How inheritance affects file and folder permissions

Parent folder, new files and subfolders created in the folder inherit these permissions. If you do not want them to inherit permissions, select This folder only in Apply onto when you set up special permissions for the parent folder. In cases where you want to prevent only certain files or subfolders from inheriting permissions, right-click the file or subfolder, click Properties, click the Security tab, and then clear the Allow inheritable permissions from parent to propagate to this object check box.

If the check boxes appear shaded, the file or folder has inherited permissions from the parent folder. There are three ways to make changes to inherited permissions:

Make the changes to the parent folder, and then the file or folder will inherit these permissions.
Select the opposite permission (Allow or Deny) to override the inherited permission.
Clear the Allow inheritable permissions from parent to propagate to this object check box. Now you can make changes to the permissions or remove the user or group from the permissions list. However, the file or folder will no longer inherit permissions from the parent folder.

If neither Allow nor Deny is selected for a permission, then the group or user may have obtained the permission through group membership. If the group or user has not obtained the permission through membership in another group, then the group or user is implicitly denied the permission. To explicitly allow or deny the permission, click the appropriate check box.