Local NTFS permissions and ownership
Read effective permissions, fix access problems with the least change, and handle ownership and EFS carefully.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 35 minutes
- Contents
- 3 lessons · 1 video · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 1 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Explain inheritance, explicit permissions and how deny entries work.
- Use Effective Access and icacls to find why a user can't open a file.
- Change ownership or permissions with the smallest necessary change, and recognise EFS-encrypted files.
Course outline
- 1.Local NTFS permissions and ownershipVideo · 4 min
- 2.How NTFS permissions workLesson · 8 min
- 3.Ownership, broken inheritance and EFSLesson · 8 min
- 4.Inheritance, share permissions and icacls in practiceLesson · 8 min
- 5.Local NTFS permissions and ownership: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 20 questions
- 6.Local NTFS permissions and ownership: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 7.Final exam6 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- Microsoft Learn: icacls
- Microsoft Learn: Access control overview
- Microsoft Learn: takeown
- Microsoft Learn: Encrypting File System
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