Problem

You want to modify permissions in Windows from the DOS prompt command line.

Solution

Use cacls

cacls /?

Example

Here are the commands to modify MS Windows/DOS files and directories.

• Display file permissions. Replace filename with your file name.

> cacls filename
...filename            NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM:F
PCxxxxxxxxxxxxAdmin:F

• Modify permissions. Here we are granting full access to the user, replace user with desired user name.

> cacls filename /E /G user:F
processed file: C:...filename

• Here we see the permissions have been reset:

> cacls filename
...filename           PCxxxxxxxxxuser:F
NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM:F
PCxxxxxxxxxxxxxAdmin:F

Reference