How To Take Ownership Of The Files / Folders Protected By TrustedInstaller

 

Windows has a built in service named Windows Modules Installer { TrustedInstaller } which acts as a system account . For security purposes this account owns most of the system files / folders which limits even system administrators to have full access to them . To make changes to this files user must be granted full control permissions and administrative rights then change and Take Ownership properties of the files .

Lets work on step by step to change the Ownership and have full control of the files / folders owned by TrustedInstaller .

Note : You must have the administrative privilege for this method to work .

 1: Changing The Properties of The File / Folder 

 

      1. Go to file / folder and right click and choose properties

      2. Select Security Tab then click Advanced

      3. Next Click Owner Tab , There you should see TrustedInstaller as the current owner of the folder

      4. Now click on the Edit button and choose who you would like to change the owner to, either your account or the Administrators. . Then Click Ok to replace the owner of the folder

Note : You can check on replace owner on subcontainers and objects if you are planning to modify other files in a folder . 

Then Click Ok to all other properties windows until you have reached the Security Tab on the first properties window

     5. Then Click on Edit button . You should then be prompted with the current accounts . Then click on the Username account want which you want to change permission for . The username should be the same with owners name you changed earlier . If its not there just click Add then Type in the username and then click in OK .

    6. You can tick Full control on the checkbox if you want to have full control of the folder or Just other properties if you are granting this permission to a certain user . Then Click Ok’s until you get back windows explore .

   Now you have full access to the file/folder

2: Take Ownership of a File / Folder using Command Prompt 

 

Alternative you can do it Using this simple command

Go to Start -> Type CMD then right click and run as administrator .

To take Ownership of a File type Command as Below 

          takeown /F "path of file with file extension" 

Where “ path of file with file extension “ should be replaced with the actual file path with its extension

Example :            takeown /F "C:\Windows\filename.exe" 


To take Ownership of a Folder type the Command Below 
 
           takeown /F "Drive or Folder Path" /R /D Y 
 
Where “Drive or Folder Path “ should be replaced with the actual folder or Drive path

Example :                    takeown /F "D:" /A /R /D Y  
                     for a drive where D: is the drive letter 

                takeown /F "C:\Windows.old" /A /R /D Y
                     Where Windows.old is the folder within drive C 

To take Ownership of All files having the same file extension in a Folder or Drive

        takeown /F "Folder or Drive Path/*.Extension File Type" 

Example : takeown /F "C:\Windows.old\*.txt" This command will change ownership to all texts files in Windows.old folder 

Please note there are spaces within each command written above

Close Command Prompt and there you have the Full control of the permission to that file/ folder as you like .

3 : Add Take Ownership Registry Tweak To Context Menu 

 

If you are not a command prompt geek you can easily download this registry file which allows one to take ownership of any file / folder with a single click

How To Add

--Download Take Ownership.reg

--Extract the Files and Double Click on Add Take ownership To merge it .

--If Prompt by UAC Click Yes .

--When Done you can navigate to any file / folder right click and Click take Ownership .

Note : You can use the Remove Take ownership to remove the reg file from the context menu