Windows 10 The requested security information is either unavailable or can't be displayed

[RobSquire]

I recently migrated several thousand files and folders from one external hard drive to another. My backup software (iDrive) failed to back up 5 or 6 folders. When I looked at the properties for those folders, the Security tab just says "The requested security information is either unavailable or can't be displayed". I can replace the data from a previous backup, but the bad folders won't delete. How can I delete them?

 

[Neemobeer]

You should be able to use the takeown command from an elevated command prompt to take ownership of the files and then grant yourself access either through the GUI or using icacls

 

[RobSquire]

Thank you Neemobeer. I assume that id sone from the cmd line, but I don't know what an elevated command prompt is or the exact form of the command. Can you provide me with more detail? Thank you.

 

[Neemobeer]

Opening an Elevated Application

takeown /f C:\path\to\file /A

or

takeown /f C:\path\to\directory /A /R if you want to recursively take ownership of a entire directory and everything in it

icacls C:\path\to\file /grant administrators:F

or

icacls C:\path\to\directory /grant administrators:F /T to set access recursively to a directory

 

[RobSquire]

These are folders that have the permissions missing, not files. The folders are in an external drive. The drive is the L drive which is named "Older Photos - Lacie 1". The main folder named "2014 photos". The first folder with the missing permission is a subfolder and is named "5D Mark IV". (There are other subfolders with missing permissions, but they all have similar folder structures.}

So just to be sure,
- I open the command prompt by hitting Windows R, then typing cmd in the run box and clicking OK
- Then in the black box that comes up, after the C:\Users\(my user name)> I'll type takeown /f Older Photos - Lacie 1 (L/2014 Photos/5D Mark IV

Is that all correct?

I'd like to thank you for your help. I appreciate it.

 

[Neemobeer]

No you need to open the command prompt with "Run As Administrator" as described in the link

 

[RobSquire]

Oh, sorry. I didn't realize that was a link. I now understand how to open the command prompt as an administrator. So, here's what I think I need to do:
- Type cmd in the search box. Right click on the cCommand Prompt App, and select Run as Administrator
- Click yes to allow the app to make changes to my device

 

[RobSquire]

- Then in the black box that comes up, after the C:\WINDOWS\system32> I'll type takeown /f Older Photos - Lacie 1 (L/2014 Photos/5D Mark IV

Is that all correct?