Server file inaccessible to all users after session disconnect

Question

Server file inaccessible to all users after session disconnect

fdeshu365 0

While editing a video file stored on the server, my session was unexpectedly disconnected.

Prior to the disconnection:

The file was created by my user account.
My account had full control permissions.
The file was fully accessible.

After reconnecting to the server:

The file became completely inaccessible.

The issue affects not only my account but also the local/domain Administrator account.

No operations can be performed on the file (open, copy, move, rename, delete, or modify).

We tried:

File Properties → Security tab: The following message is displayed: "You must have Read permissions to view the properties of this object. Click Advanced to continue."
When selecting Advanced:
1. The Owner field displays: "Unable to display current owner."
2. The Permissions, Auditing, and Effective Access tabs show: "You do not have permission to view or edit this object."
When attempting to change ownership: Clicking Change → Advanced results in the error: "Access is denied."

Issues:

Ownership cannot be modified.
No permission entries can be viewed or edited.
The Administrator account experiences the exact same errors and can't make changes.
We also tested access using a separate user profile, but the issue persists.

Other info:

In the Share tab, "Everyone" is listed with Full Control under share permissions.

The file is stored directly on the server (not on a local workstation).

The issue appears to affect only this specific file.
We use Windows 11. I tried old Windows 10 home (I understand that this version is no longer officially supported; however, I still occasionally see Windows Updates being installed on this Windows 10 PC even in recent days.). Both got the same result/issues.

I was wondering if it's the NTFS permission/ownership corruption after unexpected disconnect...

Questions:

Q1. Is there any way to restore ownership or grant access to this file?

Q2. If ownership cannot be recovered, what is the recommended procedure to forcibly remove the file from the server?

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1 answer

Your answer

Answer 1

Q1. Restoring ownership or access

The behavior is consistent with a file whose NTFS metadata (owner/ACL) is corrupted or whose name/metadata prevents normal tools from reaching it. When the standard Security UI and ownership change both fail with “Access is denied,” use low‑level tools that bypass the normal Win32 path parsing and ACL editor:

Use the \\?\ path syntax plus SubInACL to reset owner and permissions on that single file:
- Install the Windows Resource Kit tools (which include subinacl.exe).
- From an elevated Command Prompt on the server, run a command in this form (single line):
```
     subinacl /onlyfile "\\?\C:\full\path\to\problem_file.ext" /setowner=DOMAIN\Administrator /grant=DOMAIN\Administrator=F
```
  Replace C:\full\path\to\problem_file.ext and DOMAIN\Administrator with the actual path and an account that should own the file.
- This forces ownership and full control even when the GUI ACL editor cannot access the file.
- After this succeeds, delete or adjust permissions using the same \\?\ syntax if needed.

If the problem is purely ACL/ownership corruption, this approach is the supported way to regain control.

Q2. Forcibly removing the file if ownership cannot be recovered

If the ACL/owner cannot be repaired or the file is otherwise inaccessible, the recommended forced‑removal procedure is:

Try deleting via del with \\?\ syntax from an elevated Command Prompt on the server:
```
   del "\\?\C:\full\path\to\problem_file.ext"
```
This bypasses normal path parsing and can delete files with problematic names (trailing spaces, invalid characters, etc.).
If the file is on an Azure Files share and the issue is an orphaned handle or lease (for example, the editing session left the file locked), close the handle/lease from the storage side:
- Use Get-AzStorageFileHandle to list open handles on the file.
- Use Close-AzStorageFileHandle to force close them.
- If a REST lease exists, break it using a ShareLeaseClient and Break().
Once handles/leases are closed, retry deletion.

If neither ACL repair (SubInACL) nor handle/lease closure works, the remaining options are low‑level disk tools or restoring from backup and removing the affected volume/file via offline maintenance, but those are beyond what is documented in the provided context.

References: