Read Only directories and files

[Guest]

I have a separate HDD for all my data. I just discovered that all the
directories and files within are locked, i.e. are 'Read Only'

If I right click a folder and select 'Properties' and un-tick the 'read
only' box it goes thru the motions and says it applying the new attributes
etc.

But then when I reopen the properties 'Read Only' is back!

First, why on earth would all my files be 'read only' in the first place?
Weird and annoying. Second, how can I make them all NOT read only because I
need to work with these files on a regular basis??

 

[Guest]

I have a separate HDD for all my data. I just discovered that all the
directories and files within are locked, i.e. are 'Read Only'

If I right click a folder and select 'Properties' and un-tick the 'read
only' box it goes thru the motions and says it applying the new attributes
etc.

But then when I reopen the properties 'Read Only' is back!

First, why on earth would all my files be 'read only' in the first place?
Weird and annoying. Second, how can I make them all NOT read only because I
need to work with these files on a regular basis??

OK I have been looking at permissions etc which seems to be the problem. I
have tried claiming ownership pf the folder but this does nothing. I still
can't chnage the folder from read only.

I have a couple of odd things in my 'Group or user names' list. One is
'CREATOR OWNER'...can't seem to change anything with that one. Then theres
another one that has an icon with a question a mark then a long number
beginning with S, e.g. S-1-5-21-725345543-....etc etc Is that leftover from
my XP installation? can I delete it?

When I click 'Advanced' and then 'Owner' I can change the owner to me, no
problem, Then when I try and change the folders from read only it accepts it,
and apparently applies all the attributes, but then when I look at it again
its still read only!!

 

[Jimmy Brush]

Hello,

You are playing around with the right area, you just need a little
push

The "read-only" attribute is actually not what you need to change, it
is actually the permissions in the security tab.

This problem comes into play because Windows Vista does not realize
that you created these files, because they were created in another
installation of Windows.

To tell Windows Vista that these are your files, go to the root folder
that contains all of your files, right-click it and click properties,
click on the security tab, click Edit, click add, type your username,
press enter, select full control under allow, then keep clicking OK
until all the screens are gone.

This should give you control - it should not be necessary to take
ownership of anything.

- JB

 

[Kurt Herman]

Good answer, Jimmy. That solves a lot of the access problems.

You forgot to mention that the "colored" read only box, is NOT checked.
People confuse the fact the on folders, the read only box is colored by
default, and they think it means it is set to read only. Combine that with
not having the permissions set to full access for all users (even on a 1
user machine, I have sometimes as much as 5 "users" listed). I set all of
them to full access, and guess what, no UAC prompts, everything runs just
like it did in XP. Imagine that!

Kurt

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

Alternatively, rather than adding your username, you could just choose the
"Users" group to apply the permissions to, right? You'd be a member of
that.

And does this problem apply as well to those directories that were created
by copying (*under Vista*) from a volume created in XP to one created in
Vista?

 

[Jimmy Brush]

Yeah,

The read-only checkbox is only there on a folder to allow you to
easily modify the read-only attribute of all of the files contained
within the folder, it doesn't do anything to the folder itself.

Due to the new security in Vista, user-created files on secondary or
removable harddrives/devices are now very frustrating to access. This
is unfortunate, as the system only helps the user out in the most
narrow of scenarios.

Of course, I certainly wouldn't recommend wiping out the security on
the operating system drive - there is a big difference between data
files and system files .

- KB

 

[Jimmy Brush]

Alternatively, rather than adding your username, you could just choose the
"Users" group to apply the permissions to, right? You'd be a member of
that.

Yes - this would give all users on the computer (or if a removable
drive, any user on any system the thing is plugged in to) permission
to the data - if that is what you need.

Setting it to only your username is ideal if you only want your
account to have access to the data, and the media is not shared
between computers.

And does this problem apply as well to those directories that were created
by copying (*under Vista*) from a volume created in XP to one created in
Vista?

This shouldn't cause problems in most cases, because when you copy
files they inherit the permissions from their target location, which
in most cases gives the creator of the copies (you) control.

There may be exceptions though when copying large folder trees,
especially if the folders were created by some version of Windows.

- JB