Strip my windows NTFS disk of all ACLs

Posted by Alain Pannetier on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Alain Pannetier
Published on 2011-01-29T08:59:27Z Indexed on 2011/01/29 15:28 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 320

Filed under:

Windows

|

powershell

|

acl

|

ntfs

|

cacls

When you purchase a windows PC nowadays, you don't actually "own" the whole disk...

There are so many ACLs on each folder that there are portions of it you actually can access only through a complex sequence of actions requiring skills well beyond the average PC user. You have to drill down to deeply buried dialog boxes accessible through concealed buttons. You have to understand at which level of the hierarchy you have to take ownership, remove ACLs etc...
Yet when you think of it, that's your PC, that's what the "P" of PC originally stand for...
So I'm toying with the idea of just stripping the disk of all ACLs I just purchased and leave standard file protections do the basic protection work... Just like previous century Windows used to do... (before I chmod -R 777 ;-)

Has anybody done that already and nevertheless survived in reasonably good shape for a reasonable amount of time ?

Any technical advice to do that ? Powershell script ? basic script using iCACLS ?

© Super User or respective owner

Related posts about Windows

Server 2012 DFS New Member Issue

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am trying to add a new member to our DFS topology. We have 3 DCs (VMs - VMware) running Windows server 2012, two servers are located in or Primary site and the third at our DR site. Currently the two servers at our primary site are currently replicating DFS (full mesh) and are working fine. I have… >>> More
error in IIS7 but not on IIS6

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have a website that is we are now deploying to windows 2008 servers that has worked in the past on IIS6 without a problem. It is using .net 2 framework. Most of the website works. Just when we create a screen report over a certain size on the server we get this error. Event code: 3005 Event… >>> More
error in IIS7 but not on IIS6

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have a website that is we are now deploying to windows 2008 servers that has worked in the past on IIS6 without a problem. It is using .net 2 framework. Most of the website works. Just when we create a screen report over a certain size on the server we get this error. Event code: 3005 Event… >>> More
Microsoft Management Console stops working when I add snap-in to it

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have Windows 7 Ultimate OS. I'm opening mmc.exe as administrator and trying add Certificates or any other snap-in, then while loading that snap-in MMC breaks and displays following message and after that it closes automatically once I click on close button on that message. What could be the problem… >>> More
Handling keyboard and mouse input (Win API)

as seen on Game Development - Search for 'Game Development'
There is a number of ways to catch mouse or keyboard under Windows. So I tried some of them, but every of them has some advantages and drawbacks. I want to ask you: Which method do use? I've tried these: WM_KEYDOWN/WM_KEYUP - Main disadvantage is that, I can't distinguish between left and right-handed… >>> More

Related posts about powershell

In Powershell on Windows7, how do I automatically set aliases (or run scripts) when powershell loads

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have created a powershell cmdlet and assigned it to an Alias. How do I do this automatically every time powershell launches? (i.e. so I don't have to re-assign the alias every time) >>> More
How to Load commands into your powershell profile to run on starting powershell

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Hi, I have found a way to load exchange 2010 powershell into powershell running on a windows xp workstation, however there are a few commands that need to run. I was wondering how I could load them into a profile somehow. These are the commands that I need to run before I can do any of the exchange… >>> More
C#, Powershell - Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Admin

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm having troubles using the Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Admin on a server. The server is not the one running Exchange 2007, it's a remote server (in the same zone). I can't figure out how to add the Snapin for Powershell - Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Admin. Is it possible… >>> More
PowerShell Script to Create PowerShell Profile

as seen on Geeks with Blogs - Search for 'Geeks with Blogs'
Utilizing a PowerShell profile can help any PowerShell user save time getting up and running with their work. For those unfamiliar a PowerShell profile is a file you can store any PowerShell commands that you want to run when you fire up a PowerShell console (or ISE.) In my typical profiles (example… >>> More
Download Free PowerShell Quick Reference Guides from Microsoft

as seen on How to geek - Search for 'How to geek'
Are you just getting started with learning PowerShell or tired of looking up less frequently used commands? Then this terrific set of PowerShell quick reference guides from Microsoft is just what you need! The first guide focuses on commonly-used Windows PowerShell commands and is available in a single… >>> More