Any fast way to assign NTFS permissions to a folder with a very big amount of subfolders and files?

I'm trying to change NTFS permission to a folder containing a very big hierarchy below. I'm using the traditional approach (right mouse button, properties, security, etc) It's taking really long and I'm wondering if there is a fast way to do this. Thanks!

No, not really. No matter what you do, the process will still have to touch every single file and directory under that point to make the change (minus the ones that have inheritance turned off). For a 4.7 million file directory, it can take hours. I know this from experience.

The fastest way to do it is from the server console. You can get a smidge better performance by using a command-line tool to do it, but not a whole lot faster.

I think there is a CACLS.EXE tool in the Windows resource kit download.