"Read-only" Folders

[John]

I am moving my Outlook folders (.dbx) from my old
Windows98 PC to my new XP Home Edition PC. All the files
are successfully moved, but when I try to Import them
into Outlook, I get the message that the folder with the
OE files cannot be opened because it may be in use by
another application. When I checked the properties of
the folder, the attributes say the folder is Read-only.
None of the files in the folder are Read-only. When I
try to un-set the Read-only attribute, it appears to let
me do it, but whe I check it again, it's still read only.
In poking around, it appears that ALL the folders are
Read-only. The user account I'm using is "Computer
Administrator". Why are all the folders Read-only and why
can't I change or even create a folder that is not? I
also tried dragging the folder into the Shared Documents
folder, but no luck.

 

[Drew Cooper [MSFT]]

It's not really read-only. The UI is trying to show a tri-state with the
checkbox. And the UI never actually sets the r/o bit on a directory anyway.
("attrib" on the cmdline can confirm this.)

I don't know what's using the directory that OE wants to use, but if you
have it open on your desktop, explorer is one culprit.

 

[Roger Abell [MVP]]

John,

XP has a habit of lazy release of handles such as to files.
This may be what is happening for you. You could force
this to change by a fresh reboot and see if you can then
import it into Outlook.

FYI
Read-only attribute on folders

To see or change the read-only attribute on folders you must use the Dos
attrib command. The read-only checkbox on folders appears to be as you
indicate, but it is not. If you try it you find it will indicate that it is
used to set the attribute on or off on all contained files. This is what it
does, and is all that it is - a switch to modify the read-only attribute on
contained files. After it is used it is returned to its intermediate,
neither checked nor not checked, state.

You Cannot View or Change the Read-Only or System Attribute of Folders
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=326549

 

[John]

Hi Drew,

Thanks for responding to my inquiry in the MS Community
Newsgroup. I have to admit that I'm not as "computer
literate" as you are. Not sure I understand what you
mean by "show a tri-state with the checkbox", or how to
confirm "attrib" in the cmdline. I tried re-booting and
importing the OE files without opening Windows Explorer
(in case Explorer was somehow "grabbing" the folder), and
still get the error: "The mail folder could not be
opened. If another application is using the file, please
close it and try again." The directory containing the
mail files is located in the Shared Documents directory.

I am also confused as to why EVERY folder in Windows
Explorer has the Read-only attribute set (even new
folders I create) and I cannot seem to un-set that
attribute. It hasn't seemed to affect anything else,
although I've only had this new PC up and running for a
few days.

Any other help/explanation you have to offer would be
welcome.

Thanks,
John

-----Original Message-----
It's not really read-only. The UI is trying to show a tri-state with the
checkbox. And the UI never actually sets the r/o bit on a directory anyway.
("attrib" on the cmdline can confirm this.)

I don't know what's using the directory that OE wants to use, but if you
have it open on your desktop, explorer is one culprit.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

I am moving my Outlook folders (.dbx) from my old
Windows98 PC to my new XP Home Edition PC. All the files
are successfully moved, but when I try to Import them
into Outlook, I get the message that the folder with the
OE files cannot be opened because it may be in use by
another application. When I checked the properties of
the folder, the attributes say the folder is Read-only.
None of the files in the folder are Read-only. When I
try to un-set the Read-only attribute, it appears to let
me do it, but whe I check it again, it's still read only.
In poking around, it appears that ALL the folders are
Read-only. The user account I'm using is "Computer
Administrator". Why are all the folders Read-only and why
can't I change or even create a folder that is not? I
also tried dragging the folder into the Shared Documents
folder, but no luck.

.

 

[Drew Cooper [MSFT]]

Oh - sorry about that. It's sometimes hard for me to tell when my words
will seem like jargon and when they'll seem condescending. I'll un-geek-ify
things a bit . ..

By "tri-state with checkbox" I meant that the checkbox actually has 3
different states instead of the 2 you would normally expect: 1)checked and
gray, 2)unchecked, and 3)checked. It's not very intuitive. The link that
Roger posted probably explains this better than I could.

