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

 

[bilal]

ok...so i got these 4 results...posted in the order they came up

 

[Brink]

Ok mate.

I have updated all of the downloads for it. It will restore what is in your screenshots back to default. Restart the computer afterwards.

 

[bilal]

well the text 'run as administrator' is back but now it comes up with this everytime i use the run as administrator button

 

[Brink]

Did you restart the computer after merging the .reg file above?

If so, run this to restore the default .exe associations and restart again.

 

[bilal]

thanks man that last reg entry did the trick...all's well for now :D
gonna try the take ownership reg entry from here now

 

[Brink]

That's great news Bilal. That sure was a stubborn one.

 

[bilal]

haha...sure was man...i will be able to sleep well tonight
EDIT: the take ownership button also seems to be workin so...YEY!!

 

[parkerr0902]

Re: Context (Shortcuts) Menu

I have a question:

Why cant i use the "take ownership" option in Regedit?:huh:

 

[Brink]

Hello Parkerr, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You can only use that context menu item on files or folders, and not registry entries. Instead you would need to manually take ownership of the registry entry using step3 in Option Two of METHOD TWO in the tutorial below.

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

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ChrisRobt]

Re: Take Ownership of file

I'm hoping this forum is still being followed by someone.

I am working my way through the excellent tutorial about chkdsk not running on startup and have come to the section where I need to Take Ownership of the autochk.exe file. When I DL the Take_Ownership file, I get a message asking what program I want to use to open this file. I don't know what to do next.


Christine

 

[Brink]

Hello Christine, and welcome to Vista Forums.

When you download the Add_Take_Ownership.reg file to your desktop, does it still have the REG file extension on it?

If it doesn't, then rename the file extension to where it does.

If it does, then double check in Default Programs to make sure that the REG file extension has it's "Current Default" program set as Registry Editor (C:\Windows\regedit.exe).

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ChrisRobt]

The problem occurs one step earlier; when I click the Take_Ownership download link, my computer asks me what program I want to use to open this file. It does not DL the file to my desktop

Christine

 

[Brink]

When you click on the blue Download button in the tutorial, is this what it asks you after clicking on Save?

 

[ChrisRobt]

I click the Take_ownership DL and the DL appears at the bottom of my screen; if I click on that, it asks which program I want to use to open the file. I can "see" that DL under users/Christine/downloads but it doesn't seem to be a .reg file

How do I tell Vista to put the DL on my desktop without trying to open it?

Christine

 

[Brink]

Are you using Internet Explorer? If not, try downloading it from it.

 

[ChrisRobt]

No problem downloading that file with IE; I completed the steps in the tutorial, but still cannot get chkdsk to run at start up. I've started manually dragging my files over to my external back up drive as I think I may have to return the computer to factory settings from 2 1/2 years ago (it won't do a back up until I run a chkdsk and won't run a chkdsk due to corrupted files on the C: drive

Christine

 

[Brink]

It doesn't sound good. Since you are able to back up your files, it may be best to do a factory restore to prevent having more problems from it later.

 

[papabob53]

Hello, How many files can I use this command on at a time. It seems I am limited to 15 files.


thanks bob

 

[Brink]

Hello Bob,

If used on a folder, then it will take ownership of all the files and subfolders in that folder as well.

 

[jtbalogh]

Regarding your download with Add_Take_Ownership.reg, you mentioned application files, (EX: EXE, CMD, MSI) will have Run as administrator instead of Take Ownership in the context menu. What if we added or changed the registry key name for "runas", to "takeownership", so that all files including EXE, CMD, MSI, will see the Take Ownership option too? To test, I was able to take ownership on any file when using the registry key,

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\takeownership]
instead of,
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]

Maybe this might help avoid a conflict I see when EXE already uses its own registry key with "runas",
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas] ? Thanks for checking and keep up the good work.