How to Take Ownership of a file in Windows 7

 

There are times when you cant do with a file what you want to do. For example you want to rename, remove, replace or relocated a file but Windows 7 doesn’t allow you to do that because it thinks that it’s a system file and you might end up corrupting it thereby un stabilizing your system. Now here is how you can do this.

Warning : Registry edition is a serious business which might go wrong. Its always advisable to backup your registry first and then do anything with it.

1. Open Notepad and copy-paste the following :

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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

 

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save it as InstallTakeOwnership.reg file. When you double click on this you will see following standard warning message from microsoft

2. Click yes. It will give following message.

3. Its done. Now when you right click on any file you will see this entry

 

4. However if you find that it is making your system unstable or you encounter any problem, here is the solution to remove this registry entry.

Open Notepad and copy-paste the following

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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas]

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5.  Save it is ‘RemoveTakeOwnership.reg’. Double click on it, say yes to the warning message and you are done.