As the name suggests, you’ll encounter this error when your current logged-in user doesn’t have permission to access or view the properties of a file/folder. You can find the message on the Security tab of the folder properties.
It usually happens on a new local user due to restrictions from the admin. But it can also happen if you or a malware script changed the permission settings for the folder/file.
So, the only solution is to give the current user the permissions to fully control the folder or file.
Fixes for You Must Have Read Permissions to View the Properties of This Object
First, restart your PC in case any process is using the file/folder and preventing you from accessing it. If the issue still occurs after the reboot, try the possible solutions we have provided below:
Change Account to Administrator
You can only access some protected folders from an administrator account. If you are using a local account, you need to switch to an admin one.
Alternately, you can also change your account to an admin account. Depending on your UAC settings, you may need to know the main admin account’s password to make such a change.
Here are the necessary steps for this method:
you’re able to also change an account to the administrator using other ways. Visit our dedicated article on changing account to administrator on windows to learn the methods.
Take Ownership and Change Permission Settings
If you encounter this issue on an admin account, there’s definitely something wrong with the folder or file’s permissions. To resolve such issues, you need to take ownership of the folder or root folder and change permissions using the following steps:
If you encounter this error on multiple files/folders, change such setting for their root folder or drive.
Take Ownership and Change Permissions Using CLI
If you find it troublesome to execute the above method, you can usethe Windows CLIslike Command Prompt to perform a similar process. It only requires two commands so it’s more convenient. The necessary steps are as follows:
Share Folder to Everyone
Another solution is toshare the folder with all userswhile enabling read/write permissions. It overwrites the original permission settings and makes the folder accessible to all users.
Here’s how you can execute this method:
Scan for Malware
If you encounter this permission issue on the file or folder you could access previously, it’s likely due to malware infection. As such, changing permissions again may resolve the issue, but it does nothing to prevent future attacks. Moreover, some computer virus can also prevent you from changing the permission settings altogether.
So, you need to perform a full scan of your system to detect and remove such malware. To do sousing the Windows Defender(Virus and threat protection):
Delete Inactive Users in Safe Mode
If you experienced this error on a new user account, it’s likely that an old, inactive account is preventing your system from changing the permissions to facilitate the new user.
You need to delete all inactive users while changing the permissions to accommodate the new user account in such a scenario.
First, you need to boot your PC in safe mode using the steps below:
Then, apply the following instructions in safe mode to delete the inactive users:
