# [SOLVED] Vista can't change file permissions



## Elysium (Sep 8, 2008)

I recently purchased a laptop that came standard with windows vista home premium. About three days in I've encountered severe difficulty. Heres the problem.

I'm trying to move a file in the Program Files folder. However, when i do this, it tells me i don't have permission to move or modify the file. I've tried downloading things like take ownership, and I've tried to actually take ownership of the files through elevated command line, and each time it tells me access denied, if not in as many words. Furthermore it won't show me who does have ownership of the file in the security tap of the properties menu.

I've been combing the internet to find a solution, but all I've seen is disable UAC(done), use command line(doesn't work), or use the take ownership little hack thing(doesn't actually take ownership)

Can anyone help?


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

*Re: Vista can't change file permissions*

Hi. . .

You mentioned the elevated command line - did you use both *takeown* & *icacls* commands?

What is the name of the folder/file (\Program Files\ .....) that you are trying to delete... and why, if I may ask?

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.


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## Elysium (Sep 8, 2008)

*Re: Vista can't change file permissions*

I did, neither one worked. takeown says invalid argument when i do it, and icacl also has issues.

I'm trying to...cough....replace a file in the directory for the firewall i use/used ot use on XP.

the directory is

"C:\Program Files\Agnitum\Outpost Firewall Pro"
the file in question is named "op_mon.exe"


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

*Re: Vista can't change file permissions*

Hi. . .

If you got an 'invalid argument' w/takeown it could be a syntax problem.

Please try this - 

Bring up an *elevated* command prompt -
START | type cmd into the start search box | right-click on cmd (cmd.exe) | select "run as admin" | the black "DOS" screen will appear - now type or copy/paste EACH LINE ONE AT A TIME (to paste into the DOS screen, right-click at the very-top in the "clear" area, select Edit, select Paste) - hit enter after each line -


```
[b][size=3][font=calibri]c:

cd\

cd program files 

cd agnitum

cd outpost firewall pro

takeown /f op_mon.exe

icacls op_mon.exe

del op_mon.exe

[/size][/font][/b]
```
Any luck? Is the file still there?

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.


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## Elysium (Sep 8, 2008)

*Re: Vista can't change file permissions*



jcgriff2 said:


> Hi. . .
> 
> If you got an 'invalid argument' w/takeown it could be a syntax problem.
> 
> ...


Yeah, honestly that what i did last time, and still no luck. I got it to delete in safe mode though, so the universe is in a state of harmony again. but thanks.


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

*Re: Vista can't change file permissions*

Glad to hear this is solved. SAFEMODE was the next step - you beat me to it!

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.


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## TPetey (May 20, 2009)

*Re: Vista can't change file permissions*



jcgriff2 said:


> Glad to hear this is solved. SAFEMODE was the next step - you beat me to it!
> 
> Regards. . .
> 
> ...


I don't mean to be rude, but this issue isn't "solved". The very most you can say is that there exists a time-consuming and unsatisfactory workaround (time-consuming and work-interrupting reboot into safe mode) to an endemic and extremely annoying problem. And for those of us running processes that take hours to complete and can't safely be interrupted, a glib "reboot to safe mode" is no answer at all.

[rant]
This is a glaring flaw in the Vista implementation. Say what you want, but any operating system that won't allow the sole owner and administrator of the system to do something as simple as delete or rename a file without jumping through these absurd hoops is BROKEN. Security is an important concern and I fully agree with the notion of routinely operating at a level of permissions below administrator, but when the system's security implementation is so brittle and error-prone such that again and again I am required to take extraordinary steps to sidestep them in order to use my machine in the way that I choose, even after supplying the appropriate administrator credentials, some serious fix and/or redesign is called for. If my company delivered software with serious productivity-sapping problems like these and took such a casual attitude toward resolving them to the customer's satisfaction, we'd have no customers left.

Microsoft is protected from that kind of backlash for now because people don't really have a viable alternative ... but their shield of monopoly won't protect them forever. In the meantime, they're hard at work expanding the already vast and deep reservoir of latent ill will in their customer base. Unless they begin to take their customers' concerns more seriously, one day they'll drown in it.
[/rant]


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