Windows file permission/ownership woes
Over the last few months, on various occasions, I’ve hit issues when trying to access files in Windows. Generally this seems to be down to a permissions/ownership problem, and in many cases I’ve been completely unable to change the security settings. The security tab in the file/folder properties only displays “The requested security information is either unavailable or can’t be displayed” and offers no further options.
Today, I found a solution: ZTreeWin.
ZTreeWin is a fast and flexible text-mode file/directory manager for all versions of Windows. It has been developed as the successor to the legendary DOS file-manager XTreeGold. Anyone who has used that remarkable program would be aware of its superior capabilities as a text-mode, tree-structured file-manager - but would also likely be aware that its limited memory support, and lack of long filename support are today a major issue.
ZTreeWin is a 32-bit Windows program that has been developed to provide all the powerful functionality of the past (and much more!), while avoiding all the limitations of the old DOS-based program.
ZTreeWin can access any file (even those that Windows wouldn’t touch with a bargepole) and allows you to rename, move or delete as required without any permissions or ownership issues. For me simply renaming the affected file was enough to solve the problem - as soon as the file was renamed I was able to access it again through normal Windows explorer.
A very useful and inexpensive tool - highly recommended.