File or folder permissions cannot be changed in Windows

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When you create a new file or folder in Windows 10/8/7, the Windows operating system assigns it a default set of permissions called Effective Permissions. You may want or need to change these permissions from time to time.

File or folder permissions cannot be changed

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But if, for some reason, you cannot set custom permissions for files or folders, here are some things you can try depending on your symptoms.

1. 1. If the Security tab is not visible : If you can only see the Share tab and NOT the Security tab, check the properties of this disk. The Security tab is only visible on NTFS drives and is NOT displayed if you are using the FAT file system. If you set permissions and then apply them to something other than the default location (this folder, subfolders and files), Windows Vista and later add a check mark in the Special Permissions box. You can now view the permissions assigned by clicking Advanced > Edit > Edit > User / Groups > Edit. You may need to scroll to the end of the permissions list to view them.
  2. You notice that check boxes are shaded for some users, and check boxes for these users are not available in the Permissions dialog box: Such permissions are inherited from the folder where the file/folder is stored and are not explicitly set. To interrupt the inheritance chain, click’Advanced’ in the’Security’ tab in the’Advanced Security Settings’ field, then click’Edit’ and finally’Include inheritable permissions from parent objects’.
  3. If authorization settings are not available: You must check your user accounts. Are you logged in as a member of the Administrators group? Or are you the owner of the object to define its permissions? If you are logged in as a default user, you can only see your own authorization settings. If you select another user/group in the Security tab, the authorization field is not available.

If this does not help, use DropPermission to solve this problem immediately. For more information on troubleshooting file and folder permissions problems, see this article.

See this message if you need administrator rights to clear this folder error message.

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