"Bill in Co" wrote
| and in case anybody else is interested, I did find some utilities that
will
| directly accomplish these tasks rather easily, which I've listed below:
|
| For Folder and File Ownership: (adds a right mouse shortcut)
|
|
https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...-shortcut.html
|
| For Registry Key Ownership:
|
|
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/regow...-registry-keys
|
|
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/regow...ry-keys-easily
|
Those seem to be single item approaches, which is
what you said you didn't want. They also limit you
in terms of what you can change, restricting changes
in Program Files, System, etc.
I gave you a link last week. You said it didn't work.
Did you actually try it? If you're wary of 3rd-party
software then try it on a test box first. On the other
hand, what you're linking to is unknown 3rd-party
software.
-------------------------------------------
NT6 Restriction Fix
www.jsware.net/jsware/nt6fix.php5
I just tested it myself to confirm that it works OK:
Boot Win7-64 SP1 as fake admin. (That is, any
Administrator account other than the one with
username "Administrator".)
- Right-click FixNT6.exe and click "Run as Administrator".
- Enter path of C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player
- Check box for recursive restriction removal.
- Select Administrators.
- Click "Set Free" button.
WMP files all now have the same permissions as
before except that Administrators have full control.
Delete WMP folder. Reboot. Still no WMP folder.
Yippee!
I then did the same with C:\Windows\Branding.
Successfully deleted. You could do all of Program
Files if you wanted to, but that's not a great idea.
Why reduce security for things like IE when you
have no need to replace the EXE anyway?
Important notes:
* FixNT6.exe needs to be run elevated as a fake admin.
* Freeing things for all users can often be done by
first freeing them for all admins, but it's not dependable
and it's not advisable. It's assumed that you're normally
running as a fake admin. If you run as a common user
it would make no sense to remove restrictions.
* Freeing Registry keys is almost exactly the same
operation, but I didn't include it because it's undependable
unless you create the key yourself. Since the restrictions
are in HKLM\Software\ and those rarely need to be changed,
I left that function out of NT6Fix. If you really want to
free up masses of those keys then your other links might
be useful.
* I wrote NT6Fix for myself when I first started dealing
with Vista/7 and trying to figure out what could be done
to salvage them. The whole point is exactly what you
were asking for: A very simple method to recursively
remove restrictions on large areas of C:\.
Still, I'd think twice before doing too much. If you
free up something like C:\Windows\System32\, what
value is that going to be to you? On the other hand,
it would allow malware to do things like replace system
libraries. That's not a likely risk, but protection is
still protection. If you wanted to do something like
delete the Windows Update files (which I do on XP)
then it would make more sense to just free those
specific files.
But Win7 is very brittle. Any deleting of system files
should be done on an experimental basis where possibly
losing the whole system is not a problem.
For anyone who's curious, the basic code for FixNT6
is here, as a VB6 project:
www.jsware.net/jsware/vbcode.php5#perms2
That webpage explains the basics. The download
also has an extensive readme file and the code
includes commments.
The gist of it is that of numerous, convoluted
methods MS have cooked up to adjust permissions,
the method I used was the simplest one I could
find and works dependably. It uses the standard
Windows API functions to go through several steps:
* Apply for permission to change ownership.
* Take ownership.
* Change permissions.
* Give back permission to change ownership.
It's a bizarre system. You have full control to
"own" an item but must jump through hoops to
do it. Once you officially own the item you can
change permissions. It's sort of like having
a wacky robot guarding your house who recognizes
you but won't shut itsellf off until you "step into the
magic circle" and sing "Over the Rainbow". But
once you do that, the robot recognizes your
authority over it and you have free run of the
house!