You don’t currently have permission to access this folder or file

If you get You don’t currently have permission to access this folder message & are unable to access files or folders due to permission issues, then this post shows how to troubleshoot File and Folder permission issues in Windows 11/10/8/7. One of the main problems we face with Windows is its permissions issues! Most of them think it’s annoying. Here are a few tips which will help resolve such issues. Most of the time you might find it difficult to open files from an external hard drive after upgrading to Windows. In such cases, you could try to give permission to that folder.

You don’t currently have permission to access this folder

1] Take Ownership of the folder or file

Most of the time the folder permission of the Owner would be set to “Trusted Installer”. In such cases, you’ll get this message “You don’t currently have permission to access this folder”. When you click on Continue, it will say File Access Denied. Try again.

In such cases, you could Take Ownership of the folder or file to open it or to get access to it. There are various methods to Take Ownership. The easiest way is to use the Take Ownership Shortcut on Context Menu.

Download and use Ultimate Windows Tweaker to add it easily to your right-click context menu.

One important thing you have to remember about this is that you should use it wisely. The reason I am stressing this point is that I have seen a lot of situations where people will try to Take Ownership of System files or folders. Altering permission might cause your system to crash.

For instance, you might see the Document and Settings folder under the C drive of a Windows computer. People who have upgraded from Windows XP might not know about “Users” instead of Document and Settings. So if they try to access it and will get the permission error. Document and Settings it’s just a junction point for compatibility with older programs. Always stay away from Windows, Program Files, etc.

Read: How to check NTFS Permissions using Command-line or Free tools

2] Disable User Account Control

Let’s say you gave permission but it still fails to open or edit. The next thing I would do is turn off UAC or User Account Control. Sometimes UAC might block permission. Make sure to turn it back on once you have carried out the change.

• Click the Windows Start button and then click Control Panel. The Control Panel appears
• Select Large icons on the right-hand side under the View by menu (if you are not already in the Large icons view).
• This will display the Control Panel features as icons. Locate and click on User Accounts.
• The User Accounts panel appears.
• Click the Change User Accounts Control Settings option. The User Accounts Control Settings dialog box appears.
• Windows UAC settings have a slider to change between different notification levels
• Change to Never notify

Note: A reboot of the computer will be required after choosing this setting.

Once you complete your Task change the slider to “Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer”.

Related: You need permission to perform this action.

3] Enable Built-in Administrator account

If disabling that UAC didn’t do the trick, the next steps are to Enable the Built-in Administrator account. Built-in Administrator is a hidden administrator account on Windows, which is created while installing the OS. There will be no restrictions on this account. Make sure you disable it after using it.

• Click the Windows Start button and type in CMD
• Right Click on CMD and click on Run as administrator
• The command prompt will open up then type in

net user administrator /active:yes

• Hit Enter you’ll get a message “Command ran successfully”.
• Type net user administrator <Password>, and then press ENTER.
• Please replace the <Password> tag with your passwords which you want to set to the administrator account.

To disable the administrator account type

net user administrator /active:no

4] Reset the default security permissions

If that fails then something is wrong with your Operating System. Sometimes registry settings might get messed up. In those cases, we could try to reset the default security permissions.

• Click the Windows Start button and type in CMD
• Right Click on CMD and click on Run as administrator.
• The command prompt will open up then type in:

secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

Check this Microsoft KB313222 for more info about this command.

Restart the computer and test it.

Related: You require permission to make changes to this folder

5] Run System File Checker

If that doesn’t help then try to run the System File Checker.

• Click the Windows Start button and type in CMD
• Right Click on CMD and click on Run as administrator
• The command prompt will open up then type in SFC /SCANNOW and hit Enter.
  

If none of the above steps helped, then you might be looking at a corrupted operating system. Try to run a Repair Install or a Reset This PC.

How do I allow permissions in Windows 10?

You can allow permissions on the Privacy page in Windows 10 Settings. Under the App permissions section on the Privacy page, you can manage app permissions. Different apps require different permissions, like location, camera, microphone, etc. You can allow or block all these permissions for different apps here.

How do I give permissions to a folder in Windows?

If you want to give permission to a folder to all or selected users by changing the folder properties. Open the folder properties and go to the Security tab. There you can edit the permissions for all users, authenticated users, system, and administrators. If you see the permissions option greyed out, you have to disable inheritance and then convert the inherited permissions into explicit permissions.

TIPS:

• Check this post on Unable to change File or Folder Permissions.
• DropPermission is a freeware that may interest you.

I hope something helps!