I've just got a new PC with Windows 7 on it. All my important documents are stored on a separate hard driev on here named E: drive. When I tried to access them from my laptop computer, the computer will "see" all the folders and files but they're all "read only" and I can edit them. I also can't seem to copy any files onto the drive as I get the "You need permission to perform this action" error. How can I fix this?

Try to gain permission by right-clicking onto the folder / files and go to properties. And go to the Security Tab and press the "Edit" button. In there, press "Add" and write your username under "Enter the object names to select" and hit "Check Names" now it should be underlined and depending on your computer's name it should look like something with "YOUR-PC\Username". Press "OK" and your username should be added to the list, select it and press "Full control" checkbox and hit "OK". Now you should have full permission to the folder and its files, if that fails, try to do the same process with each individual file. If that fails too, you can try to gain ownership over your folder / files by going back to the Security Tab but instead you press "Advanced" button below the permissions and press on the "Owner" tab. In there press "Edit" and select your username and hit "OK". A window with the following text should pop up: "If you have just taken ownership of this object, you will need to close and reopen this object's properties before you can view or change permissions" Press "OK" and you should be good to go. Hope that helps :P

Try to gain permission by right-clicking onto the folder / files and go to properties. And go to the Security Tab and press the "Edit" button. In there, press "Add" and write your username under "Enter the object names to select" and hit "Check Names" now it should be underlined and depending on your computer's name it should look like something with "YOUR-PC\Username". Press "OK" and your username should be added to the list, select it and press "Full control" checkbox and hit "OK". Now you should have full permission to the folder and its files, if that fails, try to do the same process with each individual file. If that fails too, you can try to gain ownership over your folder / files by going back to the Security Tab but instead you press "Advanced" button below the permissions and press on the "Owner" tab. In there press "Edit" and select your username and hit "OK". A window with the following text should pop up: "If you have just taken ownership of this object, you will need to close and reopen this object's properties before you can view or change permissions" Press "OK" and you should be good to go. Hope that helps :P

Thanks for your reply - which computer do I do this from?

Are you in a network with both computers? Then you should be on the computer hosting the files and when you add a user you can add the username that you use on your laptop. With "Check Names" button it should navigate correctly automatically. Try that and tell the result.

Thanks for your help. Yes, both computers are networked and are both in the MSHOME workgroup. Although I can see the laptop computer when I go to "Network" (My network places), when I go to the Security tab and click "Add", the "Locations" button only shows the computer on which I am trying to share the files and no others.

It could be so simply it's on the Share tabs, when you share a folder/files you can check if others in your network can modify the files. Right-click on the folder containing the files, go to the "Sharing" Tab then click on "Share...". To not mess with too much you can choose "Everyone" in the dropdown menu and press "Add" now it should appear in the list, click on "Everyone" and under "Permission Level" choose "Read/Write". Try that and see how it goes.

Thanks for that. Unfortunately the "Share...." button you mention is greyed out. Is there any reason for that?

Are you trying to share the whole E:\ ? I have the "Share..." button greyed out aswell if I try to share the whole volume :P Or do you get that for a folder too? Here are two screenshots how it looks on my end: 1 2 You can share the whole drive if you want with "Advanced Sharing..." button. And then you check "Share this folder" give it a name and click on "Permissions". Then you should see "Everyone" in the list and you can click on "Full control" to give them that. (But it's a security risk).

Yes, I'm trying to share the whole E:\ I can't share it properly using Advanced Sharing as by clicking "Everyone" in the list it only gives permissions to the users on this computer, and not on the remote computer that is trying to connect and has different usernames.

Try to share a folder instead of the whole E:\. 1) Create a folder in E:\ 2) Put all your documents in it. 3) Share that folder. And you can do the steps on giving the permissions to the folder/files that I described before.

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Thanks a lot man finally i was able to remove the file after struggling with it for weeks, thanks again dude :)

superb. it's working. thanks