You need permission to perform this action on Windows 10

There are some files necessary for the proper working of your computer. Therefore, Microsoft doesn’t want you to edit these files. Because of this, you may see a “You need permission to perform this action” message on Windows 10. Even though it is not an error but it can be a bit frustrating.

You need permission to perform this action

These are the things you need to do to get around the “You need permission to perform this action” message on Windows 10.

1. Check if you are an admin
2. Take Full Control
3. Take Ownership of File and Folder
4. Add to Administrator Group

Let us talk about them in detail.

1] Check if you are an admin

Before moving any further we need to make sure that you are the admin. If not, you may face this error with some folders which require administrator privileges to open.

So, to check that, launch Control Panel by Win + R, type “Control”, and hit Enter.

Click User Accounts and check the “User” section, there alongside your Profile Picture you will see your Account type. As you can see in the screenshot that my account type is Administrator.

2] Take Full Control

If you are an administrator and still not able to access the file, you need to take full control of the file or folder that’s giving you the message. To do that, right-click on the folder and select Properties.

Go to the Security tab, click Edit, and tick “Allow” from the Full control section. Finally, click Apply > Ok to end things up. Now, try opening the folder and check if the issue persists.

3] Take Ownership of File and Folder

If you don’t have ownership of that particular file or folder, you may face this error. Take ownership to get around the issue.

TIPS:

• Ultimate Windows Tweaker will let you add the Take Ownership of Files and Folders easily to the context menu.
• RegOwnIt lets you easily take ownership of Registry keys.

4] Add to Administrators Group

If you are not a part of the Administrators group, you will face the “You need permission to perform this action” error on Windows 10. So, the best solution for you would be to add yourself to the Administrators Group. If you don’t know how to do it, follow the given steps.

1. Launch Computer Management by searching it out from the Start Menu.
2. Now, expand Local Users and Groups and click Users.
3. Right-click on the user you want to add to the Administrators Group, and select Properties.
4. Go to the “Members of” tab and click Add.
5. Type “Administrators” in “Enter the object names to select” and click Check Names > Ok
6. Click Apply > Ok.

Now, go to the folder that was giving you the “You need permission to perform this action” error and check if the persists.

TIP: DropPermission is a freeware that may interest you.

All the best!

Related:

• Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file error message
• You don’t have permission to modify files in this network location
• You’ll need to provide administrator permission to delete this folder
• You don’t currently have permission to access this folder or file.