Fix: You Have Been Denied Permission To Access This Folder In Windows 10/11

At times, while accessing a folder in Windows 10 or 11, you might get the “You have been denied permission to access this folder. To gain access to this folder, you will need to use the security tab” error.

The “You have been denied permission to access this folder. To gain access to this folder, you will need to use the security tab” error appears when you are trying to access a system-protected folder in Windows 11 or earlier versions of Windows. You get the error if you try to access WindowsApps folder, for instance.

To get access to the folder in question, you need to make appropriate changes to the folder’s permission, and it can be done with ease. However, you must have admin rights, or you need an admin password in order to change the permissions of system files and folders on a Windows 10 machine.

So, in this guide, we will see how to get rid of the “You have been denied permission to access this folder. To gain access to this folder, you will need to use the security tab” error and access any folder on a Windows 10 PC.

Three ways to fix You have been denied permission to access this folder error

Method 1 of 3

Take ownership of file/folder

Step 1: Open up File Explorer. Navigate to the location where the folder that you want to take ownership of is located.

Step 2: Right-click on the folder and then click Properties.

Step 3: Move to the Security tab. Click the Advanced button to open Advanced Security Settings for the current folder.

Step 4: You should now see the Change link next to the owner field. Click the Change link to open the Select this object type dialog.

Step 5: Here, in the Enter the object name to select filed, type Administrators, and then click the Check Names button. Finally, click the OK button to see Advanced Security Settings.

Step 6: Finally, check the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects option. Click the Apply button to take ownership of the folder. That’s it!

You can access or open the folder now without the above-mentioned error.

Method 2 of 3

Add take ownership to file/folder context menu in Windows 10

The above method is perfect for taking ownership of files/folders in Windows 10. However, if you feel that the procedure is long and takes a considerable amount of time, you can add a Take ownership option to the file/folder context menu to quickly take ownership of files and folders in Windows 10.

Step 1: Follow the step-by-step instructions in our how to add Take Ownership option to the right-click menu in the Windows 10/11 guide to add Take Ownership option to the file/folder context menu.

Step 2: Right-click on the folder that you want to take ownership of, and click Take Ownership option. That’s it!

You should now be able to open or access the folder without the “You have been denied permission to access this folder. To gain access to this folder, you will need to use the security tab” error.

Method 3 of 3

Use the TakeOwnershipEx utility to take ownership of folders

There are quite a few third-party utilities out there to enable you to take ownership of files and folders in the Windows operating system. One of them is TakeOwnershipEx utility.

To take ownership of a file/folder, run the TakeOwnershipEx tool, click Take Ownership, and select a file/folder to take ownership of that file/folder. You can also right-click on a folder and then click Take ownership/restore ownership option to take or restore ownership of a folder.