View Default Folder Security Permissions

Is there a way to see what a specific folder's default permissions are supposed to be? Maybe a cmd line or some master reference list of the default folder settings?

I know there are several ways to reset the folder permissions but before I make any changes to any/all folders, I'd like to see if any changes have been made either by a program, user or even by myself as an administrator granting permission to system folders as I access them.

You would have to reference a clean install of Windows.

geobrick said:

even by myself as an administrator granting permission to system folders as I access them.

Click to expand...

You really should not have to do that as an Admin and I would not recommend continuing to do so.
It would be better to work with settings in UAC.

OAT said:

You really should not have to do that as an Admin and I would not recommend continuing to do so.
It would be better to work with settings in UAC.

Click to expand...

I didn't mean to imply I'm logged in as an Admin in an office situation. It's my PC and I'm logged in under the user account I created when I installed Windows 11 which I assume puts my account in the admin group.

Are you saying that when I occasionally come across a Folder that says something like "You don't currently have permission to access this folder. Click continue to permanently get access to this folder", I should change something in the UAC settings instead of clicking continue?

The reason for my question is, overtime so many folder permissions get changed and I wonder if having elevated permissions to some of those folders leaves the system more vulnerable to an attack. Something that can take advantage of my account's elevated access.

In this particular case, I was attempting to set up a firewall rule and when I clicked browse so I could select the specific exe file the rule applied, an explorer window opened with an error message saying "C:\Windows\System32\config\desktop" was unavailable. The explorer window wasn't pointing to anything in the windows folder at the time so I'm not sure what was causing the error. I was able to click ok and continue setting up the firewall rule but the error popped up repeatably when I set up additional rules. My first instinct was to check to see if that specific folder existed. When I checked and clicked on the config folder, I was presented with the 'click continue to permanently get access...'. I clicked continue, got access and there was no folder called desktop in there (I'm set to view all the hidden stuff). Later, after a reboot, I was not able to replicate the error when I went through the motions to set up a new firewall rule. That left me a bit paranoid that the error was some suspect software trying to get access to that config folder and it used me as a way to get there. I could easily set that folder's permissions back to its default by comparing it with a fresh install of windows 11 (as suggested by neemobeer) but thought it would be nice to see a reference somewhere where I could search for a specific folder and see all the default permissions. Since there's a command to reset all folder permissions to their defaults, there should be a way to generate or display those defaults. Maybe an option within the command line would do it.

geobrick said:

Is there a way to see what a specific folder's default permissions are supposed to be? Maybe a cmd line or some master reference list of the default folder settings?

Click to expand...

You could create your own reference list from a fresh Windows installation but your brain will melt if you try to read it.
Backup and Restore Permissions of Files, Folders, or Drives [Step 6] - TenForumsTutorials

• The reference list is the output file created by the 'backup' commands in the tutorial.
• I suggest you backup just a small set of folders to begin with then read its output file & compare it to what's shown in the corresponding Permissions dialog so you can see what you are up against.

Sample command
icacls "C:\SomeFolderOrOther" /save "SamplePermssionsList.txt" /t /c


I think that, to get a reference list that you'd have some hope of being able to interpret, you'd have to set a a recursive script based on something like this command
icacls "C:\SomeFolderOrOther\*" >>"SamplePermssionsList.txt"
with which you'd be able to use the response to
acacls /? >Acacls-Help.txt
as a guide to the abbreviations shown.


Denis

Thanks Denis. It's not the massive reference list I was envisioning but it should be more than enough for me to find the defaults of specific folders as needed.