By "'attrib' in the cmdline" I meant:
- Click on "Start".
- Go to "Run" and click on it.
- In the textbox next to "Open:" type "cmd" and hit <Enter>.
That new window that just opened is what I meant by "cmdline". You can list
files and subdirectories using the "dir" command, navigate throughout your
directory structure with the "cd" command, and using the "attrib" command
you can view and set the attributes on files and directories. For almost
all commands you would want to use, " /?" will show you what parameters the
tool takes, syntax, etc. The "attrib" command will always tell you what
attributes are set on a file and doesn't try to do any of that confusing (to
me) tri-state stuff.
(In case Roger reads this: cmd.exe is not DOS. It's only DOS-flavored.
There's a common myth that Windows XP has DOS somewhere under the covers.
Not true.)


Want to see what process has an open handle to the directory? You might
want to download Process Explorer from sysinternals.com. It's a free UI
tool that, among other things, shows you which processes have which files
open. It's kinda like Task Manager on steroids.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi Drew,

Thanks for responding to my inquiry in the MS Community
Newsgroup. I have to admit that I'm not as "computer
literate" as you are. Not sure I understand what you
mean by "show a tri-state with the checkbox", or how to
confirm "attrib" in the cmdline. I tried re-booting and
importing the OE files without opening Windows Explorer
(in case Explorer was somehow "grabbing" the folder), and
still get the error: "The mail folder could not be
opened. If another application is using the file, please
close it and try again." The directory containing the
mail files is located in the Shared Documents directory.

I am also confused as to why EVERY folder in Windows
Explorer has the Read-only attribute set (even new
folders I create) and I cannot seem to un-set that
attribute. It hasn't seemed to affect anything else,
although I've only had this new PC up and running for a
few days.

Any other help/explanation you have to offer would be
welcome.

Thanks,
John

-----Original Message-----
It's not really read-only. The UI is trying to show a tri-state with the
checkbox. And the UI never actually sets the r/o bit on a directory anyway.
("attrib" on the cmdline can confirm this.)

I don't know what's using the directory that OE wants to use, but if you
have it open on your desktop, explorer is one culprit.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

I am moving my Outlook folders (.dbx) from my old
Windows98 PC to my new XP Home Edition PC. All the files
are successfully moved, but when I try to Import them
into Outlook, I get the message that the folder with the
OE files cannot be opened because it may be in use by
another application. When I checked the properties of
the folder, the attributes say the folder is Read-only.
None of the files in the folder are Read-only. When I
try to un-set the Read-only attribute, it appears to let
me do it, but whe I check it again, it's still read only.
In poking around, it appears that ALL the folders are
Read-only. The user account I'm using is "Computer
Administrator". Why are all the folders Read-only and why
can't I change or even create a folder that is not? I
also tried dragging the folder into the Shared Documents
folder, but no luck.

.

 

[Roger Abell [MVP]]

Hi Drew,

Yes, I realize cmd.exe or the prior NT command.exe or for that matter
even the WoW (16) thunker, is not DOS.

Was the comment because I referred to the "DOS attrib command"
??

I guess I should just drop the historic reference as it is also a
command within the cmd.exe environments, ey ?

Roger

Oh - sorry about that. It's sometimes hard for me to tell when my words
will seem like jargon and when they'll seem condescending. I'll un-geek-ify
things a bit . ..

By "tri-state with checkbox" I meant that the checkbox actually has 3
different states instead of the 2 you would normally expect: 1)checked and
gray, 2)unchecked, and 3)checked. It's not very intuitive. The link that
Roger posted probably explains this better than I could.

By "'attrib' in the cmdline" I meant:
- Click on "Start".
- Go to "Run" and click on it.
- In the textbox next to "Open:" type "cmd" and hit <Enter>.
That new window that just opened is what I meant by "cmdline". You can list
files and subdirectories using the "dir" command, navigate throughout your
directory structure with the "cd" command, and using the "attrib" command
you can view and set the attributes on files and directories. For almost
all commands you would want to use, " /?" will show you what parameters the
tool takes, syntax, etc. The "attrib" command will always tell you what
attributes are set on a file and doesn't try to do any of that confusing (to
me) tri-state stuff.
(In case Roger reads this: cmd.exe is not DOS. It's only DOS-flavored.
There's a common myth that Windows XP has DOS somewhere under the covers.
Not true.)


