How to Add “Take Ownership” Option to File or Folder Context Menu in Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Windows 8

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NOTE: This article has been featured by Microsoft. AskVG.com was the first website posting this unique trick.

Many times you need to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows. For example, when you want to customize Windows UI and need to replace existing system files with a new one.

You have to follow no. of steps to take ownership and grant yourself full permission to access the file or folder. But now you can do it in a single step.

You just need to download following zip file and extract it. You'll get a .REG file. Run the file and accept the confirmation:

Download Link

It'll add an extra option "Take ownership" in file and folder context menu:

Now you can right-click on any file or folder and select "Take ownership" option. It'll make you the owner of the file or folder and you can perform your desired operation on that file or folder.

NOTE: If you face problem while taking ownership of a file or folder using above method, you can try manual method which is mentioned in following article:

[Guide] How to Take Ownership (Permission) of a File or Folder Manually in Windows?

[Guide] How to Restore “TrustedInstaller” as Default Owner of a File or Folder in Windows?

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This article was posted by VG in following section: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP.

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VG

^^ Don't delete it. Rename it and copy new one.
Anant Kumar Mishra

Hi Vishal,
My Name Is Anant. I am from India.
i used your .REG file..
please see your this tutorial:
http://www.askvg.com/update-get-windows-7-like-color-and-appearance-tab-in-windows-vista/

first i right click themecpl.dll and choose take ownership.
then i right click that file again, and choose rename. but whenever i rename it, first UAC popups, and when i choose continue, a box pops up saying:
"You need permission to perform this action."

what to do?
Anant Kumar Mishra

forgot to mension.. i have Windows Vista™ Ultimate
VG

^^ You can disable UAC using Control panel -> User Accounts or log in using Administrator account.
Anant Kumar Mishra

hey!
thnx for replying..
i am on a admin account.
and i tried disabling uac but the issue wasn't fixed.

any other ideas?
:)
Anant Kumar Mishra

please reply dude ;)
VG

^^ You can try following tools to adjust UAC settings:

http://www.askvg.com/norton-labs-announces-new-vista-user-account-control-uac-tool/
http://www.askvg.com/uac-tweak-a-small-cute-utility-to-tweak-uac-user-account-control-in-windows-vista/
http://www.askvg.com/a-complete-guide-for-tweaking-user-account-control-uac-in-windows-vista/
http://www.askvg.com/tweakuac-excellent-tool-to-quickly-on-or-off-windows-vista-user-account-control-uac/
Anant Kumar Mishra

ohh thanks :)
i will get it back to you soon :P
TheAslan

Hiya Vishal!!

You have any idea how to remove "Register & UnRegister" in my W7 context menu??
VG

^^ I suppose you are talking about DLL file context menu. You can remove the entries from following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\dllfile