Have you ever had to change file permissions on an NTFS formatted drive or partition? While it’s not a frequent occurrence in every day use, Microsoft hasn’t done anyone a favor by making the process intuitive and simple. Changing ownership or access rights on a file or folder involves a multiple step click and menu system that’s prone for many an error or accident if one isn’t careful. Simply – it’s an intimidating process the first time.

NTFS Permissions Tool is a free and easy to use portable utility that erases most of the pain that comes with dealing with permissions on NTFS in Windows. Use of the application is a bit unconvential, at least as it pertains to normal behavior when working with files – the program is driven by drag and drop instead of integrating within Windows Explorer and the right-click context menu.

With all the files or folders loaded into the application interface you are then able to set some simple permissions using the drop-down selection for Allow, Readonly, or Deny.

However to really dig into the intricacies of NTFS permissions and unearth some of the advanced functionality – like user or group specific access rights – double-click on each file or folder. Here it is easy to given a specific user full access to a folder while restricting another user or group to read-only. Accomplishing this through the traditional Windows interface is a chore!

With the proper group added and selected you may further refine access control to just this folder, sub-folder, or file.

NTFS Permissions Tool works with all NTFS Windows Operating systems – XP, Vista, and 7 in both 32 and 64 bit releases. Additionally it requires the .NET framework which you probably already have installed.

Download NTFS Permissions Tool