Want to see what process has an open handle to the directory? You might
want to download Process Explorer from sysinternals.com. It's a free UI
tool that, among other things, shows you which processes have which files
open. It's kinda like Task Manager on steroids.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi Drew,

Thanks for responding to my inquiry in the MS Community
Newsgroup. I have to admit that I'm not as "computer
literate" as you are. Not sure I understand what you
mean by "show a tri-state with the checkbox", or how to
confirm "attrib" in the cmdline. I tried re-booting and
importing the OE files without opening Windows Explorer
(in case Explorer was somehow "grabbing" the folder), and
still get the error: "The mail folder could not be
opened. If another application is using the file, please
close it and try again." The directory containing the
mail files is located in the Shared Documents directory.

I am also confused as to why EVERY folder in Windows
Explorer has the Read-only attribute set (even new
folders I create) and I cannot seem to un-set that
attribute. It hasn't seemed to affect anything else,
although I've only had this new PC up and running for a
few days.

Any other help/explanation you have to offer would be
welcome.

Thanks,
John

-----Original Message-----
It's not really read-only. The UI is trying to show a tri-state with the
checkbox. And the UI never actually sets the r/o bit on a directory anyway.
("attrib" on the cmdline can confirm this.)

I don't know what's using the directory that OE wants to use, but if you
have it open on your desktop, explorer is one culprit.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


I am moving my Outlook folders (.dbx) from my old
Windows98 PC to my new XP Home Edition PC. All the files
are successfully moved, but when I try to Import them
into Outlook, I get the message that the folder with the
OE files cannot be opened because it may be in use by
another application. When I checked the properties of
the folder, the attributes say the folder is Read-only.
None of the files in the folder are Read-only. When I
try to un-set the Read-only attribute, it appears to let
me do it, but whe I check it again, it's still read only.
In poking around, it appears that ALL the folders are
Read-only. The user account I'm using is "Computer
Administrator". Why are all the folders Read-only and why
can't I change or even create a folder that is not? I
also tried dragging the folder into the Shared Documents
folder, but no luck.


.

 

[Guest]

The saga continues. Now, I'm not too sure that the issue
is the Read-only folder. To try another angle, I copied
one mail folder (.dbx) from my old PC on to a floppy, put
it in my new PC, and tried to import that one mail folder
into OE. I got the same message -- "The mail folder could
not be opened. If another application is using the file,
please close it and try again." The properties on
the .dbx folder all look fine. I'm beginning to think
there's a problem with OE on my new PC. Maybe the message
has not been referring to the parent folder that contained
all my OE mail folders (.dbx), BUT to the mail folders
themselves. The attributes on those all look fine?!?!?
I'm baffled, and a bit frustrated.

-----Original Message-----
Oh - sorry about that. It's sometimes hard for me to tell when my words
will seem like jargon and when they'll seem

condescending. I'll un-geek-ify

things a bit . ..

By "tri-state with checkbox" I meant that the checkbox actually has 3
different states instead of the 2 you would normally expect: 1)checked and
gray, 2)unchecked, and 3)checked. It's not very intuitive. The link that
Roger posted probably explains this better than I could.

By "'attrib' in the cmdline" I meant:
- Click on "Start".
- Go to "Run" and click on it.
- In the textbox next to "Open:" type "cmd" and hit

That new window that just opened is what I meant by "cmdline". You can list
files and subdirectories using the "dir" command, navigate throughout your
directory structure with the "cd" command, and using the "attrib" command
you can view and set the attributes on files and directories. For almost
all commands you would want to use, " /?" will show you what parameters the
tool takes, syntax, etc. The "attrib" command will always tell you what
attributes are set on a file and doesn't try to do any of that confusing (to
me) tri-state stuff.
(In case Roger reads this: cmd.exe is not DOS. It's only DOS-flavored.
There's a common myth that Windows XP has DOS somewhere under the covers.
Not true.)


Want to see what process has an open handle to the directory? You might
want to download Process Explorer from sysinternals.com. It's a free UI
tool that, among other things, shows you which processes have which files
open. It's kinda like Task Manager on steroids.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi Drew,

Thanks for responding to my inquiry in the MS Community
Newsgroup. I have to admit that I'm not as "computer
literate" as you are. Not sure I understand what you
mean by "show a tri-state with the checkbox", or how to
confirm "attrib" in the cmdline. I tried re-booting and
importing the OE files without opening Windows Explorer
(in case Explorer was somehow "grabbing" the folder), and
still get the error: "The mail folder could not be
opened. If another application is using the file, please
close it and try again." The directory containing the
mail files is located in the Shared Documents directory.

