Should I change folder permissions: Possible dangers?

[accomplice]

Greetings TechSupport friends,

[note: this is not a question about virus/trojan etc.]

Just to give some background to my problem:

I have an infected hard drive. The only way for me to remove the infection is to take out the drive, connect it as a slave to a clean computer and remove the offending files manually.

The reason I have to do this is because the infection (a ransomware) has taken over the whole screen; even when I boot up in 'safe mode with command-prompt' I cannot access the command-prompt window, and therefore cannot get into regedit or anything else for that matter to remove the offending files.

I am the only user on that system, so I can't log off (and the ransomware doesn't allow me to anyway).

Now, when I connect the infected drive to a clean system, I am unable to access the folder [*drive*\Documents and Settings\*user folder*\], as I am confronted with an 'access denied' message.

I understand that it is possible to change the permissions pertaining to this folder, so that I can access it from my other system and then be able to delete the offending files and restore functionality to that user area.

My question, then, is: If I change the folder permissions and remove the infection, upon reconnecting the drive to its original system will I still be able to log on to that user area (seeing as the permissions of the folder have now been changed)?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may be able to offer.

[Wand3r3r]

google taking ownership of files and folders

If your logon account is an admin account you will have no issues
If your logon account is not an admin account you will need to logon with an admin account and assign ownership the other account.

[spunk.funk]

As Wand3r3r suggested. Take Ownership of the User Folder

[accomplice]

Originally Posted by spunk.funk

As Wand3r3r suggested. Take Ownership of the User Folder

Thanks. But what I want to know before I do this is that if I take ownership of the user profile folder in question, remove the infection, and then reconnect the said drive to its original system, will I still be able to log on to that user profile now that the ownership of the user folder is different? I really need to know this before I go ahead with taking ownership of the folder.

Thanks.

[spunk.funk]

You won't be changing any of the previous owners permissions, just adding yours. It won't affect logon.

[accomplice]

Originally Posted by spunk.funk

You won't be changing any of the previous owners permissions, just adding yours. It won't affect logon.

Okay. I'll go ahead with it then. I'll get back to you on whether this is solved or not. Thanks a bunch for your kind assistance.

[rajabs28]

Dear Accomplice,
I think the article of Russel Sc can help you to understand file permission system of windows 7 where he describes the process step by step.

Thank You