You do not have permission to write to this folder' error

[schabelf]

I just installed the April l2018 Windows 10 update and now I have a permissions problem. I use a music database program CATTRax which has an auto organize music files function winch renames files and folders according to rules and writes the files and folders to the new location. I have used it for years and have never had this problem. When the program tries to write the files to the folder I get a 'you do not have permission to write to this folder' error. I can write to this folder in windows explorer. I have changed the ownership of all the files and folders on my data drive which includes my music folder to my Microsoft user account. Every user in the permission box has full privileges. Running the program as administrator does not help. I have changed all the permissions for the program.exe to full with no effect. How do I fix this? Why does Microsoft keep making changes to Windows features and interface that nobody really cares about while at the same time messing up permissions and security . There ought to a single check box on a single user home machine that sets all the ownership on the machine to that user and gives full permissions for everything.

 

[Trouble]

Right click the problem folder and choose "Properties" and then select the "Security" tab.
Click the "Advanced" button.
At the top where it says "Owner" click the "Change" link and step through adding your user name there.
Make sure to tick the box that says "Replace owner on subconainers and objects"
Near the bottom click the button that says "Disable inheritance" and choose "Convert inherited permissions into explicit permissions on this object"
Click that "Add" button and step through adding your user name there WITH full permissions.
Make sure to tick the box that says "Replace all child object permissions entries with inheritable permissions from this object"
That should do it.

 

[schabelf]

Thanks for your reply. I had already done most of this. I had changed ownership of all the files and folders on my data drive to my user account and had all permissions set to full control. I had tried the disable inheritance but had picked the other choice rather than convert. That did not work Do I need to go back and reset permissions for the whole data drive or the music folder again and replace all the child abject permissions from there and then follow your instructions again or would it matter? All the pertinent permission entries have full control anyway. I think I will delete this folder and go back to the program VinylStudio (captures sound files from LPs and converts to MP3) which created this folder and the MP3 files in it and try recreating the folder again. I am beginning to be more convinced that the problem is in VinylStudio or CATTrax and not windows itself. Correct me if I am assuming incorrectly, but if it is a windows permission problem then I shouldn't be able to save into this folder from other programs and I just saved a picture from the net into that folder successfully.

 

[schabelf]

I deleted folder and recreated it from VinylStudio. CATRaxx still could not write to the folder. The new folder had inherited permissions from the data drive permissions. I followed your instructions and it did not work.

 

[Trouble]

Not sure what might be going on.
That should have done the trick.
I'm not clear on what might have happened when you changed permissions on the root drive (disk), and whether or not you might have removed the "SYSTEM" account with full permissions from the root.
That might be an essential account you will need to add back to the root and cascade that down to all sub-containers / objects / folders and files.

 

[schabelf]

I thank you for your interest and help with my problem. I have solved it though I still don't understand how or what happened. It was not a permissions issue after all. Hopefully I have not caused any damage with my ownership changes and permissions. My data drive still has the system user with full privileges. The confusion arose because my program CATTrax used the error message "You do not have permission to write to this folder" for a problem that didn't have to do with permissions at all. The program was trying to create a folder named for the artist on the album in question and then it would rename the files correctly and place them in the folder it created. However there was apparently a folder with the same name already there someplace or rather some kind of folder remnant with 0 size and a different icon than the other folders. After I deleted that folder or whatever it was, the program was able to create the folder with that name again and everything worked. I think it's just lazy program writing like you see in Windows and many programs where the program encounters an error and gives an error message that gives you no help in discovering the true problem and may even lead you in a totally wrong direction as in this case.

 

[Trouble]

Glad you managed to get it sorted.
Thanks for the follow-up info.
Much appreciated.