How do I allow access to folders I mistakenly over secured in Windows 7?

Question

I stupidly denied access to my user folder for the administrator group, and now I can't fix the problem.

I set the Administrators and HomeUsers groups' permissions on my Account's user folder to Deny for Full Control (Which in turn set everything to deny). There was a dialog box telling me Deny takes precedence, but I didn't realize the implications at the time.

A regular administrator account doesn't work to fix the problem because they're automatically in the administrator group. I know I didn't block the SYSTEM user, but I haven't found any information on the internet to let me use that.

For posterity: I was trying to prevent my XP computer from getting access to those folders, but that's a different question entirely.

Answer 1

You can try using the Hidden Administrator Account (slightly higher privileges than the normal admin):

• Open an elevated command prompt (Start menu > cmd > right click > run as admin)
• Run this: net user administrator /active:yes
• Logout
• Login via the new account
• Go to your blocked folder
• Right click the folder > Properties
• Go to the Security tab > Advanced (at bottom) > Change Permissions > Administrators > tick Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object (at bottom) > Edit > tick Full Control

It might take a bit of manual labour to get this fully working - but it works!

Remember to disable the Hidden Admin account afterwards (for security)! - run this command: net user administrator /active:no