74

In linux, ls -l lists files permissions, like this:

-rw-r--r--  1 user user      924 2011-07-01 20:23 test.txt

In Windows, commands tree and dir don't have the options to list permissions. How is it possible to list files and their permissions using command line only?

Franck Dernoncourt
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5 Answers5

72

Use icacls:

> icacls Music
Music SNOW\grawity:(I)(F)
      CREATOR OWNER:(I)(OI)(CI)(IO)(F)
      SNOW\grawity:(I)(OI)(CI)(IO)(F)
      NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(OI)(CI)(F)

The older cacls tool is the only choice on Windows XP [although you can copy icacls.exe from Server 2003]. cacls does not know about some ACL modes, but displays most of them fine.

> cacls Music
F:\Users\Mantas\Music SNOW\grawity:F
                      CREATOR OWNER:(OI)(CI)(IO)F
                      SNOW\grawity:(OI)(CI)(IO)F
                      NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F

In both outputs, (OI) means "object inherit" (files will inherit this ACE), (CI) is "container inherit" (containers – i.e. folders – will inherit this ACE), (IO) is "inherit only".

Microsoft also used to provide an xcacls tool separately, but its functionality is now part of icacls.

Cristian Ciupitu
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grawity
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40

You can use Powershell and the Get-Acl command

PS C:\> Get-Acl

   Directory:

Path              Owner                            Access  
----              -----                            ------  
C:\               NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller      Everyone Allow  FullControl

Use it in conjunction with Get-ChildItem (aliased with dir and ls) to get the permissions for the files.

PS C:\> Get-ChildItem | Get-Acl

Or, using the alias:

PS C:\> Dir | Get-Acl
Cristian Ciupitu
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squillman
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17

You might also take a look at AccessChk from Sysinternals. The output can be parsed much easier.

C:\Users\jeremy>accesschk myad\simmonsj c:\inetpub

Accesschk v5.11 - Reports effective permissions for securable objects
Copyright (C) 2006-2012 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

RW c:\inetpub\custerr
RW c:\inetpub\history
RW c:\inetpub\logs
RW c:\inetpub\Roadkill
RW c:\inetpub\smartadmin
RW c:\inetpub\temp
RW c:\inetpub\wwwroot
Cristian Ciupitu
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JJS
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10

dir /Q gives you the owner of the directories and of any files in the current folder.

With dir /Q /S you can see the owners of all files and directories in and under the current folder.

Thanks @DAB for the edit suggestions.

James Selvakumar
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0

If you just want Windows file attributes (not ownership or ACLs) you can use the Powershell Dir command (a shortcut for the Get-ChildItem command). For example:

...>powershell dir

Directory: C:\...





Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name




d-----        09/04/2022     18:09                testfiles
-a----        08/04/2022     23:19         130844 testbbackupd.cpp
-a----        08/04/2022     23:19             94 testextra
-a----        09/04/2022     18:06        8394752 test_bbackupd.exe

The letters in the Mode property are the Windows file attributes of each file, which can be interpreted as follows:

  • l (link)
  • d (directory)
  • a (archive)
  • r (read-only)
  • h (hidden)
  • s (system).
qris
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