Download the latest version from the NTFS Permissions Auditor product page. The download is a standard Windows installer (.exe).
The Free edition is fully functional for viewing audit results — it lets you create profiles, add directories, run audits, and explore permissions in both folder view and account view. Pro features (export, filtering, scheduling, change detection, NIS2 reports) require a Pro license.
NTFS Permissions Auditor requires the .NET 10 Desktop Runtime (x64). If it is not already installed on your machine, the installer will notify you.
To install it manually:
You need the Desktop Runtime specifically — the base runtime alone is not sufficient because NTFS Permissions Auditor is a WPF desktop application.
When you start NTFS Permissions Auditor for the first time, you will see the home screen with a 3-step guide:
Step 1 — Create Profile. An audit profile defines what to scan and how. It contains your target directories, group member options, exclusion rules, and authentication settings. Click Add profile to create your first one.
Step 2 — Run Audit. Once a profile is selected, click Audit to start the scanning process. NTFS Permissions Auditor reads the NTFS access control lists on every folder in your selected directories.
Step 3 — View Results. When the audit completes, explore the results in two views: the folder view (a tree hierarchy showing each folder and its permissions) and the account view (a list of all users and groups, each expandable to show which folders they can access).
If you have no profiles yet, the home screen shows the step-by-step guide. Once you create at least one profile, the home screen shows your profile list with directory details, audit options summary, and audit history.
If you have purchased a Pro license:
The license unlocks all Pro features: export, advanced filtering, audit history storage, report comparison, scheduled tasks, and NIS2 compliance reporting.
If you don’t have a Pro license, you can continue using the Free edition — auditing and viewing permissions works without any limitations.
NTFS Permissions Auditor stores all its data in a single SQLite database file:
%APPDATA%\ntfspa.db
This file contains your audit profiles, filter definitions, scheduled task configurations, application settings, license information, and stored audit results (when auto-save is enabled).
To back up your configuration, copy this file. To move NTFS Permissions Auditor to another machine, install the application on the new machine and copy the ntfspa.db file to the same location.
Tip: If your audit history grows large and you want to reduce the database size, you can delete old audit reports from within the application.
If you are upgrading from an older version of NTFS Permissions Auditor (version 1.x), the application includes a data import feature. Go to Settings and use the Import old data option to bring in your profiles, filters, and tasks from the previous version.
The old version must be updated to version 1.6.0.0 and have the “Allow export” option enabled before the import will work.
Ready to run your first audit? Continue to the Quick Start Guide for a complete walkthrough.