I have tried to copy files from my old computer running Microsoft Windows 7 to my new one running Windows 8. When I try to open the files, I get a message telling me that I am not authorised to open them. Maurice
When you use a Windows PC, you do it via your user account. This “owns” all the files you create, and lets you set permissions for sharing them (or not). This is handy when the same PC is used by several different people. However, when you move the file to a different PC, it can no longer find the account used to create it. If this happens, Windows will tell you that “you don’t currently have permission to access this file” or folder.
You can click Continue and, usually, get permission to access a particular file. However, if you have a lot of files, this quickly becomes tedious. The solution is to use a utility that enables you to take ownership of many files at once. In this case, I suggest you download TakeOwnership.zip from the How-To Geek website.
TakeOwnership.zip isn’t really a program – it’s only 622 bytes, including the uninstall part – it just modifies your Windows registry.
Most people only run into this problem when they attach an old PC drive to a new PC to transfer data, perhaps by installing it in an external USB hard drive enclosure – which is how I came to use TakeOwnership.zip myself.
The other way to take ownership of a whole drive is to right-click on it and select Properties. When the property sheet comes up, click the Security tab, select Authenticated Users, and then hit the Advanced button. This lets you change permissions for the one or more accounts on the hard drive. Techfleece has an illustrated tutorial to show the process.
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