I am also confused as to why EVERY folder in Windows
Explorer has the Read-only attribute set (even new
folders I create) and I cannot seem to un-set that
attribute. It hasn't seemed to affect anything else,
although I've only had this new PC up and running for a
few days.

Any other help/explanation you have to offer would be
welcome.

Thanks,
John

on
a directory anyway. to
use, but if you and
confers no rights.

.

 

[Drew Cooper [MSFT]]

Yup. "Dos attrib command" - that's why. A surprising number of
anti-Windows folks tell me that Windows (the current stuff - XP/2003) is
based on DOS. I try to stamp that myth out every time I get the chance.

I'd be a lot less frustrated if people were convinced that it's really VMS
under the hood. But that's other history, I suppose.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi Drew,

Yes, I realize cmd.exe or the prior NT command.exe or for that matter
even the WoW (16) thunker, is not DOS.

Was the comment because I referred to the "DOS attrib command"
??

I guess I should just drop the historic reference as it is also a
command within the cmd.exe environments, ey ?

Roger

Oh - sorry about that. It's sometimes hard for me to tell when my words
will seem like jargon and when they'll seem condescending. I'll un-geek-ify
things a bit . ..

By "tri-state with checkbox" I meant that the checkbox actually has 3
different states instead of the 2 you would normally expect: 1)checked and
gray, 2)unchecked, and 3)checked. It's not very intuitive. The link that
Roger posted probably explains this better than I could.

By "'attrib' in the cmdline" I meant:
- Click on "Start".
- Go to "Run" and click on it.
- In the textbox next to "Open:" type "cmd" and hit <Enter>.
That new window that just opened is what I meant by "cmdline". You can list
files and subdirectories using the "dir" command, navigate throughout your
directory structure with the "cd" command, and using the "attrib" command
you can view and set the attributes on files and directories. For almost
all commands you would want to use, " /?" will show you what parameters the
tool takes, syntax, etc. The "attrib" command will always tell you what
attributes are set on a file and doesn't try to do any of that confusing (to
me) tri-state stuff.
(In case Roger reads this: cmd.exe is not DOS. It's only DOS-flavored.
There's a common myth that Windows XP has DOS somewhere under the covers.
Not true.)


Want to see what process has an open handle to the directory? You might
want to download Process Explorer from sysinternals.com. It's a free UI
tool that, among other things, shows you which processes have which files
open. It's kinda like Task Manager on steroids.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi Drew,

Thanks for responding to my inquiry in the MS Community
Newsgroup. I have to admit that I'm not as "computer
literate" as you are. Not sure I understand what you
mean by "show a tri-state with the checkbox", or how to
confirm "attrib" in the cmdline. I tried re-booting and
importing the OE files without opening Windows Explorer
(in case Explorer was somehow "grabbing" the folder), and
still get the error: "The mail folder could not be
opened. If another application is using the file, please
close it and try again." The directory containing the
mail files is located in the Shared Documents directory.

I am also confused as to why EVERY folder in Windows
Explorer has the Read-only attribute set (even new
folders I create) and I cannot seem to un-set that
attribute. It hasn't seemed to affect anything else,
although I've only had this new PC up and running for a
few days.

Any other help/explanation you have to offer would be
welcome.

Thanks,
John


-----Original Message-----
It's not really read-only. The UI is trying to show a
tri-state with the
checkbox. And the UI never actually sets the r/o bit on
a directory anyway.
("attrib" on the cmdline can confirm this.)

I don't know what's using the directory that OE wants to
use, but if you
have it open on your desktop, explorer is one culprit.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.


message
I am moving my Outlook folders (.dbx) from my old
Windows98 PC to my new XP Home Edition PC. All the
files
are successfully moved, but when I try to Import them
into Outlook, I get the message that the folder with
the
OE files cannot be opened because it may be in use by
another application. When I checked the properties of
the folder, the attributes say the folder is Read-only.
None of the files in the folder are Read-only. When I
try to un-set the Read-only attribute, it appears to
let
me do it, but whe I check it again, it's still read
only.
In poking around, it appears that ALL the folders are
Read-only. The user account I'm using is "Computer
Administrator". Why are all the folders Read-only and
why
can't I change or even create a folder that is not? I
also tried dragging the folder into the Shared
Documents
folder, but no luck.


