XP Home and file permissions

[Lachoneus]

I know the marketspeak is that XP Home doesn't support NTFS file
permissions (ACLs), but I've found that that's not strictly true. The
permissions are there all right, it's just that the user interface to
set them was removed.

The problem with this is that permissions get screwed up and some files
become inaccessible. It happens under every NT-based OS I've ever used.
The solution on Win2K and XP Pro is just to right-click the offending
file or folder, remove all permissions to the file and inherit the
parent permissions instead.

How can I reset permissions under XP Home?

I know about CACLS, and I can use that to explicitly grant myself
permissions, but I'd prefer to just get rid of the spurious ACLs and
just use the default premissions.

Also, how do I take ownership of a file in XP Home?

I have a few files on my disk (I put them there, they don't belong to
another user) that Windows has decided to rescind all access to. I get
an "Access Denied" error even when I try to use CACLS to grant myself
premission. I do have an administrator account. How do I get access to
these files?

TIA.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

In WinXP Home, you have to do it in Safe mode. Only there can you access the
security tab. Support for permissions is the same, it's the lack of user
controls due to "simple file sharing" defaults in WinXP Home that are
causing this issue for you. For that type of control, you need to migrate to
the Pro version. Home simply isn't made for that.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Ron Bogart]

In

I know the marketspeak is that XP Home doesn't support NTFS file
permissions (ACLs), but I've found that that's not strictly true. The
permissions are there all right, it's just that the user interface to
set them was removed.

The problem with this is that permissions get screwed up and some
files become inaccessible. It happens under every NT-based OS I've
ever used. The solution on Win2K and XP Pro is just to right-click
the offending file or folder, remove all permissions to the file and
inherit the parent permissions instead.

How can I reset permissions under XP Home?

I know about CACLS, and I can use that to explicitly grant myself
permissions, but I'd prefer to just get rid of the spurious ACLs and
just use the default premissions.

Also, how do I take ownership of a file in XP Home?

I have a few files on my disk (I put them there, they don't belong to
another user) that Windows has decided to rescind all access to. I
get an "Access Denied" error even when I try to use CACLS to grant
myself premission. I do have an administrator account. How do I get
access to these files?

TIA.

Open Help & Support and enter "Take ownership" into the search window and
read to your hearts content. Best of Luck

 

[Alex Nichol]

I know the marketspeak is that XP Home doesn't support NTFS file
permissions (ACLs), but I've found that that's not strictly true. The
permissions are there all right, it's just that the user interface to
set them was removed.

The problem with this is that permissions get screwed up and some files
become inaccessible. It happens under every NT-based OS I've ever used.
The solution on Win2K and XP Pro is just to right-click the offending
file or folder, remove all permissions to the file and inherit the
parent permissions instead.

How can I reset permissions under XP Home?

I know about CACLS, and I can use that to explicitly grant myself
permissions, but I'd prefer to just get rid of the spurious ACLs and
just use the default premissions.

Also, how do I take ownership of a file in XP Home?

You have to boot to Safe Mode. and preferably use the Administrator
account that then appears on the Welcome screen. In Safe mode, Simple
file sharing is disabled, and you can use normal NTFS security pages to
set things up

 

[Jeremy Stanley]

In WinXP Home, you have to do it in Safe mode. Only there can you access the

security tab.

That's ridiculous. If it's there, why can't you get to it otherwise?

Support for permissions is the same, it's the lack of user
controls due to "simple file sharing" defaults in WinXP Home that are
causing this issue for you. For that type of control, you need to migrate to
the Pro version. Home simply isn't made for that.

.... That's the answer. Microsoft money-grubbing at its worst. Ship
an OS with a very serious bug (i.e., the ability to break file
permissions but not fix them) and then charge money for an "upgrade"
to fix it.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

<sigh>

Home users generally do not need to set permissions. Why is it
money-grubbing to supply a cheaper version for people who don't need those
functions? Most don't.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Lachoneus]

Home users generally do not need to set permissions. Why is it

money-grubbing to supply a cheaper version for people who don't need those
functions? Most don't.

That's not the point. If XP Home didn't support NTFS permissions at
all, there wouldn't be a problem.

