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Is there a way to see folder/file permissions in a collapsable tree view in Windows?

What I think I need is something like:

+ folder1 - EntAdmins[RWX],JoeBloggs[R--],Administrators[RWX]]
+ folder2 - EntAdmins[RWX],JoeBloggs[RWX],JoesWife[R--]Administrators[RWX]]

And so on for lots of folders.

Ideally the tool would do something like below; when the "+" is clicked:

- folder1
|---+ Subfolder1 - EntAdmins[RWX],JoeBloggs[R--],Administrators[RWX]]
|---+ Subfolder2 - EntAdmins[RWX],JoeBloggs[R--],Administrators[RWX]]
|
+ folder2 - EntAdmins[RWX],JoeBloggs[RWX],JoesWife[R--]Administrators[RWX]]

Does something like this exist for Windows? I need to scan hundreds of folders for their permissions and would prefer not to do the right click and "Properties | Security | Advanced" just to see the permissions.

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3 Answers 3

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AccessEnum from Microsoft Sysinternals does most of what you requested. It does not however have the facility to drill down, but it's a very useful tool nonetheless.

Give it a try!

AccessEnum Screenshot
(source: microsoft.com)

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  • Pretty much perfect for my needs! Here's a euro: €1! It doesn't have the drill-down, but it is better because it shows sub-folders/files that have different permissions from the parent. Aug 27, 2009 at 17:24
  • I would say enjoy, but I know what a total headache sorting out ACLs on shares can be!
    – Izzy
    Aug 27, 2009 at 17:58
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My tool SetACL Studio does exactly what you want. It has a tree view on the left and displays owner and permissions in the main area on the right:

enter image description here

As you can see, it even works with different object types: file system, registry, printers, services, shares, and WMI objects. You can change permissions, too, of course. And it has undo.

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  • 1
    Unless I'm missing something though, this only works for local things, not for network drives. May 2, 2017 at 19:50
  • @RickyMorse SetACL Studio works with remote machines, too. Just click the add computer icon in the upper left corner. May 2, 2017 at 21:10
  • Hm. I've tried that, but it can't get the data from the share. I don't have access to the server, I just have access to a subfolder of a shared folder, and that's what I want to get permissions on. May 3, 2017 at 14:57
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You may be able to do something similar to what you're talking about in Windows Powershell using the following command line:

dir -recurse | where { $_.PSIsContainer -eq "TRUE" } | get-acl

Optionally, you could pipe the output to a file like this:

dir -recurse | where { $_.PSIsContainer -eq "TRUE" } | get-acl | out-file "C:\report.txt"
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  • Thanks, I will bear this in mind, but the AccessEnum is the tool for me at the moment. Aug 27, 2009 at 17:25
  • I understand. It sounded like a good tool but I had just this morning received my PowerShell tip of the day containing a similar bit of code and thought I'd share that as an alternate means of achieving the same goal. Use what works, definitely!
    – Marcus
    Aug 27, 2009 at 17:51
  • Can I alter this to skip a folder that I don't have access to? for example, when I ran this (not as admin) I got an error ("unauthorized operation") and the report stopped at the folder I did not have access to
    – Ben
    Jan 17, 2018 at 2:59

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