I'm somewhat new to Ubuntu but have been learning a lot on my own. I am an admin user for my PC. However, when I try to take ownership of most folders, like usr/local, it says I don't have permission and I'm not able to change any permissions. It doesnt make any sense because I'm the only one who uses this PC and I'm an admin. I even tried taking ownership using the terminal with no luck. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm also using Ubuntu 14.0
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I think this post will help you a lot: [change ownership](http://askubuntu.com/questions/608322/changed-ownership-of-all-files-and-folder-in-home-to-root-by-mistake) – Mofty Nov 26 '15 at 14:29
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1are you using `sudo`? – TellMeWhy Nov 26 '15 at 14:31
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2What command are you trying with the terminal? – TheWanderer Nov 26 '15 at 14:32
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There is a reason Ubuntu is more secure than Window. The admin user does not own the system files in folders like `/usr/local/`. Messing with ownership of these files will probably give you a system that does not boot. In general follow this advice: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/399342691928194426/ – user68186 Nov 26 '15 at 15:56
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As discussed, don't do this. Or at least understand what you are doing, and maybe take a step back and ask what are you actually trying to achieve by hacking perms in `/usr`. What is the end-goal here? – Nov 26 '15 at 16:22
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You can change the ownership of files using the chown command. Run man chown to read the documentation. In short, you can use it as sudo chown USERNAME:GROUPNAME file.
BUT:
I would not recommend changing the ownership of file outside your home directory! See Changed owner of /usr/bin and Changed permissions of / to user to see what happens when you do it.
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Maybe the extension nautilus-admin could help you a bit to change your settings via a graphical user interface.