- The most important drive in the computer is the C Drive. All the boot files, program files, and operating system files reside in this drive.
- The user doesn’t have full access to this drive. But Sometimes we need full access to this drive in order to run necessary apps and programs.
- So, in this article I will show you how to get full access to C drive.
Types of Permission
Before we go ahead let us see the permission types we get in our PC. Here are the list of types of permissions:
- Full Control
- Modify
- Read & Execute
- List Folder Contents
- Read
- Write and Modify
The below table explains how much access different permission types gives to the files and folders.
Do I have full Control/access/permission over C Drive?
Nope, the user doesn’t have the full access over the C drive. However, to check the user’s permission in C drive. Follow the steps:
1. Open File Explorer
2. Navigate To This PC
3. Right-click C: Drive, and then click on Properties.
4. Click Security Tab.
Here you will see the permissions and group or user names.
You will notice that Administrator and SYSTEM have full permissions, but a user doesn’t have these permissions. This article will explain how a user can gain full permission for his computer.
How do I get full C Drive permission in Windows 11?
Follow the below steps to get full C drive permission
1. Open File Explorer
2. Navigate To This PC
3. Right-click C: Drive, and then click on Properties.
4. Click Security Tab.
5. Click on Advanced Options in the Security tab.
6. Next, open the Advanced Security windows and change the ownership of the C drive. It will be TrustedInstaller unless it was changed.
7. Next, enter your USERNAME under Enter the Object Name to Select and click on Check Names. Finally, click OK.
Alternatively, click on the Advanced tab and click on Find Now & choose your Username under Search Results.
Select Users to grant all users access to C: Drive.
Select Everyone to grant permissions for your C: Drive.
8. Next, select the Checkbox to Replace Owners on Subcontainers or Objects. Also, check the box Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object. Click on Apply.
Windows Defender will now begin to change the ownership of your C: drive. Meanwhile, dialog boxes will appear saying, “The process cannot access the file due to it being used by another program.” However, press continue.
You won’t be able to access all files. If the dialog box says “Failed to list objects in the container. Access is denied“, click Continue.
9. After Changing Ownership has been completed, click OK on the Windows Security Prompt.
10. You can now see your User Account under Permission Entries. Click OK.
Auditing
11.
- Navigate to the Advanced tab again.
- Click on the auditing tab.
- Click on Continue.
12. Next, you will need to add your User Account/Username. So, Click on Add.
13. Click on Select a Principle.
14.
- Next, enter the same USERNAME you used in the permission section.
- Then click Check Names.
- Finally, click OK
15. Select full control and click OK.
16. Next, click on the Apply button.
Windows Defender will now begin to set security information on files in C: Drive.
You won’t have full access to all files. If the dialog box says “Failed to list objects in the container, Access is denied “ click Continue. The same way as before. Once you are done, click OK.
You will now be able to see your User Account under the Auditing Entries.
Effective Access
17. Click on Effective Access. Click on Select a User. Again process will remain the same. Type the same User Account that you used in the Auditing tab. Click on Check Names, then click OK.
18. Click on View Effective Access. You will see that the User Account has all permissions and full access.
19. Next, go to C: Drive properties Security tab and click Edit.
20. Click on Add, select the same USERNAME as you used earlier, and click OK.
21. Now, you can see that your User Account has full access. Now click OK to close the window.
This will allow you to access all the features of your C: Drive.
How can I get my Windows user name?
1. Open command prompt.
2. Type whoami and hit the Enter key
3. Our current username will now be displayed.
Risks and corresponding solutions for giving full control over C Drive
There are fare amount of risks in giving the full control permissions over C drive to all the users because any user will have full access to the C drive now and they will now be able to alter the system files which comes with a fare amount of risks.
There are two solutions to this problem
- First, instead of giving full control to the all the users, give Modify one level down to Full Control. That should do.
- Another is instead of Everyone use group of authenticated Users. This way intruder can’t get full control using one of the accounts that don’t require authentication. Put it another way intruder or attacker will now have to overthrow the account that has a password.
