Allowing Win7 Users Write Access to Volumes created under WinXP

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Allowing Win7 Users Write Access to Volumes created under WinXP

This procedure describes the steps to be taken in order to allow Windows 7 users write access to objects on an external disk drive created under Windows XP. By default, a Windows 7 user account is only granted Read Access on objects created by a Windows XP system.

The changes applied by using these steps are recorded in the NTFS file system of the external drive, not on the local system where the steps are performed.

The procedure is divided into 2 parts:

1. Taking ownership of the drive and all objects on it:
   These steps are necessary in order to be able to alter access permissions on the objects in step 2.
2. Granting "Authenticated Users" full control on the drive and all objects on it:
   These steps will ensure that a group called “Authenticated Users” gets full access rights to all objects on the external drive.
   (The group “Authenticated Users” contains only users who have authenticated to the domain or a domain that is trusted by the computer domain)

Note:
All these steps should be performed on a Windows 7 (not the Windows XP) system.


1) Taking ownership of the drive and all objects on it:

• In Windows Explorer, right click the drive and choose “Properties”

• Select the “Security” tab and click “Advanced”:
  

• In the “Advanced Security Settings” dialog, select the “Owner” tab and click “Edit”:
  

• In the “Change Owner to” box of the “Owner” dialog, highlight your user account name, check “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects” and click OK:
  

• Confirm the following two windows being displayed:
  
  
  

• Close all dialogs by clicking OK

2) Granting "Authenticated Users" full control:

• In Windows Explorer, right click the drive and choose “Properties”

• Select the “Security” tab and click “Advanced”:
  

• In the “Advanced Security Settings” dialog, select the “Permissions” tab and click “Change Permissions”:

• In the “Permissions” dialog, click “Add …”:
  

• In the “Select User or Group” dialog, enter “Auth” (without the quotes) in the “Enter the object name to select” box and click “Check Names”:
  

• A Group called “Authenticated Users” (or similar in other languages) will show up in the same text box. Click OK to confirm:
  

• In the “Permission Entry” dialog for “Authenticated Users”, make sure “Apply to: This folder, subfolders and files” is active, check the box next to “Full control” (the other checkboxes will be activated automatically) and click OK:
  

• Back in the “Advanced Security Settings” dialog, you will now see “Authenticated Users” in the “Name” column, with “Full control” in the “Permission” column.
  
  Check “Replace all child object ….” and click OK to apply the change:
  

• Confirm the upcoming dialog with “Yes”:
  

• Close all dialogs by clicking OK

These steps allow all authenticated users full access to all objects on the external drive. Since this group (Authenticated Users) is present on both Windows systems (Win7 and WinXP), access should be granted from both systems.