Windows Vista Can't un-set Read Only on a folder

Greg Golden · 2009/08/23

Sorry: Just got a new PC with Vista Home Premium, SP1. Among all the strange happenings, here is something so simple I can't understand why it doesn't work.
My second HD is the disk that was in my old XP machine and I am trying to work with my old files. They all appear to be Read-Only which is, of course, very annoying.
I am an adminstrator. I right-click on a folder, click Properties, General Tab, Uncheck Read-only, Apply, Apply changes to this folder, subfolders, and files, OK, OK. But when I go back to check attributes on the folder, it's Read-Only again! What am I doing wrong? TIA, Greg.

broni · 2009/08/23

Take ownership of those folders/files, first: http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/ind...y-to-take-ownership-of-system-files-in-vista/

Arie · 2009/08/24

You can't.

Please read: You cannot view or change the Read-only or the System attributes of folders in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, or in Windows Vista

Unlike the Read-only attribute for a file, the Read-only attribute for a folder is typically ignored by Windows, Windows components and accessories, and other programs. For example, you can delete, rename, and change a folder with the Read-only attribute by using Windows Explorer. The Read-only and System attributes is only used by Windows Explorer to determine whether the folder is a special folder, such as a system folder that has its view customized by Windows (for example, My Documents, Favorites, Fonts, Downloaded Program Files), or a folder that you customized by using the Customize tab of the folder's Properties dialog box. As a result, Windows Explorer does not allow you to view or change the Read-only or System attributes of folders. When a folder has the Read-Only attribute set it causes Explorer to request the Desktop.ini of that folder to see if any special folder settings need to be set. It has been seen where if a network share that has a large amount of folders set to Read-only, it can cause Explorer to take longer then what is expected to render the contents of that share while it waits on the retrieval of the Desktop.ini files. The slower the network connectivity to the share the longer this process can take to the point where Explorer may timeout waiting for the data and render nothing or appear to hang.
Click to expand...

Greg Golden · 2009/08/24

OK thanks for the insight.

Log in or Sign up

Windows Vista Can't un-set Read Only on a folder

Greg Golden Well-Known Member Thread Starter

broni Moderator Malware Analyst

Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

Greg Golden Well-Known Member Thread Starter

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Windows Vista Can't un-set Read Only on a folder

Greg Golden Well-Known Member Thread Starter

broni Moderator Malware Analyst

Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

Greg Golden Well-Known Member Thread Starter

Share This Page

Useful Searches