How to fix permissions

Question

How to fix permissions

Judith Roales 20

I use an external drive ( "Y") as my primary storage. Y is then automatically backed up to another external drive ("Z"). I am the Administrator, User, "God" of my computer and both external drives.

Recently, access to all the folders and files (100k) on Y has been denied. This happened around the time of recent Windows 11 updates and/or when I was batch deleting lots of files from the Cloud, but I don't know if either was the reason.

I can regain access to some Y files, but only by going to every single file to do it. And I have to do it at every single level to get down to the individual file. However, granting permission at the folder or drive level for subfolders and files -- when that appears as an option, which is rarely)--still only gives access to that level.

Fortunately, this change did not backup to Z and I am still able to use Z. But I tried overwriting some Y folders and files with copies from Z and was not allowed to do that. I can simply copy Z folders to Y with a different name, but copying ALL OF Y at once is estimated to take all day.

There has got to be something somewhere other than in the properties that is keeping me from having access. Please help me find it.

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Anonymous

Dear Judith Roales,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A.

This "access denied" issue, especially when it ignores recursive permission changes, is a classic (and maddening) symptom of a problem with the drive's ownership.

You are correct, trying to fix this file-by-file is impossible. The problem isn't at the file level; it's at the top level of the drive. The solution is to use your administrator status to seize ownership of the entire drive and all its contents in one go.

You could try following these steps below to solve this issue:

Open advanced security settings for drive Y:
- Open File Explorer.
- Right-click on your problematic external drive (Y:) and select Properties.
- Go to the Security tab.
- Click the Advanced button.
Change the drive's owner:
- In the "Advanced Security Settings" window, look at the top where it says Owner:. It likely shows "Unable to display current owner" or an unknown account.
- Click the blue Change link next to the owner's name.
- A "Select User or Group" box will pop up.
- In the text box, type Administrators (make sure to include the "s" at the end).
- Click the Check Names button. It should find the group and underline it (e.g., YOUR-PC-NAME\Administrators).
- Click OK.
Replace ownership on all files and folders:
- You are now back in the "Advanced Security Settings" window. The owner should show "Administrators".
- Check the box that says "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects". This is the key. This tells Windows to apply this ownership change to every single one of your 100k files and folders.
- Click Apply.
Grant full control permissions:
- After the ownership process is complete, while still in the "Advanced Security Settings" window, click the Add button (near the bottom left).
- Click the blue link "Select a principal".
- In the box, type your Windows username (the one you use to log in).
- Click Check Names to verify, then click OK.
- In the "Basic permissions" section, check the box for "Full control". This will automatically check all other boxes.
- Click OK.
Replace all permissions:
- You are now back in the main "Advanced Security Settings" window and should see your username in the list with "Full control".
- At the very bottom, check the box that says "Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object".
- Click Apply, and then OK.

Please understand that our initial reply may not always immediately resolve the issue. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution. Thank you for your cooperation.

To assist others who might have similar questions and to help us improve our support system, we kindly encourage you to "Accept the answer" if it successfully addressed your concern. Accepting an answer lets other users know that this solution worked for you, and it also helps us track the effectiveness of our support efforts.

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Answer 1

Judith Roales 20

Bryan, Thanks for such a thorough reply.

That's pretty much what I had been doing, but since I was figuring it out on the fly, it was not all in one try, in order, etc. So I went through it again exactly as you have written it.

There were a couple of additional popup boxes along the way. One warned that I didn't have permission to read the files that were being changed and asking if I wanted to "change the directory permissions" with permissions that will give full control. I clicked YES. The other warned that I was applying full control to all the files and asked if I was sure I wanted to do that. Again, I clicked YES.

Obviously, I haven't checked ALL 100k files yet, but I did check quite a few and this appears to have worked.

However, there are a few problems that I don't understand --

a few folders on Y have a red circle with an x in it and are EMPTY when I open them. However, these files can be recovered from Z so I can live with this issue.
I get a message that says the recycle bin is corrupted and asks if I want to delete all the files. They appear to be the files I was deleting from One Drive anyway plus some others. A lot of the files are also empty. Should I say YES? This makes me ask: Does deleting files in One Drive delete them EVERYWHERE on my computer? Because I think they match the red circles on the empty folders in Y.
The "Administrators" (with an s) that I added to the security permissions box doesn't show up in properties for the repaired Y drive, but the Windows user name I added does and everything seems to work without it. Will that be a problem down the road?

Thanks again for your swift and very helpful answer. I will ACCEPT your answer AND I will definitely print it and put it in my files so I'm never in this shape again.

Judith

Anonymous

2025-09-24T15:56:32.8233333+00:00
Dear Judith Roales,

Let's break down your follow-up questions:

About folders with a red circle "X" are empty: The red 'x' icon on a folder or file is almost always a status indicator from a cloud sync service like OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive. It specifically means "Sync Error". The folder is marked with a red 'x' because OneDrive is trying and failing to sync its contents. The reason it's empty when you open it is that the actual files were likely stored as "online-only" placeholders to save space on your computer. When the sync connection was disrupted, Windows lost the ability to retrieve the online file, so the folder appears empty. Since you can recover these files from your "Z" drive, this confirms they did exist. The problem isn't that they were permanently deleted from "Y", but that the link between the local placeholder on "Y" and the cloud file in OneDrive is broken.

About corrupted recycle bin and deleting OneDrive files: Should you say YES to emptying the corrupted Recycle Bin? Yes, it is generally safe to do this. Each drive has its own hidden system folder called $RECYCLE.BIN. The "corrupted" message means this folder has inconsistent or damaged data, which often happens after major permission changes or system interruptions. By saying "Yes", you are not deleting your personal files from the main part of the drive. You are simply instructing Windows to delete the hidden, corrupted recycle bin folder on that specific drive (Y). Windows will automatically create a new, healthy one in its place the next time it's needed. Does deleting files in OneDrive delete them EVERYWHERE? YES. This is the fundamental behavior of a two-way sync service. When your drive "Y" was being synchronized by OneDrive:

A file on your Y drive was also a file in your OneDrive cloud storage.

They are treated as the same file in two different locations.

If you delete the file from the OneDrive website, the sync client on your PC sees that change and deletes the local copy on drive Y.

Conversely, if you delete the file from drive Y, the sync client tells the cloud to delete it there, too.

The administrators group not showing up: This is normal and not a problem because:

On a standard Windows setup, your primary user account is a member of the Administrators security group. This means your user account inherits all the powers and permissions of that group.

When you look at the basic security properties, Windows often just shows the most direct permission entry, which is your specific user account. It's cleaner than listing every single group you belong to.

You gave yourself ownership and then granted your user account "Full control." Because your account already has administrative privileges, this is sufficient. Adding the administrators group separately was a good belt-and-suspenders measure during the fix, but your user account's explicit permission is what's doing the work now. It will not be a problem down the road.

I hope my answer will help you clearly understand the issue. If you have any other questions, we are very happy to assist.