You don't currently have permission to access this folder

Question

I have a FreeAgent GoFlex Drive 2TB and inside of it I have most of my files. When I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 8 I noticed I am getting the error, "You don't currently have permission to access this folder." when I try to open up one of the larger size folders. I noticed the drive is set to read-only, and when I try to uncheck the box and click apply it is always turned back on when I check properties again. I have also tried to see who has permissions to the drive, and for each folder within. It says that everyone should have full read/write permission. Also, when I click continue on the box that pops up it seems to be loading something to "unlock" the folder, but always stops right at the end and never finishes. Please help!

Screenshot for reference: http://imgur.com/uxDGQ

Answer 1

Hi,

Thank you for choosing Microsoft Community.

From the issue description, I understand that you are getting error “You don't currently have permission to access this folder” while access a folder in Windows 8.

I will certainly help you with this issue.

Let’s give permission to the folder and check if that helps. Follow these steps to give permissions to the drive.

a)      Right-click on the folder which you’re unable to access and select Properties.

b)      Click on ‘Security’ tab and under ‘Group or user names’ click on ‘Edit’.

c)       Click on ‘Add’ and type ‘everyone’.

d)      Click on ‘Check names’ and then click ‘OK’.

e)      Select ‘everyone’ and under ‘Allow’ select ‘Full control’ and click on ‘Apply’ and Click ‘Ok’.

For any help related to Windows you may always post on the Microsoft Community Forum.

Answer 2

Nirmal: 

Thank you for your quick reply.

I've attempted to use the TAKEOWN /F <directory> command, and I receive this response:

"ERROR: The current logged on user does not have ownership privileges on the file <or folder>"

Let me know if there is anything else I can do.

I've tried everything mentioned in the above reference, and now your recommendation.

I (obviously) have administrative rights on my new machine, and, know the administrator password for my former machine files that are housed on the enclosure drive.

Any further help would be greatly appreciated.

======

UPDATE

After some snooping around, I was able to fix the issue using the following command at the root level (using an elevated command prompt):

TAKEOWN /F <DIRECTORY> /R /D Y

Thank you for your time and patience, it definitely pointed me in the right direction!

Answer 3

Hi,

Thank you for the reply.

This issue can be caused by permissions issues, corrupted user accounts or even corrupted files.

I would suggest you to try the steps in the article and check if it helps.

"Access Denied" or other errors when accessing or working with files and folders in Windows

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2623670

Hope this information helps. Reply to the post with updated status of the issue to assist you further.

Answer 4

Hi Srinivas KR,

My PC has this problem. whenever I click a folder,it says "you don't currently have permission to access this folder". I saw your post so I tried this.

a)      Right-click on the folder which you’re unable to access and select Properties.

b)      Click on ‘Security’ tab and under ‘Group or user names’ click on ‘Edit’.

c)       Click on ‘Add’ and type ‘everyone’.

d)      Click on ‘Check names’ and then click ‘OK’.

e)      Select ‘everyone’ and under ‘Allow’ select ‘Full control’ and click on ‘Apply’ and Click ‘Ok’.

But after clicking OK it says"An error occurred which applying security information to C:\folder".How do I get access to my folders.

Answer 5

Instead of upgrading my antiquated Windows XP machine, I offloaded my hard-drive, placed it in an enclosure.

After purchasing a new pre-loaded Windows 8.1 machine, I attempted to access my personal files from the offloaded hard-drive.

I have this same issue and have performed the following steps:

• Right clicked the folder, then clicked Properties.
• Clicked the Security tab, clicked Advanced, clicked Change.
• Typed the name of the person I wanted to give ownership to and clicked Check Names. (In this case, I used the Administrator account of my new machine)
• Clicked OK.
• Selected the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
• Clicked OK.

After performing these actions, I receive the following message (Windows Security dialog box):

"You do not have permission to read the contents of director.  Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?"

• Clicked Yes

After which, I receive this error message:

"An error occurred while applying security information to the directory.  Failed to enumerate objects in the container.  Access is denied."

Any help would be greatly appreciated.