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I have seen problems that are similar to mine, but it seems I have managed to make a storm of all the problems in one.
I can no longer make folders in my Program File x86 folder on my F drive. My other drives are fine and other folders in my drive are fine as well. When I try to make a folder its says "You need permission to perform that action". I am the only user on my PC and I am an administrator. This started with me trying to fix my steam folder which was stuck on Read Only and windows would reset it to Read Only every time I unticked the box. It's starting to feel like I'm going to be slowly locked out of my computer entirely. Please help. (Windows 10 btw)
-Fraser
Hi, @fraser lintott
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Hi @fraser lintott ,
Try the following:
Regards,
Youssef Saad | New blog: https://youssef-saad.blogspot.com
Please remember to ** “Accept answer” ** for useful answers, thank you!
I've tried this, sadly the option is greyed out to add any permissions on the Program Files x86 folder
I think I may see the problem but do not know how to fix it.
When I go to advanced security settings there are two sets of administrators and two users. The first user has the full permissions I gave it but the second can only read and execute. Could this be the problem and if so how do I delete the extra user/give it full permissions?
What if you click on Change permissions?
Regards,
Youssef Saad | New blog: https://youssef-saad.blogspot.com
Please remember to ** “Accept answer” ** for useful answers, thank you!
No such luck, any option to fix the problem is greyed out
Let's try with changing the Security permissions of the whole F drive, not only Program Files (x86) folder.
Regards,
Youssef Saad | New blog: https://youssef-saad.blogspot.com
Please remember to ** “Accept answer” ** for useful answers, thank you!
To further elaborate on how strange this ghost double user is, I am the only user on my PC and I am a local administrator.
I know that you are a local administrator. I'm just trying to help you to solve this issue.
Have you tried the above? What is the result?
Regards,
Youssef Saad | New blog: https://youssef-saad.blogspot.com
Please remember to ** “Accept answer” ** for useful answers, thank you!
It appears that this is by design and is related to the fact that TrustedInstaller is the folder owner. This is the result of some software installation. You will see the same issue with c:\program files, and c:\program files (x86). But if you look at any subfolder for software that you installed, the owner will be administrators. On those folders you can change permissions and create new subfolders like C:\program files\Intel\MyFolder.
You could try changing the folder owner from TrustedInstaller to Administrators, but I don't know what impact that would have on the installer. I don't recommend doing that.
Don't manually create folders in F:\Program Files (x86). You should be able to create new application subfolders like F:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\MySubFolder. Or use a different base folder like F:\MyPrograms".
If Windows is resetting folder permissions to read only, then I believe that the folder is registered with the installer and the installer is resetting permissions to what was specified by the applications setup.exe.
I'm realizing my mistake of not making custom folders more and more through this process. I am going to try and copy all of my files out of the program files drive. I fear once I free my files from the evil control of TrustedInstaller, that their copies will be stuck taking up space forever. How do I delete a folder I have no ownership of?
You should first uninstall the software that you have installed into that folder. If you just delete the folder you might break the installation and put yourself in a situation where you can't uninstall or update some software.
Do you see F:\Program Files (x86) folders listed in this registry key?
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders
If you have everything uninstalled and you just want to get rid of the folder you can use this Powershell script to reset the permissions and then delete it.
$badfolder = "F:\Program Files (x86)"
takeown /d Y /a /r /f $badfolder
icacls $badfolder /reset /t /l
icacls $badfolder /grant 'administrators:(OI)(CI)(F)' /grant 'users:(OI)(CI)(F)' /t
icacls $badfolder\* /reset /t /l
icacls $badfolder /verify /t
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I was facing a similar issue and I discover Windows protector was the responsable. It was not allowing to make changes in any folder. I disabled the folder protection and worked..
Does anyone knows how can i make my application safe to windows, so I do not need to disable the Windows Protector?
Are you using the Windows installer to install the program? Or are you trying to manually create a folder and copy the executable.
If you are trying to "install" your program manually, don't use a "Program Files" folder. Create a C:\MyApplications folder and put it there.
You might also be better off if you asked your own question and not add answers/comments to fraserlintott-6004's question.