Folder Permissions

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A few days ago I had to scan my health insurance cards to submit to a provider.  Scanned them into .pdf format and created a folder in my default scan destination location called Insurance.

Today I tried to move that folder to a permanent location and I get “permission denied” nastygrams from windows.  If I try to modify the Security properties of the folder I get (basically) told to take a hike.  I tried switching users to my supervisory account.  Same thing happens there.

First question:  I haven’t rebooted since creating the folder.  How could this happen?

Second Question:  What’s the fix?  I suspect it’s to use Net User to enable the administrator account, but that requires rebooting which is a laborious process for this computer.

Thanks

Rich Gierman

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Have you tried Copy/Paste (not drag/drop or cut/paste) instead of move? When you copy/paste, the folder will take on the permissions of the destination. Put it somewhere under you User folder – like Documents. Or just copy/paste the .PDF file.

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That was the first thing I thought to try.  It won’t let me copy it, either.  and if I expand the folder above Insurance, when I select the folder Insurance it says “Nope – go away” and won’t even let me view the contents of Insurance (two PDF files).

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Tried the Copy/Past option instead of drag & drop and up pops “You’ll need to provide administrator permission to copy this folder” and pressing the continue buttons leads to nothing useful

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requires rebooting which is a laborious process for this computer.

I get that, but my quick take is if it’s been awhile since you machine has been fresh booted I suggest biting the bullet and doing a restart.  If your issue is still there after re-booting, at least you’ll be starting with a clean slate which I have found important when dealing with permission issues.

 

 

Desktop Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

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It sounds like your scanning program has taken a hold of the Insurance folder and won’t let go. It may have even taken ownership of that folder. If you go back to the Security tab, see just what kind of permissions are listed for the different users and groups on the computer.

One way around stubborn permissions is to take ownership of the folder in question. However, it’s best to be logged in with an account that’s a member of the “Administrators” group in order to help ensure success in this endeavor. This doesn’t mean you have to be logged in as THE Administrator. If the account you’re using isn’t a member of the Administrators group (or if you don’t have access to such an account without rebooting the machine which you’ve said is a royal pain), please ignore the following two paragraphs, as it might very well wind up being a waste of your time.

Click on the Security tab and once that dialog box opens, click on the button that says “Advanced”, which should be towards the middle of the box. On the new window that opened, towards the top of the window there should be a listing that says the name of the folder and right below that it should list the folder’s current owner (your scanning program, perhaps?). To the immediate right of that listing is a blue colored link that says, simply, “Change” and it will have a blue and gold shield next to it. Clicking that link and providing valid administrator credentials (for an account that is an administrator, not THE administrator account) should allow you to change the owner from (your scanning program?) to you.

Changing the owner to you should then give you enough permissions to change the access permissions to the folder so you can manipulate its contents to your heart’s content.

The reason I say all this is because it sounds to me as if you created the Insurance folder on the computer from within your scanning program.

By the way, using the exact messages you get from Windows when trying to access a folder’s contents and the folder’s properties and Security settings will be much more helpful than paraphrased messages. There can be many different ways that Windows tells someone to “take a hike” or “get lost”. Screenshots of the messages would be GREAT, just please describe exactly what you were doing when you received each different message.

I hope this post is of at least some help to you.

1 user thanked author for this post.

wavy

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Attached are the various security-related windows.  No actual ownership is ever shown, and no attempt has ever resulted in being offered a chance to enter valid credentials.

I only ever create folders in one of two ways:  Click Home in the Ribbon, then select New Folder, or right click in empty space, Select New then Folder.  Can’t remember which way I used to create the Insurance Folder.

I’m fairly familiar with the change of ownership security properties, as I have to do it constantly when I schlep karaoke files between my home PC and the laptop owned by the bar where I run my karaoke show.  This Security screen is unlike any I have seen before.

 

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WOW! Makes me want to see what the Security permissions are for the Labels folder that the Insurance folder is under.

What happens when you click the “Continue” button with the shield next to it on the Advanced Security Settings image (the first one of the three you’ve posted above)?

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It just led to more warnings that I don’t have permissions to change anything

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Whoops.  Was typing a reply, but then saw you had solved the issue.

Desktop Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

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TechTango wrote:

Whoops. Was typing a reply, but then saw the “RESOLVED” label.

Yeah, and just as quick as that, it’s gone! No “Resolved” banner or marker for this thread as of the date and time of this reply.

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Problem solved.  I had to reboot to apply Windows and AVG updates, and when I rebooted, the Insurance folder was just gone.  As near as I can tell, it must have been an artifact left over from an incorrectly concluded previous move operation by Windows.

Thanks a lot, Microsoft…

And thanks to all subscribers who provided their wisdom and experience!

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👍 that the problem’s solved, BUT 🙁 that you’ve lost data UNLESS you had a backup of said data that was in the Insurance folder.

Out of curiosity, what makes the rebooting of the machine in question such a pain in the rear? Does it take forever, such as many many minutes to reboot back to the login screen or something like that?

EDIT: P.S. Now that the folder is gone and the machine has been rebooted, this might be a good time to revisit the folder permissions for the folders that lied above the now-gone Insurance folder, such as the Labels folder and the Z-Unshared folder. Permissions can be inherited, which can help with needed access to files such as those you scanned to send to your health care provider.

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@Bob99, The only possible data loss was two PDF scans of my insurance cards, easily reproduced.

The rebooting cycle is only a problem because I have a streaming app that feeds my Blu-Ray player and the 70″ TV in the living room that not only takes time to load, when I reboot I can’t watch anything until it’s reloaded.  Plus I have a peer-to-peer sharing app that takes 30 minutes to load up.  Plus I keep a Karaoke filename management program that I use to keep 6 different copies (two RAID and four portable drives in sync, and loading them all takes about an hour and a half.

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