Permissions greyed out, cannot take ownership.

Hey guys trying to take control of this folder but the option is greyed out, check attachment !
I tried taking ownership but it doesn’t work. The option change is greyed out. Is their any way to do this?

Its greyed out as its contains system files and is protected if you take ownership it could cause things not to work its owned by system

It will inherit permission from above so you may have to change above in order to get it doing that will screw it up big time what are you trying to do?

Hello @Steven Campoli,

Steven Campoli said:

Yes I know but is their a way to bypass this?

You are playing a dangerous game!

Before you do anything, create a System Image. If you need help on achieving this then please let us know and we will provide information and instructions for you.

Have a look at this => Change Permissions of File, Folder, Drive, or Registry Key for Users and Groups

I hope this helps.

Paul Black said:

Hello @Steven Campoli,


You are playing a dangerous game!

Before you do anything, create a System Image. If you need help on achieving this then please let us know and we will provide information and instructions for you.

Have a look at this => Change Permissions of File, Folder, Drive, or Registry Key for Users and Groups

I hope this helps.

The article shows me how to take control of the folder but my question is what do I do when the option change is greyed out

Bree said:

What is the full path to the folder in question? Your screenshot doesn't show the full path, the only folder named 'Backup' I can find in my C:\Program Data\... folder that matches your screenshot is C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Definition Updates\Backup

Yes, I can confirm that if you click the blue 'Change' link it thinks about it for a bit, then greys out the Change option.

But I'm at a loss to see why you'd want to take ownership, as a member of the Administrators group you already have 'Full control' permission as your screenshot shows.

Yes that’s the path, want to delete this folder, in the past I was able to take control and erase it. when I click change it’s greyed and when I delete it says I need permission.

Bree said:

Hardly seems worth the effort, mine is just 168MB.

Boot to a Command Prompt in Advanced Start up and delete it from the command line if you really must.

That’s what I been doing :) been just wondering if their was a way in a Windows environment.