Context Menu - Take Ownership

How to Add Take Ownership to the Context Menu in Vista​

   Information

This will add Take Ownership to the Context (right click) menu for all folders, files, and drives in Vista and Windows 7.

Application files, (EX: EXE, CMD, MSI) will still have Run as administrator instead of Take Ownership in the context menu.

When you use take ownership on a folder, it will take ownership of all the files and subfolders inside the folder to.

   Tip

• To manually take ownership of items in Vista, see: How to Take Ownership of a Item in Vista
• To restore TrustedInstaller as the owner for a protected system resource, see: How to Restore TrustedInstaller as Owner of a File in Vista

   Warning

This Take Ownership context menu item needs to be used while logged on to an administrator account for it work.

EXAMPLE: Before and After Context Menus

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STEP ONE

Add or Remove Take Ownership

1. To Add Take Ownership​

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A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below.​

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Add_Take_Ownership.reg​

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B) Go to step 3.​

2. To Remove Take Ownership​

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A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below.​

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Remove_Take_Ownership.reg​

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3. Click on Save, and save the .reg file to the Desktop.​

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4. Right click on the downloaded .reg file and click on Merge.​

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5. Click on Run, Continue (UAC-Vista) or Yes (UAC-Windows 7), Yes, and OK when prompted.​

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6. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.​

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   Tip

After you have taking ownership of the file, you may still need to "Allow" your user account "Full Control" of the file before you will have full permission to access it. See steps 11 to 22 in the tutorial below for how.

   Tip

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Take Ownership of file - Vista Forums​

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STEP TWO

How to Use Take Ownership

1. Right click on a folder, file, or drive.​

NOTE: When you use Take Ownership on a folder, it will take ownership of all the files and subfolders within that folder to.​

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   Warning

Do not take ownership of the drive that you have Windows installed on. If you do, you will end up having to reinstall Windows.

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2. Click on Take Ownership. (See Example at top)​

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3. Click on Continue in the UAC prompt.​

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4. You will see a command window pop-up and then go away when it's finished. (See example screenshot below)​

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5. The folder or file has been taken ownership of.​

NOTE:​

A) You can verify from METHOD TWO step 7 here: How to Take Ownership of a Item in Vista​

B) It will have your user name listed as the owner.​

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   Tip

After you have taking ownership of the file, you may still need to "Allow" your user account "Full Control" of the file before you will have full permission to access it. See steps 11 to 22 in the tutorial below for how.

   Tip

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Take Ownership of file - Vista Forums​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Expand the Context (Shortcuts) Menu in Vista
• How to Customize the Context Menu for the Start Menu in Vista
• How to Customize the Send To Context Menu in Vista
• How to Customize the Recycle Bin Context Menu in Vista
• How to Add Encrypt and Decrypt to the Context Menu in Vista
• How to Add and Remove a New Menu Item in Vista
• How to Add COPY TO FOLDER and MOVE TO FOLDER to the Context Menu in Vista
• How to Take Ownership of a Item in Vista
• How to Restore the Search Context Menu Item after Installing the Vista SP1
• How to Add Flip 3D to the Context Menu in Vista
• How to Restore or Remove New from the Context Menu in Vista
• How to Enable or Disable the Context Menu in Vista
• How to Restore or Remove the Security Tab in Vista
• How to Remove or Show Drives in the Vista and Windows 7 "Send To" Context Menu
• How to Add View and Print File Directory to the Context Menu in Vista
• How to Add or Remove Copy as Path from the Vista Context Menu
• How to Add or Remove Send To from the Vista Context Menu
• How to Add or Remove Turn Aero On or Off from the Vista Context Menu
• How to Add System Properties to Computer Context Menu in Vista
• How to Restore TrustedInstaller as Owner of a File in Vista
• How to Restore or Remove "Restore Previous Versions" from the Vista Context Menu
• How to Add Empty Folder and Subfolders to the Vista Context Menu

 

[peong]

Mine is a batch file and changed then file extension to "ba1" when I send to my friend, So my friend need to rename it to "bat" in order to activate it, but system not allows. I even tried to rename a text file to its extension to "tx1" but also failed to do so.

 

[Brink]

Peong,

Can you right click on the BAT file and click Send To and Compressed (zipped) Folder, then send the ZIP file instead? This way your friend will just need to extract it instead without renaming.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[peong]

New idea, I will try out. Thanks!

 

[peong]

Yes, but I need to allow the Windows Mail to save or open the potential virus attachment...
Well, my problem can be solved this way, but I still wondering how come the above resolution still cannot rename a file extension? Is there a way that Microsoft gives to a expert user to do so?

 

[Brink]

Peong,

I'm glad to hear that the ZIP file method will work for you.

The message you get of "If you change a file extension, the file may become unusable." is normal when you change (rename) a file extension. You just have to answer Yes to it to allow it. Your friend should save the attachment to the desktop first. Next, right click on the file and click Properties, then check to see if there is a Unblock button there. If there is, then click on it to unblock the file. Now see if the file extension can be renamed back to what it should be.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[peong]

Hi Brink, I learnt something new today! Thanks, I'm now able to execute the file. BTW, since vista allows user to rename the file extension, then why we are still discussing about Take_Ownership of the file, etc. Initially, I thought that I need to take ownership first before I rename, end up I cannot find the Unlock button in its file properties, when I executed it I got this message: "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the approprite permissions to access the item". Can I say that, to change the Registry key for taking ownership of the particular file is actually unnecessary since vista has allows user to rename.

