File Permissions Do Not Change After File Copy

When you copy a file using the Windows NT user interface, the file may not acquire the permissions of the destination folder. Instead, the file's permissions remain as they were in the original folder.

To resolve this issue, obtain Internet Explorer 4.01. To do so, visit the following Microsoft Web site: To work around this issue, copy the file from a command prompt. For information about copying a file from a command prompt, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, and then click Command Prompt.
2. At the command prompt, type copy /?, and then press ENTER.

This issue is fixed in Internet Explorer 4.01.

When copying a file, Windows NT treats the destination file as though it were a new file. If the folder that receives the file is on an NTFS volume and has default new-file permissions, the file's current permissions are replaced with those defaults. The user who copies the file becomes the owner of the new file. If a folder is copied to an NTFS volume, it inherits the directory and default new-file permissions of its new parent folder. The new files in turn inherit the new-file permissions of their parent folder.

Normal behavior when moving a file or folder is that when a file or folder is moved to another location on the same logical NTFS file system drive, it retains its permissions and owners. If a file or folder is moved between logical drives, the file or folder inherits the permissions of the folder it is moved to. If a file or folder is moved or copied to a FAT file system drive, all permissions are lost because FAT file system drives do not have the ability to set permissions.