Windows – How to compare directory/files and permissions on Windows

windowswindows-server-2003

Is there a tool or command which will compare two directory trees on separate computers and output a list of differences, including differences in permissions?

I was looking at http://winmerge.org/ and it didn't seem to have this feature (it seems to compares file sizes and contents, but not attributes). Took a look through the options, but didn't see a setting to change this.

I've had some problems in the past with permissions getting messed up on some driver directories after an update and it would nice to compare a working installation with a broken one.

Best Answer

Have you throught about using PowerShell to do this?

PS2 includes a cmdlet Get-ACL which enums the NFTS permissions (including owner) for a given folder/file.

Related Solutions

Windows – How to find what process is holding a file open in Windows

I've had success with Sysinternals Process Explorer. With this, you can search to find what process(es) have a file open, and you can use it to close the handle(s) if you want. Of course, it is safer to close the whole process. Exercise caution and judgement.

To find a specific file, use the menu option Find->Find Handle or DLL... Type in part of the path to the file. The list of processes will appear below.

If you prefer command line, Sysinternals suite includes command line tool Handle, that lists open handles.

Examples

c:\Program Files\SysinternalsSuite>handle.exe |findstr /i "e:\" (finds all files opened from drive e:\"
c:\Program Files\SysinternalsSuite>handle.exe |findstr /i "file-or-path-in-question"

Windows – Useful Command-line Commands on Windows

A little known one is

getmac

It shows the MAC address(es) of your network adapter(s).

Screenshot of running getmac from a Windows commandline window.

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Related Solutions

Windows – How to find what process is holding a file open in Windows

Windows – Useful Command-line Commands on Windows

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