# Windows permissions Windows access is default-deny. Windows folder permissions: - Read - Permits viewing and listing of files and subfolders - Write - Permits adding of files and subfolders - Read & Execute - Permits viewing and listing of files and subfolders as well as executing of files; inherited by files and folders - List Folder Contents - Permits viewing and listing of files and subfolders as well as executing of files; inherited by folders only - Modify - Permits reading and writing of files and subfolders as well as executing of files; allows deletion of the folder - Full Control - Permits reading, writing, changing, and deleting of files and subfolders Windows file permissions: - Read - Permits viewing or accessing of the file's contents - Write - Permits writing to a file - Read & Execute - Permits viewing and accessing of the file's contents as well as executing of the file - List Folder Contents - N/A - Modify - Permits reading and writing of the file as well as executing of the file; allows deletion of the file - Full Control - Permits reading, writing, changing and deleting of the file The biggest differences between Windows and [[UNIX permissions|UNIX]] permissions: - Windows doesn't have as fine-grained of control *for a given user or group*. - Windows has *much more* fine-grained control across users and groups (there's no limit of three permission sets). - The ability to delete a folder or file, and to change its permissions, are essentially considered to be distinct "sub-permissions". As much as it pains me to say it, in many ways the Windows permission mode is much better than the (pre-ACL) Linux model.