Windows Permissions are very important to save your files to the desired location but sometimes you may be bothered when you get an error message like – you do not have permission to save files to this location.
This may hinder your activity as we all love to organize the files or folders according to our priorities.
Why You Don’t Have Permission To Save?
This error message – don’t have permission to save indicates you to gain permission from the administrator to save a file.
It might happen that the location has been set to read-only to prevent any removal or accidental deletion of the files or got affected with some malware.
This is a common issue and you can fix this error with the ways mentioned below.
Solution 1: Give Full Control To Administrators Group On Your Device
If you do not have permission to save files to a preferred location, then I will first recommend you to give full control to the Administrators group. on your PC.
Though this is an advanced procedure to change the security permissions, so you are advised to avoid changing permissions for the system folders.
Follow the steps to execute the procedure:
Step 1: First of all right click on the problematic directory and select Properties from the menu.
Step 2: Visit the Security tab and then press Edit.
Step 3: Now, select Administrators from the menu bar. Next check Full control in the Allow column.
If you find Full Control is already checked, then choose an option from the Deny column. After that proceed to check Full Control in Allow column again.
Step 4: No click Apply and hit the OK button to save changes.
Step 5: Repeat the steps for the Users group in the Security section.
Some users advise that the problem can be fixed by giving Full control to the user profile. This is a simple procedure you may commence by following the steps:
Step 1: Select the Security tab and press Edit.
Step 2: Now choose the Add button. In Enter the object names to select field, type your username and then press the Check Names button. If you find everything proper, hit the OK button and save the changes.
Step 3: After that select the Full control option and save changes.
Solution 2: Use Administrative Privileges To Run The Application
According to users, you don’t have permission to save to your desired location if you are running an application without administrative privileges.
So, run the application as an administrator. Follow the below-mentioned steps to do so:
Step 1: First of all identify the problematic application and right-click on it.
Step 2: Now select Run as administrator and after doing so the application will run with administrative privileges. Check whether your issue is solved for the time being.
Solution 3: Disable User Account Control
Windows 10 has been introduced with a useful feature like User Account Control. This security feature notifies you whenever an application acting requires administrative privileges.
This important feature may sometimes hinder the performance of your system and you face problems while saving a file to a certain location.
To fix the issue, follow these steps:
Step 1: Press Windows Key + S and enter the user account. Then choose Change User Account Control settings.
Step 2: Now navigate to find Never notify and click OK to the save changes.
This will completely disable the User Account Control. Check whether your problem is solved this way.
Solution 4: Disable Protected Mode
While using your web browser if you are getting the error message that you do not have permission to save files to this location, try to fix the problem by disabling Protected Mode.
Follow these steps to perform the task:
Step 1: Press Windows Key + R and enter inetcpl.cpl in the box. Then press OK or then hit the Enter button.
Step 2: Go to the Security tab and disable Protected Mode. Now choose Apply and press OK to the save changes.
Step 3: Now restart the browser and check if the issue is fixed.
Solution 5: Move All Your Files To A New Directory
If you continuously fail to save your files to the desired location, then we will recommend you to create a completely new directory and move all your files to it.
This solution might require you to remove certain directories, so we advise you not to use it on system files.
Do the following to commence the task:
Step 1: Locate the problematic folder and then move on to its mother directory.
Step 2: Now create a completely new folder in the parent directory and name the folder.
Step 3: Navigate to the previous one, select all the files, and then copy them.
Step 4: Now, paste the files to the newly created folder. Now, save a new file to the new Folder.
Solution 6: Check Your Antivirus Software
The antivirus software you are using may create this problem. Some antivirus tools may lock certain folders so that malicious files tend to access them.
To solve the problem, check your antivirus settings and turn off the feature that is creating a problem while you access a specific folder.
Just go to the settings and add the problematic application to the list of reliable applications. After this, you should be able to access any folder without any further issues.
You may also temporarily disable your antivirus and check if that fixes the issue. If this does not help, you may go for uninstalling your antivirus.
Solution 7: Cease To Share The Folder
You may wish to stop sharing the folder if you fail to save the file in your desired location. This problem often affects the shared folders, and if you wish to solve the problem, stop sharing the same.
Try these below-mentioned steps to do so:
Step 1: Identify the problematic directory. Then Right-click on it
Step 2: Now select Share with then move on to Stop sharing.
In addition to this you might wish to disable sharing feature for your Homegroup. You may do so following the steps:
Step 1: Press Windows Key + S and enter the homegroup. Now select HomeGroup from the displayed list.
Step 2: Choose change advanced sharing settings and in the File and printer sharing section,select Turn off file and printer sharing.
Step 3: Click to save the changes made. Make sure you see if this has solved the problem.
Solution 8: Change The Owner Of The Directory
Sometimes changing the owner of the directory enables you to combat the issue when you fail to save the file to the desired location.
This is a very simple task you can accomplish by following the steps:
Step 1: Right-click on the problematic directory and choose Properties from the menu.
Step 2: Now, go to the Security tab and click on Advanced. Now you’ll find the owner of the directory. Select the Change button.
Step 3: Enter Administrators in the displayed section and then click on Check Names. You may also use your own user name or email address.
Step 4: Now hit the OK button.
Solution 9: Use The Compatibility Troubleshooter
Sometimes due to the compatibility of certain applications, you may interfere with the problem that you don’t have permission to save it in the desired location.
Use the Compatibility troubleshooter to resolve the issue by following the steps:
Step 1: Locate the problematic application and right-click on it. Then select Troubleshoot compatibility.
Step 2: Select the Troubleshoot program option and check the program whether it requires any additional permissions option. Then move on to Next.
Step 3: Now you are supposed to follow the instructions given on the screen and finish the troubleshooting. After you do this, you shall be able to save files without any further issues.
Solution 10: Remove Features From Context Menu
Use Easy Context Menu to enable you to customize your context menu by adding or removing some features.
The application supports many features, and you are allowed to take ownership of any of the folders or files.
Just do the following:
Step 1: Download Easy Context Menu. Then download the archive and open it.
Step 2: Run EcMenu_x64.exe if you’re running a 64-bit version of Windows or run EcMenu.exe for a 32-bit version.
Step 3: When you find Easy Context Menu starting, scroll down, and check to Take Ownership in Folder Context Menu.
Step 4: Click on Apply Changes to save the changes. Now just right-click the problematic directory and select Take Ownership from the menu.
Solution 11: Format The Drive As NTFS
If no other trick has worked for you, format your drive to remove all files from it. Make sure to take a back up. There are two file systems, NTFS and FAT32. FAT32 is an older version, and it has some limitations.
Follow these steps:
Step 1: First of all check that your removable storage is connected. Now, open This PC and find out the problematic drive. Then right-click on it and choose Format.
Step 2: When the Format window opens, choose NTFS, and enter the desired label.
Step 3: After that check the Quick Format option and click Start. Wait for a couple of minutes so that the process gets accomplished.
Once your drive is reformatted like this, as NTFS drive, you will find your error is solved.
Solution 12: Log Out And Log Back Into Your Account
This is most probably the simplest method you may follow to solve the problem.
In case you have two or more user accounts on your computer, just sign out of your account and log back in.
Step 1: Go to Start and select your user profile icon. Choose to Sign out option from the menu.
Step 2: Choose your user account and log back in.
This unusual workaround may work wonders to solve your problem very easily. Though it is not a permanent solution and you may need to repeat the procedure often.
Winding Up
I hope from the above-mentioned methods, you could find out your desired one to solve the issue when you do not have permission to save files to your preferred location.
As we always look forward to hearing from you, shoot us a mail or come up with your ideas or suggestions in the comments section.