2012-06-29

Reseting NTFS ownership and attributes after a Windows reinstallation

Let's say you had to reinstal Windows 7, due to Microsoft having screwed so bad with its automatic update installer that it was the only option left. Now, you performed a semi-clean install, in that Windows installed a brand new copy, but moved the previous installation system directory into C:\Windows.old.

The usual problem, if you're using mutliple NTFS drives or partitions is that you may have files on these additional partitions that are owned by your previous account, which now has a completely different GUID than your new account. This means that you find that you have all the trouble in the world getting full access to files you rignfully own.

The solution?

In an elevated prompt, go to the additional drive and issue:
takeown /F * /R
icacls * /grant <your_user_name>:F /T

This will take a while, but it should reset ownerships and all these other pesky attributes that are a major annoyance to GETTING ANY WORK DONE!

Note that you can also try the following beforehand, if you want to reset all the access rights:
icacls * /T /Q /C /RESET

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