Permissions are greyed out.

  • Thread starter Thread starter SundanceKid
  • Start date Start date
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SundanceKid

I am currently running Windows XP Professional on a home network. I have an
Administrator account. The problem that has recently cropped up is that
when I look at individual folders (on all 4 hard drives) "Sharing and
Security", and click on the "Security" tab it has got all of the permissions
greyed out for all of the accounts. Can someone please tell me what has
happened and why I can't change these permissions and how to go about fixing
this?

- Rich
 
XP uses a mechanism called Permission Inheritance, which means, that the
permissions granted at a higher level in the hierarchy are inherited by
lower level. In the lower levels this is indicated by the fact that the
permission settings are grayed-out. So you are basically looking at
permission setting from a higher level, that also apply to the level you're
looking at.
In extreme, what is defined at the root of your drive will apply to all of
the folders and files on the drive.
Now as to how this has 'recently' changed, is another matter.
It could be, that someone has set permissions at the root of your drive and
indicated:
"Replace permissions on child objects....."
You can change the settings (on the lower levels) by clicking on the Remove
button in which case you will be asked what you want done with the 'current'
permissions: Remove or Copy.
Obviously Remove will eliminate the settings all together (so you end up
with NO permission settings), whereas Copy will set the currently inherited
settings to be applied explicitely at that level.
hth
 
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