 

[Brink]

Peong,

I would yes, it's not necessary at all. Usually you will only need to take ownership of a item with your user account instead to be able to change the access permission levels for that item. If you already have permission and able to do what you want, then there is no need to do it.

I'm happy to hear that you got it all sorted out now.

Shawn

 

[peong]

Thanks Shawn, all doubts cleared! I'm glad to join in this useful website. Good bye!

 

[raynfay]

Hi,
I'm having a problem after downloading the .reg file to the desktop. When I right click the file and then click MERGE, the Security Warning pop-up appears as you have indicated. But when I click the RUN button on it, the file opens in Notepad rather than proceeding to your steps 6 and 7. Any suggestions?

Also, what is a UAC prompt that you refer to? As you can tell, I'm pretty new at this.

 

[Brink]

Hi RaynFay,

It sounds like the .reg file extension was associated to open with Notepad by mistake. In Method Two of this tutorial, set the Current Default program for the .reg file Extension to use the default Registry Editor (C:\Windows\regedit.exe) instead. Afterwards, try running it again.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/69758-default-programs.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[raynfay]

Shawn,

Thanks so much for your help. Following your advice, I was able to change the default for the .reg file extension and then proceeded to take ownership of the folder/file. When I immediately tried to delete it, however, it didn’t work saying the destination folder access was denied, but after a restart it deleted just fine.

Unfortunately, however, my basic problem is still there. Let me explain and see if you can point me in the right direction. A few months ago I installed Zone Alarm for my antivirus program. For some reason the installation with Vista did not go well and I had to uninstall it. The uninstall did not go well either and I had to get step-be-step help from their tech support to carefully remove the ZA files from the Program Files and System 32 folder before I could reinstall it.

Once that was done I used ZA for a while before deciding to try another antivirus program so I went through the same detailed uninstall process, installed the new antivirus program, and have been using it (Windows Live OneCare) for the past few months.
The other day I decided to try a different security suite (never satisfied) which provides some other features for maintenance, etc. So I uninstalled OneCare and tried to install the new program. However, it will not install because it says that the Zone Alarm antivirus and firewall are still present. Zone Alarm does not appear when I look at programs to uninstall from the Control Panel so I searched around and found a couple of ZA folders still in Program Files and Program Data which I was able to delete with your help, thinking that would correct the problem.

However, the new antivirus program still will not install because it still thinks ZA is still running. Furthermore, when I look at the Windows Security Status from the Control Panel, it indicates that both ZA firewall and security suite report are turned on and that ZA antivirus is up-to-date and scanning!!!

I am sure ZA has been uninstalled and I can find no trace of ZA or Check Point (who makes it) programs, files, or folders when I do a search from the Start menu. I feel there must be some file still lurking somewhere that is causing this.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Ray

 

[Brink]

Hello Ray,

I would refer to the Zone Alarm support site to see what they had to say since this is a some issue with the Zone Alarm program itself. They would know their program better and should be able to give you a solution that would work.

The only thing I can think of is to scan the registry with the Find feature for Zone Alarm and delete all entries found. This is not recommended if you are not sure how to work in the registry though.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[raynfay]

Shawn,

Well, I fixed the problem and thought I would let you know what happened. I contacted tech support at Zone Alarm again as you suggested but they were unable to provide any further help beyond what they had already provided sometime ago when I was having trouble with the initial installation. Their advice did include checking for and deleting certain files, folders and registry entries but it did not fix the problem, which was Windows Security Status and my new security program both seeing Zone Alarm as still being present and preventing the new security program from being installed.

So I went to a program that I had read good reports about....Revo Uninstaller. To uninstall an application, it uses the application’s own uninstall utility but, in addition, provides a complete check of all registry entries, files and folders that are associated with the application.

Then what I had to do was reinstall the troublemaker Zone Alarm in order for Revo Uninstaller to remove it, which it did. After which, however, it provided a list of almost 300 leftover Zone Alarm entries which had not been removed by the Zone Alarm uninstall utility. I went over the list to double check each item, with one click deleted them all and, SHAZAM!!!, Zone Alarm was gone. Windows could not detect any trace of it and the new security program installed perfectly.

Revo Uninstaller is really remarkable and I can’t believe it’s freeware. Thanks again for your help in getting me through my initial problems.

Ray

 

[Brink]

Ray, I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out. You might send Zone Alarm a email letting them know about their faulty uninstaller and how many files where still left over.

I wish Revo Uninstaller supported the 64 bit Vista and not just the 32 bit version.

Thank you for the feedback,
Shawn

 

[Doomgiver007]

Hi. I have a problem. I am trying to change vista themes and I got several resources that walk me through it. I downloaded the "Take Ownership" files and everything went well, however, when I right click to take ownership, it isn't there in the context menu. I'd appreciate any help.

Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hi Doomgiver,

What is the file extensions for the files that you are trying to Take Ownership of with the context menu option?

Application type files, (EX: EXE, CMD, MSI), will still have Run as administrator instead of Take Ownership. Those you will have to take ownership manually.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67717-take-ownership-file.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Doomgiver007]

The files are .dll (Application Extension). But alright, I'll see what I can do and I'll be sure to update. Thanks a bunch.

 

[Brink]

Strange, I have Take Ownership available when I right click on a .dll file in C:\Windows.

 

[z3r010]

Strange, I have Take Ownership available when I right click on a .dll file in C:\Windows.

So do I.

 

[Doomgiver007]

This is really weird. I even checked my security permissions, which, of course, I should be able to tinker with the ownerships since I'm the only one who owns this computer. I really don't know what else to do other than reboot.