People encounter with Unable to Display Current Owner Windows 10 appear on the Owner box while attempting to take an ownership of a certain file or folder. There are many reasons possible what could cause the said error. But, in majority of the cases, this is a result of error related to privileges of the user account.
When you attempt to take an ownership of a file showing Unable to display current owner in Owner box, it will cause an error “Unable to set new owner on FOLDER, Access is denied”. If you attempt to open a file or folder with no displayed ownership, you will receive an error “You have been denied permission to access this folder/file.”
Typically, such errors occur when a particular folder doesn’t have permission, the folder is used by a program or the folder is read-only. Usually, this happens when the System group or ‘Everyone’ group does not have Full Control Privileges. However, in other different scenarios, here are the common culprits what could cause the error:
- Admin account is not enabled on the system,
- Authentication user doesn’t have full control,
- Folder lock or similar software preventing the current user from accessing the path,
- Folder or file in question contains damaged or corrupted files without the specified owner.
We understand the issue and know the possible reasons what could cause the error and now we are in the position to learn the different fixes that would resolve the problem. Check below, you will find different troubleshooting steps. Choose the one relatable to your scenario and skip the rest:
Possible fixes for Unable to Display Current Owner Windows 10
Fix 1: Uninstall Folder Lock
This type of apps allows you to password protect your files and folders. However, such software is extra careful in handing accounts. You might find the files/ folders locked with such software become inaccessible for the other Windows account.
Another possibility is that you are using an older version of the program which is running with a bug where users have locked a folder with this software and were no longer able to access its contents. Fortunately, in such cases, you can resolve the problem just by uninstalling the app:
- Press Win+ R, type appwiz.cpl and hit Enter,
- In the opened Programs and Features window, scroll down to Folder Lock (or similar app you are using),
- Right-click on it and select Uninstall,
- Reboot the system the next and check now if the problem is resolved.
Fix 2: Allow full access to authenticated users
Some users have managed to resolve Unable to Display Current Owner Windows 10 by allowing Full Access to all authenticated users:
- Right-click on the problematic file/folder and go to its properties,
- Select Security tab and click on Advanced,
- From there, go to the Permission tab and click on Change Permissions,
- Click on the Add in the Permissions Window, then click ‘Advanced’ option prompted by Select User or Group Window,
- Go to the Common Queries in the next window and select Find Now option,
- Scroll through the list on the window appears next and double-click on Authenticated users,
- Now, the Authenticated Users is set as the objects,
- Hit Ok button and from the Permission entry, check the Full Control under Allow and select Ok,
- Confirm the action and then restart the device for the changes take place.
Fix 3: Run Chkdsk/ F in elevated Command Prompt
The problem could be caused due to an error in y our file system that you can easily resolve by chkdsk/ F command in the elevated Command Prompt:
- On the Windows Search, type CMD,
- Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator,
- In the elevated Command Prompt, type cd+ “exact path to folder or file” and hit Enter,
- Then, type chkdsk/ F and hit Enter,
- Type Y and press Enter to confirm your action,
- Close the elevated Command Prompt one d one and then restart your PC to check if Unable to Display Current Owner Windows 10 error is now resolved.
Fix 4: Enable built-in Administrator account
Enabling built-in Administrator account has a high chance that it resolves the problem unable to display current owner for you as it has a lot of more privileges than a regular administrator account. Here is the quick guide:
- Open Command Prompt as Admin,
- In the Command line, type net user administrator/ active:yes and hit Enter,
- Log out of your current user and you will see the new user named Administrator,
- Click it to log-in and try to access the folder/ file that were giving the permission error and check if Unable to Display Current Owner Windows 10 is resolved.
Fix 5: Give Folder/ file ownership to all Administrators
If you were not able to access a particular file or folder when logged into built-in Administrator account, you should use the account again to give ownership to the file/ folder to the entire Administrator group:
- Once logged into the built-in Administrator account, open an elevated Command Prompt and type the below command and hit Enter:
takeown /F “complete path of folder or file” /a /r /d y
- now, tap the below command and hit Enter:
icacls “complete path of folder or file” /grant administrators:F /t
- Once done, try accessing the file/ folder that was giving the trouble for you and see these commands resolved the problem for you.
Fix 6: Run in Diagnostic Startup
If all above methods fail and you continue receiving Unable to Display Current Owner Windows 10 error, you should boot your PC in safe mode. This will enable you to access the folder from a regular administrator account. But if this doesn’t, we will guide how you can use the hidden administrator again to do the job:
- Press Win+ R, type msconfig and hit Enter,
- In the opened System Configuration window, go to the General tab select Diagnostic startup and hit Apply,
- Click Restart and wait for the windows to boot up,
- Once OS is fully loaded, try accessing the folder again and see if the problem is resolved,
- If not, run Command Prompt as Admin and run the below command:
- net user administrator /active:yes
- Log-out of your current user and you should see a new user named Administrator,
- Click on it to log-in and try access the folder /file that was giving the problem and you should be able to access and/or modify it now,
- Now, enter net user administrator /active:no in the Command prompt to disable the built-in Administrator account,
- Then, press Win+ R, type msconfig and hit Enter to open System Configuration,
- Go to the General tab, select normal startup and hit Apply to save the configuration,
- Restart the device normally and your problem should be resolved.
Conclusion
That’s all! We have provided all possible fixes for Unable to Display Current Owner Windows 10. Hope so, these fixes are helpful for you in resolving the problem. If the problem continue, make sure you use PC Repair Tool to check for possible Windows related issues to get their automatic fixes.
