PRB: WinPE Default Permissions for NTFS Volumes are Incompatible with Windows 2000

After installing a Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system using the Windows Preinstall Environment CD, users may experience problems while accessing the hard disk during normal use.

Specifically, they may be unable to create directories, modify files, or other similar tasks.

This may be especially true with domain accounts. Local accounts may not exhibit this behavior.

Although you are installing Windows 2000, the Windows Preinstall Environment CD sets default permissions on the root of the NTFS volume that are not compatible with Windows 2000.

The default permissions that are set are valid for Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Following are the permissions:
By contrast, the default permissions for Windows 2000 are:

To set the root permissions correctly, run the Cacls.exe utility on the root directory of the partition immediately after formatting it. For example:

This behavior is by design.

You can obtain the Cacls.exe utility from any computer that is running Windows XP Professional. The utility is located in the \Windows\System32 directory and is self-contained; no other programs or libraries are required.