Restoring default security settings after applying "Replacing all child object permission with inheritable permissions from this object" in advanced security settings

Question

Initially, my problem was a corrupted track pad driver in one of my accounts. I've encountered this problem before, and I fixed it with the method "create a new user account and transfer all the files from the previous user account to the new one." I tried doing this again, but when I went to C:/Users to transfer my files, the folder for the new user account wasn't there. I searched for solutions to this problem and I found articles which eventually lead me to this page. I did the "Replace all child object permission with inheritable permissions from this object" but it was taking too long so I canceled. It displayed a dialog box saying "If you stop the propagation of permission settings, it might lead to an inconsistent state where objects have different settings. If you made this change by mistake, you should apply the correct permission settings immediately." I want to restore the proper security settings because I don't know how this will affect my laptop, and find a way to make that new user folder appear in C:/Users so that I can fix my corrupted-track-pad-driver problem without having to reboot my laptop.

Please help me.

Thank you very much.

Answer 1

Hi Tricia,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Community

I understand you have made changes to your folders and want to restore it back to their defaults. Windows has an option to restore the folders back to their defaults.

Method 1: Please follow the steps below to restore the folders to their Defaults:

1. Click on a folder to open it.
2. Click on "File" in the toolbar. Click on folder options from the Options icon towards the right.
3. Click on the "View" tab.
4. Click on "Restore Defaults" and click on "Apply" and "OK" to complete the procedure.

If Method 1 does not fix the issue you can proceed to Method 2

Method 2: You can try system restore to revert the changes made and try adding a new user account again. But before you do that, please back up your data and make sure you would be able to reinstall applications. You can follow the below steps to perform system restore:

1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.

(If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Search.) 2. Enter Control Panel in the search box, and tap or click Control Panel. 3. Enter Recovery in the Control Panel search box, and then tap or click Recovery. 4. Tap or click Open System Restore, and then follow the instructions.

Please revert back to us in case you need further assistance.