Solved Take Ownership? Not This Time.....

DekHog · Nov 3, 2023

Hi all..... So my own mini PC died, but I got the backup 1Tb drive out of it with all my data on it - I'm now trying to access it in a external case on another PC, but no joy.....

The drive was configured in my previous PC using Group Policy Editor so that the other two users of the PC couldn't access it - this obviously makes a difference to the 'Take Ownership' scenario, which I've done plenty times in the past.

Screenshots are attached - any help in taking ownership/getting access to this drive would be most appreciated.

TIA

hsehestedt · Nov 3, 2023

Welcome to ElevenForum!

Try this...

NOTE: In the commands that follow I am taking ownership of E:\ along with all files and folders on that drive. Change that drive letter to suit your purpose.

Leave %username% exactly as shown. You do not need to substitute an actual name here. The system will understand that variable to be the username that is currently logged on.

Open an elevated command prompt. You should also be an admin level user since you are assigning ownership to yourself. Run these commands:

Code:

C:\windows\system32\takeown /F "E:\*.*" /R /D Y
icacls "E:\*.*" /T /grant %username%:F

Let me know if that helps!

DekHog · Nov 3, 2023

hsehestedt said:
Welcome to ElevenForum!

Try this...

NOTE: In the commands that follow I am taking ownership of E:\ along with all files and folders on that drive. Change that drive letter to suit your purpose.

Leave %username% exactly as shown. You do not need to substitute an actual name here. The system will understand that variable to be the username that is currently logged on.

Open an elevated command prompt. You should also be an admin level user since you are assigning ownership to yourself. Run these commands:

Code:

C:\windows\system32\takeown /F "E:\*.*" /R /D Y icacls "E:\*.*" /T /grant %username%:F

Let me know if that helps!

Thanks, but no joy...... still Access Denied error.....

hsehestedt · Nov 3, 2023

DekHog said:
Thanks, but no joy...... still Access Denied error.....

You are logged in as an Admin, correct?

DekHog · Nov 3, 2023

hsehestedt said:
You are logged in as an Admin, correct?

Yup, definitely, I just checked to make sure.....

hsehestedt · Nov 3, 2023

One more thought: Is your drive marked as read-only?

hsehestedt · Nov 3, 2023

Could you possibly post a screenshot of what Disk Manager shows?

Try3 · Nov 3, 2023

Can you remember who you allowed to have access permissions?
If you left System or Trusted installer with access then you could make use of one of those utilities that allow you to impersonate them.

The only one I've ever used is MS SysInternals PSExec
PSExec - MSLearn
but I've seen others get mentioned in various threads.

Best of luck,
Denis

neemobeer · Nov 3, 2023

Windows used the DACL model for ACLs which basically means anyone that is an administrator can effectively take ownership of any securable object. I would be looking at what
Ihsehestedt suggested or if you have group policy applied to the current system. GPOs don't persist across systems, GPPs can but I doubt that's the case here.

TairikuOkami · Nov 4, 2023

DekHog said:
Thanks, but no joy...... still Access Denied error.....

Any chance it was encrypted? I have the same problem every time I reinstall, but that command should have worked.
You might need to remove the inheritance, but it will not work without taking ownership first. It is catch 22.

Code:

takeown /s %computername% /u %username% /f D: /r /d y
icacls D: /inheritance:r
icacls D: /grant:r %username%:(OI)(CI)F /t /l /q /c

Fabler2 · Nov 4, 2023

It's been a while since I've done it but can you boot to a live Linux usb flash drive to get at your data.

DekHog · Nov 4, 2023

OK, an update on this...... weird, but never mind..... I took the SSD out of the external case and installed it in my daughter's mini PC - hey presto, access! I was able to take ownership of the drive! I copied it to another external drive and can now access all my data without a problem....

Thanks to all for suggestions and comments......