Can you delete Xbox games installed by another administrator? I ran into that problem a few years ago because I reinstalled W10 and had it keep “personal files” which apparently included my Xbox games. I couldn’t touch them at all, but I had W10 Home. I wonder if my problem could’ve been mitigated more easily than a full wipe of the drive? 🤔
I’m pretty sure I can. It just takes a little more effort actually going into the permissions tab of the files because Windows doesn’t have an equivalent to CHMOD AFAIK.
Though, I am pretty sure you can do those basic permission options without Pro or Enterprise. You just need to be on an administrator account. Other things, like messing with actual system files, requires the Group Policy Editor.
Windows has icacls and Get/Set-Acl for permissions. You can also manipulate ownership, although it’s quite convoluted. Just doing takeown is the easiest.
I’m conflicted on linux vs windows in this regard. I liked ACLs in Windows, but if a software/installer decided to mess it up, it was messed up good, and required lots of manual intervention.
On any Windows system based on the NT kernel (XP+), there’s an additional access level above “Administrator”: NT Authority\SYSTEM. Some malware can make files hidden or write protected even to Administrator, and afaik there isn’t a legitimate way to obtain that authority
Can you delete Xbox games installed by another administrator? I ran into that problem a few years ago because I reinstalled W10 and had it keep “personal files” which apparently included my Xbox games. I couldn’t touch them at all, but I had W10 Home. I wonder if my problem could’ve been mitigated more easily than a full wipe of the drive? 🤔
I’m pretty sure I can. It just takes a little more effort actually going into the permissions tab of the files because Windows doesn’t have an equivalent to CHMOD AFAIK.
Though, I am pretty sure you can do those basic permission options without Pro or Enterprise. You just need to be on an administrator account. Other things, like messing with actual system files, requires the Group Policy Editor.
Windows has
icaclsandGet/Set-Aclfor permissions. You can also manipulate ownership, although it’s quite convoluted. Just doingtakeownis the easiest.I’m conflicted on linux vs windows in this regard. I liked ACLs in Windows, but if a software/installer decided to mess it up, it was messed up good, and required lots of manual intervention.
On any Windows system based on the NT kernel (XP+), there’s an additional access level above “Administrator”:
NT Authority\SYSTEM. Some malware can make files hidden or write protected even to Administrator, and afaik there isn’t a legitimate way to obtain that authorityI do see the system level authority in the permissions tab; but IDK if that’s just because I am on pro or not 🤷♂️