.

 

[Drew Cooper [MSFT]]

Ah - right! It could be that OE uses "folder" to mean something other than
a directory.

If the permissions and attributes look ok and there's nobody with an open
handle to the file, I'm stumped. Maybe someone else has a clue. One of the
"outlookexpress" newsgroups might know something OE-specific.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

The saga continues. Now, I'm not too sure that the issue
is the Read-only folder. To try another angle, I copied
one mail folder (.dbx) from my old PC on to a floppy, put
it in my new PC, and tried to import that one mail folder
into OE. I got the same message -- "The mail folder could
not be opened. If another application is using the file,
please close it and try again." The properties on
the .dbx folder all look fine. I'm beginning to think
there's a problem with OE on my new PC. Maybe the message
has not been referring to the parent folder that contained
all my OE mail folders (.dbx), BUT to the mail folders
themselves. The attributes on those all look fine?!?!?
I'm baffled, and a bit frustrated.

-----Original Message-----
Oh - sorry about that. It's sometimes hard for me to tell when my words
will seem like jargon and when they'll seem

condescending. I'll un-geek-ify

things a bit . ..

By "tri-state with checkbox" I meant that the checkbox actually has 3
different states instead of the 2 you would normally expect: 1)checked and
gray, 2)unchecked, and 3)checked. It's not very intuitive. The link that
Roger posted probably explains this better than I could.

By "'attrib' in the cmdline" I meant:
- Click on "Start".
- Go to "Run" and click on it.
- In the textbox next to "Open:" type "cmd" and hit

That new window that just opened is what I meant by "cmdline". You can list
files and subdirectories using the "dir" command, navigate throughout your
directory structure with the "cd" command, and using the "attrib" command
you can view and set the attributes on files and directories. For almost
all commands you would want to use, " /?" will show you what parameters the
tool takes, syntax, etc. The "attrib" command will always tell you what
attributes are set on a file and doesn't try to do any of that confusing (to
me) tri-state stuff.
(In case Roger reads this: cmd.exe is not DOS. It's only DOS-flavored.
There's a common myth that Windows XP has DOS somewhere under the covers.
Not true.)


Want to see what process has an open handle to the directory? You might
want to download Process Explorer from sysinternals.com. It's a free UI
tool that, among other things, shows you which processes have which files
open. It's kinda like Task Manager on steroids.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi Drew,

Thanks for responding to my inquiry in the MS Community
Newsgroup. I have to admit that I'm not as "computer
literate" as you are. Not sure I understand what you
mean by "show a tri-state with the checkbox", or how to
confirm "attrib" in the cmdline. I tried re-booting and
importing the OE files without opening Windows Explorer
(in case Explorer was somehow "grabbing" the folder), and
still get the error: "The mail folder could not be
opened. If another application is using the file, please
close it and try again." The directory containing the
mail files is located in the Shared Documents directory.

I am also confused as to why EVERY folder in Windows
Explorer has the Read-only attribute set (even new
folders I create) and I cannot seem to un-set that
attribute. It hasn't seemed to affect anything else,
although I've only had this new PC up and running for a
few days.

Any other help/explanation you have to offer would be
welcome.

Thanks,
John


-----Original Message-----
It's not really read-only. The UI is trying to show a
tri-state with the
checkbox. And the UI never actually sets the r/o bit on
a directory anyway.
("attrib" on the cmdline can confirm this.)

I don't know what's using the directory that OE wants to
use, but if you
have it open on your desktop, explorer is one culprit.
--
Drew Cooper [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.


message
I am moving my Outlook folders (.dbx) from my old
Windows98 PC to my new XP Home Edition PC. All the
files
are successfully moved, but when I try to Import them
into Outlook, I get the message that the folder with
the
OE files cannot be opened because it may be in use by
another application. When I checked the properties of
the folder, the attributes say the folder is Read- only.
None of the files in the folder are Read-only. When I
try to un-set the Read-only attribute, it appears to
let
me do it, but whe I check it again, it's still read
only.
In poking around, it appears that ALL the folders are
Read-only. The user account I'm using is "Computer
Administrator". Why are all the folders Read-only and
why
can't I change or even create a folder that is not? I
also tried dragging the folder into the Shared
Documents
folder, but no luck.


.

.