But XP Home does support permissions; it just forces you to boot into
safe mode to fix them when they get fouled up. Would it cost Microsoft
money to enable the security tab all the time instead of just in safe
mode? No, but they want you to pay several hundred dollars for the
privilege. If that's not money grubbing, I don't know what is.

 

[Ron Bogart]

In

That's not the point. If XP Home didn't support NTFS permissions at
all, there wouldn't be a problem.

But XP Home does support permissions; it just forces you to boot into
safe mode to fix them when they get fouled up. Would it cost
Microsoft money to enable the security tab all the time instead of
just in safe mode? No, but they want you to pay several hundred
dollars for the privilege. If that's not money grubbing, I don't
know what is.

Grow up. It is nothing more than business and a return on your investment.
If you work and earn a wage - doubtful from your remarks - you expect to get
a specific amount fro the hours invested each week. Under your theory,
the company can give you less dollars - because you are a mooney-grubbing
fool.
MS invested millions of hours preparing the products - more benefits for the
higher priced Pro version and less benefits for the lower end product. They
did an enormous amount of user studies to see what the average home user
requires and felt that due to these studies that these functions were not
required in the Home version.
If you purchased the Home version for the lower cost and are now complaining
that you didn't get the Pro functionality - who is being money grubbing?

 

[Lachoneus]

If you purchased the Home version for the lower cost and are now complaining

that you didn't get the Pro functionality - who is being money grubbing?

You're missing the point. Microsoft marketspeak is that XP Home
doesn't support per-file permissions, and if that were true, there
wouldn't be a problem.

But under the hood, permissions are present and enforced, and
occasionally they get messed up, causing "access denied" errors. It's
really annoying when it renders files inaccessible over the network,
or causes a coaster to be burned. I don't know why permissions get
messed up, but they do--and it happens on Win2K and XP Pro as well.
The difference is, on those operating systems, it's possible to fix
them (without rebooting).

So it's not that XP Home doesn't support permissions; it's just that
XP Home supports just enough permissions to cause headaches and not
enough to be useful. If it were 100% in or 100% out, I'd be
completely fine with it. But as it is, it's broken, and if the
solution is "buy XP Pro", that's money grubbing.

 

[Rock]

You're missing the point. Microsoft marketspeak is that XP Home
doesn't support per-file permissions, and if that were true, there
wouldn't be a problem.

But under the hood, permissions are present and enforced, and
occasionally they get messed up, causing "access denied" errors. It's
really annoying when it renders files inaccessible over the network,
or causes a coaster to be burned. I don't know why permissions get
messed up, but they do--and it happens on Win2K and XP Pro as well.
The difference is, on those operating systems, it's possible to fix
them (without rebooting).

So it's not that XP Home doesn't support permissions; it's just that
XP Home supports just enough permissions to cause headaches and not
enough to be useful. If it were 100% in or 100% out, I'd be
completely fine with it. But as it is, it's broken, and if the
solution is "buy XP Pro", that's money grubbing.

And your point makes no sense. It does provide a way to make changes if
needed but for most uses of XP Home it's never needed. XP Home is a
lower cost alternative, and that can not be seen as money grubbing. Get
off this topic. It's a looser for you.

 

[Lachoneus]

So it's not that XP Home doesn't support permissions; it's just that

And your point makes no sense. It does provide a way to make changes if
needed but for most uses of XP Home it's never needed. XP Home is a
lower cost alternative, and that can not be seen as money grubbing. Get
off this topic. It's a looser for you.

So most users are happy to burn coasters when some files in their
compilation get corrupt ACLs. Or they're happy to reboot _twice_
every time they encounter a permissions error, once to get into safe
mode to fix it, and once again to get back to work.

Okay. I'll find another forum, preferably somewhere that isn't full
of Microsoft apologists and shills.

BTW: It's spelled "loser".

 

[Rock]

So most users are happy to burn coasters when some files in their
compilation get corrupt ACLs. Or they're happy to reboot _twice_
every time they encounter a permissions error, once to get into safe
mode to fix it, and once again to get back to work.

Okay. I'll find another forum, preferably somewhere that isn't full
of Microsoft apologists and shills.

BTW: It's spelled "loser".

Correction noted, now just snivel your way to some other place if that's
what makes you happy.