Add "Take Ownership" to right-click menu in Vista

Add “Take Ownership” to right-click menu in Vista
by Daniel Petri - January 7, 2009

In order to streamline the ownership of various files and folders in Windows Vista, you can add the “Take Ownership” option to your right-click menu. After clicking this icon, the owner of the selected file or folder will automatically change to your username. Please note that in order to use this feature you must have administrative privileges.

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Please be aware that this change requires making a change to the Windows Vista registry.

Note: Editing the registry has the potential to cause serious (and unrecoverable) damage to your PC. If you are at all uncomfortable editing the registry, please do not attempt the following.

The first step is to create a registry file. You can do this by opening Notepad (Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> Notepad) and copying and pasting the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"Extended"=""
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"Extended"=""
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

Save the file with the name Ownership.reg and close Notepad.