Permissions in Windows 7 determine which users can access, modify, and delete files and folders. Every file and folder on your Windows computer has individual permissions settings. Changing permissions allows you to lock down or open up files for the users on your computer. If you've recently recovered data from an old hard drive, you may need to take ownership of the files so that you can access them.
Right-click on the file or folder you want to change permissions for. You can change the permissions for any file or folder. Changing the permissions for a folder will change the permissions for all of the files and folders inside.
Select "Properties." This will open the file or folder's Properties window.
Click the "Security" tab. This will display a list of groups and users that currently have permissions for the object
Click the "Edit" button. This will allow you to change the permissions for that file or folder for any user on the computer.
Click the "Add" button to add a new user or group to the list. If you want to add a new user to the list of user with permissions for that file, click the "Add" button to begin.
- Click "Advanced" and then "Find Now" to find all of the users and groups on that computer.
- Select the user you want to add to the permissions list and click "OK." They'll be added to the "Group or user names" list
- Select the user that you want to change permissions for. The available permissions will be displayed in the "Permissions for User" list.
Check the boxes for the permissions you want to add for that user or group.Each permission in the list has an "Allow" and "Deny" box. Check what permissions you want to give to or restrict from the user
- Full control - User can read, write, change, or delete the file.
- Modify - User can read, write, and change the file.
- Read & execute - User can read or run the selected file.
- List folder contents - User can view the files in the selected folder.
- Read - User can open the file.
- Write - User can edit the file or create new files.
Click "Apply" to save your changes
