Losing NTFS File Permissions

Question

We have one file that is causing us some problems with permissions on our file share server. The user is running Windows 10 1909 and Office 2016. When goes to save a particular Excel spreadsheet, it makes her the owner, and erases all permissions the file may have, even though inheritance is still enabled.

The only permissions she has on the file itself under normal circumstances are as follows:

Traverse folder / execute file
List Folder / read data
Read attributes
Read extended attributes
Create files /write data
Create folders /append data
Write attributes
Write extended attributes
Delete subfolders and files
Read permissions

She does NOT have permission to change permissions or take ownership, and yet that is exactly what happens every time she makes changes to the file and saves it. I've even checked her effect access to make sure there are not any weird conflicts, and the permissions are exactly as the should be.

Update (3/4/21): We are seeing this more and more, and so far, it has only affected Excel spreadsheets. That appears to be the only common factor. We are using on-prem Office as well, with a mixture of 2013, 2016, and 2019. But there appears to be no pattern other than it only affects excel spreadsheets.... so far.

The only workaround I have found is to just have the end-user completely rebuild their excel spreadsheet from scratching, saving it directly to the network share. I will fix the permissions on the bad file so they can copy data, and then rename the old file. Otherwise, no fix has been found since this was first reported in September

Answer 1

So I created a new excel spreadsheet for the user, but one thing I noticed is that when I saved it directly to the file share, it made me the owner, instead of inheriting the owner from the parent permission. This is one of the same issues she has with the old file. The issue is that neither one of us has permission to change the owner, so I'm not sure what's going on.

These are the permissions we have set for the parent folder

Answer 2

I am having this exact same issue for a little while now. There are a few .xlsm files that when they get saved, all permissions are stripped from the file. In order to fix I have to retake ownership of the file and pus the inheritence down again from the top level folder. The users in question do not have full control hence the ability to change permissions. I was able to duplicate the issue with a test account on a win10 vm. I'm really scratching my head and I can't find any reason for it.

As a test today I have removed full control from all account /group that has access to the file.

Answer 3

Hello, I'am having exactly the same issue since last september...It's going crazy! We reposition the NTFS rights after having reappropriated the file. Is there any solution?

Thanks

Answer 4

For you, it would only come from the Excel file....
Like you, the problems appeared in September. We have been handling Excel files for years, these files have been present for weeks in directories on the shares. Why this failure precisely in September 2020?
And above all, why is the description of the problem exactly the same?
I am convinced that the problem lies in the saving of the Excel file after modification. Why these few files, when there are thousands of others certainly much larger and more complex...

Answer 5

@Xav38100 Yes the same for me however as mysteriously as it started the problems have all seemed to go away. I opened a paid support ticket with Microsoft and was able to duplicate the problem easily with the initial technician. She escalated the issue to an advanced team but by the day i got them on the phone and tried to show them, the problem disappeared and I am no longer able to duplicate it. I very much suspect a Microsoft patch created this problem back in august/sept and they must have fixed it in the latest round of updates. I hope that performing all updates for November fixes your issue also.