Taking ownership of a file or folder is very essential when you want to replace or edit system folders or files. Though there are many ways to take ownership of files, how doesn’t like to take the ownership of a file or folder with a click?
In this guide I will be focusing on the easiest method using which you can take ownership of files in Windows 7 easily.
Take ownership of file or folder in Windows 7
In this method, we will merge a registry file with Windows Registry to get an option named “Take Ownership” in the context menu (Right-click menu) and then right-click on the file that we want to take the ownership of.
Here is how to add Take ownership entry to right-click menu
Step 1: Download the Ownership.zip file from here.
Step 2: Extract the RAR file to the Desktop or any folder to get a file named “Ownership.reg”. Note that if you want to see the extension “.reg” you need to enable it in “Folder Options” but it’s not necessary.
Step 3: Right-click on Ownership.reg file and select Merge option.
Step 4: Click “Yes” for the User Account Prompt (UAC) and then again click “Yes” for the Registry Editor pop up and then click “OK” when you get the successful message.
You should now get Take ownership option when you right-click a file or folder.
To take ownership of a file or folder
Step 1: Now, you will see a new option named Take Ownership when you right-click on a file or folder.
Step 2: Right-click on folder/file for which you want to take ownership and select Take Ownership option to take ownership of the file or folder.
Daniel says
@Matias P & Luciano: in order to remove/uninstall this tool, run REGEDIT and then delete the register key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas
BE ADVISED: only remove the RUNAS “subfolder” in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell
Manoj says
Great work in Windows 7……………;-)
madhu kumar says
I have the following error message using Windows 7 to open an video in windows media player:
Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permission to access the item
Will downloading this feature help?
joe says
Thanks… worked great in win 7
John says
bloody awesome mate. works fantastic. this works great. tyvm
Nigey says
Worked for me on Vista.
Superb!
v2fftb says
Cool mate.. and easy way indeed.. it would be cool if i could knew where can i change my registry my self.. well its cool even though ,i will figure it out.. thanks alot mate..
Sumerianxlt says
Cheers 2 ya M8 worked bloody G8 now I don,t have 2 fool with windows media player
slate2 says
no man its not working for me
Redbaron says
For some reason it does not work for me.I running this on vista home edition and trying to rename a file in system32 folder. Please help.
Fazal says
Can you please give a registry file with which we can reverse this at any time? I’ve heard that there is such a file. Thank you
Anil kumar says
fantastic…….works great……
zzz says
thx a lot, dude !! this saved my life.. :)
Vasko says
Thanks !
Teajay says
worked like a charm. thanks for the
sh0nuff says
Still having problems copying a .dll into a folder. I have tried installing and running the right click shortcut, but even though it seems to run smoothly in the popup .cmd windows, the folder is STILL marked as read.only.
Thoughts?
Saad says
good. but I use safehouse explorer to secure my docouments from public. Safehouse want to take ownership in windows 7. any idea about drive ownership? If yes please email. i ll be happy.
Kile says
Hey, very nice program. About a year back most of my files were taken ahold by a user called “TrustedInstaller” never heard of that person, or anything at all. Got ‘Em all back now i think. Let’s just hope it works.
Is there a way to do this for entire drives? As it’s taking a fairly long time to do each main folder manually :x
Sincere says
It did not work for me either, under Windows 7 Enterprise. I still get the message, that I need permission to copy and replace the file I am trying to copy.
jackson2k says
you are the best, congrat…
BARNOWL says
lifesaver, man. you don’t even know how much…
Matias P says
How do I undo this? How can I remove this?
Don says
This doesn’t work. It replaces “SYSTEM” with another name and you STILL can’t delete or rename the file. (Win 7)
Ya, how do I undo this?
JStaf says
Where is the merge option? I can not find it anywhere? ):
Ashutosh****p says
hi ……… thanks for giving such easiest method…..thanks a lot..i have done this within 15 secs.
Luciano says
Hey how can i remove this?
Adriana says
What happens if I don’t see the “Take Ownership” option?
hhumas says
hello~
it was excelent.. it works.. thanks
Rupal says
Wow..this was awesome! You rock man..
I was sick of doing it all manually!
Thanks a lot!
admin says
Darkness,
Sure, will do it.
Darkness says
Can’t you place content of that file as plain text?
And don’t use rar, please, it is proprietary format, use zip, tar.gz, bz2, lzma, 7zip instead.
pakrat says
Link to file is dead again..
admin says
@Jahglory
Thanks for pointing the dead link. I have fixed it.
Jahglory says
Link to the file is dead :(
Matt says
I have the following error message using Windows 7 to open an mp3 in windows media player:
Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permission to access the item
Will downloading this feature help?