Windows – Administrator not an Administrator

aclpermissionsSecuritywindows 7windows xp

I have copied some files from an XP computer to a PC running Windows 7. I am logged on as a user who is marked as an Administrator.

When I try to access the directory, I am told I don't have permission. Understandable, but what is odd is that I as an administrator don't have access to take ownership of the files. I don't have permission to add users in the ACL or to take ownership, indeed such options are greyed out.

Why as an administrator user can I not take ownership of files?

Best Answer

Try opening an elevated CMD window (right click> Run as Administrator) and type:

Net user administrator /active:yes

Confirm the command ran successfully then log off and log back in as the administrator account. After logging in as the built-in administrator account you should be able to take ownership.

Do not use this account for anything other than troubleshooting, never for everyday use.

If you wish To disable the account:

Net user administrator /active:no

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Windows – How to get current logged in user name when running a batch file as administrator

How do I get current logged in user name when running a batch file as administrator

It runs fine when the current user has local admin privileges, but for users who aren't I have to enter the domain administrator password for the changes to take place.

With the below example you just set a variable with the environmental variables as you already have in your ICACLS command logic, and then use that variable to specify the account to grant the applicable permissions passing it to a CALL routine.

@ECHO OFF
SET Identity=%userdomain%\%username%
CALL :ICACLS "%Identity%"
GOTO EOF

:ICACLS
runas /user:MYDOMAIN\USER icacls "program files directory" /grant %~1:F
GOTO EOF

If you have trouble

If you're running cmd.exe with RUNAS and you determine the %userdomain%\%username% variables don't set (or list) the expected values which you need to use for the ICACLS commands to work as expected, then run the below commands in cmd.exe before using the RUNAS functionality to find the current logged on domain and username credential values which you can then use with the ICACLS commands for setting the permissions for that identity\security principal.

SET Identity=%userdomain%\%username%
ECHO %Identity%

Best Answer

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Windows – How to get current logged in user name when running a batch file as administrator

If you have trouble

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