On a network, permissions are used to control who has access to resources, such as folders and files, which are stored on your computer and the type of access that they have. By default, permissions set on a folder are inherited by any subfolders contained within that folder. This behavior is referred to as ‘Inheritance.’ For example, if you have a folder called ‘My Folder’ and this folder contains a subfolder called ‘Your Folder,’ any permissions you set on ‘My Folder’ will be passed on to ‘Your Folder.’

If you do not want subfolders to inherit the permissions set on the parent folder, you can change the default behavior. You can prevent permissions inheritance by opening the properties dialog box for a folder, selecting the Security tab, and clicking the Advanced button. From the Permissions tab clear the option to Inherit from parent the permission entries that apply to child objects. A security dialog box will appear asking if you want to copy the existing permissions or remove them.