Messed Up Using "Take Ownership", Now Profile Settings Won't Load

Beaupedia · 26 Nov 2021

Windows 10 Version 21H1

Hello,

I have "Take Ownership" in my right click menu (explained here) and was having an issue with a program that had originated on another profile and had the bright idea to right click and take ownership of the entire D:\Users\Beau\AppData folder. It's possible I actually did the entire "Beau" directory and not AppData, but I'm not 100% certain.

Well, I realized after a bit (it was obviously taking a long time) that this was probably not the answer to the problem with the program and restarted to continue troubleshooting the software. When I tried to log back in to my profile, I got a message that there was a problem with my profile (I didn't keep track of the exact message and now it won't pop back up) and all of my settings were gone. I seemed to still be on my profile, but every setting in every program I've ever set is gone.

I realize this is a mess and a pain, but I am desperate to get things restored. Any advice would be appreciated.

Samuria · 26 Nov 2021

The folders should be owned by system can you see the settings to set it back to system

Beaupedia · 26 Nov 2021

Thank you so much for responding. This is what I have now. What would you suggest I do?

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I have a System Restore from last night, before I did any of this today. Would that be advisable or would you suggest something else?

Samuria · 26 Nov 2021

Try system restore it can do any harm. The top 2 setting are ok but the user must have full control not read& excute.
The last one everyone want removing as it read excute but Admin is part of everyone group so its conflicting with full control and stopping it working

Ghot · 26 Nov 2021

Beaupedia said:

Thank you so much for responding. This is what I have now. What would you suggest I do?

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I have a System Restore from last night, before I did any of this today. Would that be advisable or would you suggest something else?

System Restore might not help, but it won't hurt.

Also, here is a tutorial for Taking Ownership, that you can use, to give ownership back to "SYSTEM".

Change Owner of File, Folder, Drive, or Registry Key in Windows 10

Beaupedia · 26 Nov 2021

Thank you both, I wanted to clarify something. Lots of things I see say "Administrators" normally own AppData, but you're saying it should be System? I just want to confirm.

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Also, should I be selecting "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects"? What about "Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object"?

Ghot · 26 Nov 2021

Beaupedia said:

Thank you both, I wanted to clarify something. Lots of things I see say "Administrators" normally own AppData, but you're saying it should be System? I just want to confirm.

NO!

The C:\Users folder is owned by SYSTEM
The C:\Users\User name folder is owned by Administrators.

I just meant... put it back to the original owner.

/edit

The 2nd question is hard to answer, without knowing exactly how much "ownership" you took.
In my "user name" folder, the stuff in the RED square is owned by Administrators... everything else is owned by my "user name".

Beaupedia · 26 Nov 2021

Ghot said:

NO!

The C:\Users folder is owned by SYSTEM
The C:\Users\User name folder is owned by Administrators.

I just meant... put it back to the original owner.

Great, thank you. Those two are correct, I believe the issue is the AppData folder, should that also be owned by Administrators? I had used "Take Ownership" on the AppData folder and that's when my profile fell apart and now every setting for every program is gone. It's acting like a fresh install, but with my programs still installed.

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And if it supposed to be owned by Administrators, do I select "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects"?

What about "Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object"?

Ghot · 26 Nov 2021

Beaupedia said:

Great, thank you. Those two are correct, I believe the issue is the AppData folder, should that also be owned by Administrators? I had used "Take Ownership" on the AppData folder and that's when my profile fell apart and now every setting for every program is gone. It's acting like a fresh install, but with my programs still installed.

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And if it supposed to be owned by Administrators, do I select "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects"?

What about "Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object"?

See my edit above.

If you just used a program like Winaero Tweaker to "add" Take Ownership to the context menu... I believe that only Takes Ownership of the folder you use it on, and not the subfolders.

The problems you're having right now, is why most of us use backup software.
Unlike System Restore, which only merges the current state of the OS with the restore point... backup software completely "overwrites" (replaces) the current state of the OS with the backup.
So, in effect, it erases any boo-boos.

Reflect 8 Free can be found here... Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition

Beaupedia · 26 Nov 2021

I'm fairly certain what I use takes ownership of all folders and files. Now I'm noticing when I login that it's not bringing up my avatar and it acts like I don't own Documents, etc. I don't know what the heck is going on now.

I agree, I wish I had a backup program that did that. I use Backblaze to back up all my files online, but I don't have anything that copies the OS that way, would love suggestions for the future for once I get this resolved.

What would you suggest I try now? I am so grateful for your help.

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Nevermind, I see your edit about software. Thank you.