Windows 7 Ownership & security permissions of whole sys drive messed up

Rakot Johnson

Active Member
Most stupid thing to do, but I did it...
I changed ownership of all files on C:\ (and permissions also -removed SYSTEM, Users & authenticated users from all files-shame on me) and after that, I was unable to get even into win logon screen. Fortunately, I have 2 Win 7 x64 versions installed, so I tried to change permissions tabs & ownership of WINDOWS & Users folders accordingly, as it is set on the "not-messed up" version... at least most of it (general folders & some subfolders, returned TrustedInstaller back as owner etc.)... Yeah, a made it and windows started successfully, but since then, Ive began to experience installed software problems aswell... I had to manually change all permissions etc. on every folder & file of e.g. Office to make it work... Messing permissions & ownership produced many other "bugs" to the system e.g. system does not save folder & other settings during shut down & when I leave my PC idle for 5-10 min., it suddenly freezes, so even crtl+alt+del wont wake it up.... I assume it is because my stupidity & also because system still does not have all the permissions it needs to work correctly... Is there a (quicker) way to fix back all default permissions? Or somebody know which files to change manually to make it work without those "bugs"?
Note1: System Restore function does not working after permission changes...
Note2: Sys specs located in my profile...
Note3: Do not even try to tell me advices like: reinstall windows or sth...every moron can do that... Moreover it is not a good choice for me, cause I do not have enough place to backup all data...
Thanx a lot for your help in advance
 
Quite frankly, there is no single file or group of files to change (other than all of them) to fix the issue, since the file permissions are not stored in one file (that would be horribly insecure).

Have you tried an sfc scan yet? Open an administrator command prompt and give it a shot: /sfc scannow

If it fails for any reason, try rebooting into a Windows 7 Install/Repair environment, and get to the command prompt, and give this a shot:

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=d:\ /offwindir=c:\windows

Replace "d:\" with whatever drive is your "system reserved" or "bootloader" drive, and "c:\windows" should be where your Windows installation is located. You can find the drive mappings by using DISKPART

If you need help with these tips, you can find help here:
http://mikemstech.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-perform-offline-system-integrity.html (this website gives some solutions to some common issues you may encounter in this process)
 
Hm, thanx but, it didn't work, but I finally made it - manually, by setting up same permissions (owners) as they were set in the untouched copy of the Win7 and for all important system files, had a minor problems with office and net framework though ("files corrupted" thing), but finally I repaired those by manual (forced and complete) clean up (uninstal l / repair failed) and new fresh install... Now everything works like a charm again...

My advice: If you mess up ownership & security permissions of %windir% or whole sys drive, have a backup copy of the same Win7 installed on your PC... that was (still is) the only way (I've found) to fix it back without complete Win7 reinstall...

P.S.: Microsoft should have made a repair utility, to put back all security tabs of the system files...
 
My advice: If you mess up ownership & security permissions of %windir% or whole sys drive, have a backup copy of the same Win7 installed on your PC... that was (still is) the only way (I've found) to fix it back without complete Win7 reinstall...

P.S.: Microsoft should have made a repair utility, to put back all security tabs of the system files...
I agree with that, although I think that in severe cases a clean install is preferred. Nothing like clean sheets?
 
It's hard to do a clean install if you don't have a free space for backup...

Moreover, clean install/reinstall is easy answer to all win problems, but, this is last resort option for me. I just can't stand people who ignore challenge and immediately reinstall (quit \ give up),...If it's already severely damaged than why not to try to repair it, it's not like it's gonna get worse... :)
It seems to me that everything in life today "works" like that, something brakes and goes to waste, then it's replaced by something new,...not only software, things, even relationships... Do the phrase "try to fix it" still means something in our tech-no-logical world?

P.S.> I have that same "broken" install of Win7 (day of install 14th March 2009), and it still works like a charm :)
 
It's hard to do a clean install if you don't have a free space for backup...

Moreover, clean install/reinstall is easy answer to all win problems, but, this is last resort option for me. I just can't stand people who ignore challenge and immediately reinstall (quit \ give up),...If it's already severely damaged than why not to try to repair it, it's not like it's gonna get worse... :)
It seems to me that everything in life today "works" like that, something brakes and goes to waste, then it's replaced by something new,...not only software, things, even relationships... Do the phrase "try to fix it" still means something in our tech-no-logical world?

P.S.> I have that same "broken" install of Win7 (day of install 14th March 2009), and it still works like a charm :)

1. Get an external hard drive for backups. Every PC owner SHOULD have one. It is useless to store backups on the same hard drive as the OS.

2. Clean install is not the only solution. Image backups is the easiest and fastest solution to fix a messed up system. Just recently, I did an image restoration due to almost the same problem as yours. I tried to fix it but the problem is I can't do anything on my PC. It doesn't allow me to make any changes and I can't get admin privileges.
Image backups include all your installed programs. It's like a clean install with pre-installed programs. Image restoration can take only up to 15mins or so.
 
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