This tutorial will show you how to view effective permissions of a file, folder, drive, or registry key for a user or group in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
You can set permissions for registry keys, and files and folders on NTFS and ReFS volumes. These permission allow or deny access to the files, folders, drives, and registry keys.
The owner controls how permissions are set on the object (ex: file, folder, drive, or registry key) and to whom (ex: user or group) permissions are granted. An owner is assigned to an object when that object is created. By default, the owner is the creator of the object. No matter what permissions are set on an object, the owner of the object can always change the permissions.
When a file or folder is created, Windows assigns default permissions to that object or the creator can assign specific permissions.
Effective Access allows you to view the effective permissions for a user, group, or device account. If the account is a member of a domain, you can also evaluate the impact of potential additions to the security token for the account. When you evaluate the impact of adding a group, any group that the intended group is a member of must be added separately.
You can view effective permissions to check user or group access of a file, folder, drive, or registry key.
The following table lists the access limitations for each set of special NTFS permissions.
Special Permissions | Full Control | Modify | Read & Execute | List Folder Contents (drives and folders only) | Read | Write |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traverse Folder/Execute File | x | x | x | x | ||
| List Folder/Read Data | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Read Attributes | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Read Extended Attributes | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Create Files/Write Data | x | x | x | |||
| Create Folders/Append Data | x | x | x | |||
| Write Attributes | x | x | x | |||
| Write Extended Attributes | x | x | x | |||
| Delete Subfolders and Files | x | |||||
| Delete | x | x | ||||
| Read Permissions | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Change Permissions | x | |||||
| Take Ownership | x | |||||
| Synchronize | x | x | x | x | x | x |
References:
View Effective Permissions on Files and Folders
learn.microsoft.com
File and Folder Permissions
learn.microsoft.com
You must have at least "Read" permissions to view effective permissions of a file, folder, drive, or registry key.
Share permissions are not part of the effective permissions calculation. Access to shared folders can be denied through share permissions even when access is allowed through NTFS permissions.
Here's How:
1 Perform an appropriate action below: (see screenshots below)
- In File Explorer (Win+E), right click on the file, folder, or drive you want to view effective permissions on, and click/tap on Properties.
- In Registry Editor (regedit.exe), right click on a registry key you want to view effective permissions on, and click/tap on Permissions.
2 Click/tap on the Security tab, and click/tap on the Advanced button. (see screenshot below)
3 Click/tap on the Effective Access tab. (see screenshot below)
4 Click/tap on the Select a user link. (see screenshot below)
5 Click/tap on the Advanced button. (see screenshot below)
6 Perform the steps below to select a user or group as the owner of this object: (see screenshot below)
- Click/tap on the Find Now button.
- Under "Search results" select a user or group (ex: "Brink2") in the 'Name" column you want to check effective permissions for.
- Click/tap on OK.
7 Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
8 Click/tap on the View effective access button. (see screenshot below)
9 You will now see all effective permissions of the selected user or group (ex: "Brink2") for this object (ex: drive). (see screenshot below step 10)
You can click/tap on the Select a user link and go back to step 5 to view effective permissions of another user or group for this object.
10 When finished checking effective permissions, click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
11 Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
That's it,
Shawn Brink
Last edited:
