as a factor of usability. Super-cool new features like stacks that have been around in windows since forever…
Anyway, no point in going Mac for the UI if it’s coming to meet you in Windows. The Win7 default taskbar is now all application icons with no labels, which is much better because it uses two step window selection and brings back application-oriented work instead of document-oriented. Much simpler than one straight click on the taskbar in the window that you want.
But Microsoft degrading Windows by copying Mac OS features into it is another topic. Hopefully this trend of super-stylization started with Matrix and over-blown in CSI, adopted in OSes to boost impulse purchases, will go away sometime soon and usability, content and productivity will be more valued again.
Oh, and about the search, I’m stuck with typing something like ‘*.ini content: “timeout”‘. Feels like I’m in the good old cryptic Unix prompt. Hmmm… maybe I should give Linux a try. Or just stick with bragging about how I can type incredibly complicated commands to perform tasks that once upon a time were so simple that a monkey could do it.
Did you try Unlocker: http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/fix-can-not-delete-access-is-denied-file-in-use-error-in-windows-7-64-bit-os/
or
LockHunter: http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/remove-blocked-files-and-its-locking-processes-from-windows/
to force remove the lock. They can also delete the locked files.
Nope. Never got a message saying the file was in use like it happens in other situations. The main suspect was the antivirus and i’ve disabled it.
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