Administrator account cannot take control or change permissions to system folders

I'm running windows 7 ultimate and am trying to install some software off of a secure server at a remote location to my hard drive. The install fails every time because the my user account (an administrator) does not have full write permissions to the program files directory. I have tried taking ownership of the directory, but I don't have permission to change it from TrustedInstaller.

I turned on the built in administrator account and logged in through that, but there is no difference in permission level. When I attempt to change the permission level I get the following error dialog box:

An error occurred while applying security information to:
C:\Program Files (x86)
Access is denied

Then the following:

Unable to save permission changes on Program Files (x86)
Access is denied.

I've been fighting with this for three days now and I consider myself pretty adept at typical windows bs. Yes, my UAC is set all the way down. That was the first thing I turned off. I also tried shutting down virus protection and firewalls to no avail. Any help here would be awesome since none of the posts I've been able to find say what to do when the admin can't take control from TrustedInstaller.

Many thanks to whoever can help me out on this!!!

I forgot to mention that I tried rebooting the computer in safe mode with no services under the admin account and had the same results.

Hello and welcome to the forum. Check your NTFS permissions on the C:\Program Files (x86) folder (security tab under folder properties) and confirm that the local administrators group has modify permissions to that folder and full control permissions to subfolder and files only.
Taking ownership from Trusted Installer should not be necessary.
Right click the installer (setup.exe, setup.msi, etc.,) and choose run as administrator.
Regards Randy

Hi Trouble,

Here is the screenshot of that window for me. All of the permissions are special and when I attempt to change any of them I get the same 2 errors I posted earlier. It allows me to check the box for full control but gives me those errors when I exit and doesn't save the changes. I don't have the exe for the install since it's a web app that is trying to install through a browser window using java and a secure p12 key. I really just need full control and not ownership, although TrustedInstaller is making me distrust it extremely...

Yes, sorry.... I keep forgeting that I'm currently running Windows 8, hence the subtle difference. Had to go upstairs to my wife's Windows 7 machine to double check.
I suspect that your permission for typical program installation is fine, of course you can double click on any of those to inspect "Special" permissions more closely.
I can only suggest that you either check with the application vendor for suggestions as to how to resolve the issue or work arounds that they might be familar with as I don't suspect that you are the first person to ever have this issue. Or perhaps let us know the name of the actual app and someone here might have had some experience that they will be able to share with you.
I am not at all sure that resting ownership of that particular folder from Trusted Installer is likely to be a solution nor can I provide any information regarding any long term consequences of doing so. I can provide a link to a program that will do what you apparently want to do Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista - How-To Geek however you might want to spend some time researching the consequences and determining ways and methods to return ownership to trusted installer should that become necessary.
Regards
Randy

Thanks, Trouble. I tried that just now and have the same results as before. I can't take ownership or change permissions. All those reg keys do is add the shortcut to "Take Ownership" the windows shell right click folder options. A DOS window flashes for a split sec but obviously it fails because the owner is still TrustedInstaller. I still can't change permissions. The problem is deeper here and I am running out of ideas besides looking at the registry by hand....

So it's a new day and I'm still having this problem. Does anybody out there know how to give a user account full control over system folders if the administrator account doesn't have full control? That is the core of my issue. I am hoping to fix this without doing a repair install of windows...

Originally Posted by rodger

So it's a new day and I'm still having this problem. Does anybody out there know how to give a user account full control over system folders if the administrator account doesn't have full control? That is the core of my issue. I am hoping to fix this without doing a repair install of windows...

Have you tried logging in as Administrator?


How to Enable the Administrator Account

Open the command prompt withelevated privileges by clicking the Start orb, AllPrograms, Accessories, right-click Command Prompt and thenselect Run as administrator.

Type or cut and paste…

net user administrator /active:yes

and then press Enter.

Log out and log back in asAdministrator.

When you are done undue theprocess by doing the same thing and pasting in

net user administrator /active:no

Do you have the UAC turned off?

You can also try downloading this app and see if it will let you take ownership...

Grant Admin Full Control

http://www.mydigitallife.info/take-a...ht-click-menu/

Mike

Thanks, Mike. I already have UAC turned off and am using the normally hidden administrator account. the "grant admin full control" registry key you linked to at mydigitiallife.com just adds another command to the shell that actually just runs the takeown function from the command prompt. Below is a screenshot of that not working...




Is there anything else I can try?

Hi

Try installing the software in a different directory.
It may not object to that.

I'm running Windows 8 right now and I don't have any of my software installed in the C:\Program files, or Program files (x86) directories because I don't have room on my Windows 8 partition.

Actually I don't have any of the software installed on the same physical drive as Windows 8.

While it defaults to the program files directory it doesn't usually care where it's installed unless the software it'self has some kind of limitation.

Mike