All Drives/All Files are marked as "Read-Only" Ideas?

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Microsoft

I just built my XP Pro system. I have built LOTS of them but never seen
this happen. ALL of my files/folders on all of my drives are marked "Read
Only."

I am using "Ghost". Anyone seen this happen with Ghost?
I am using RAID, but this system previously used the same RAID drives
without this "feature."

Using "attrib" isn't a solution since you have to do it folder by folder.
Too much time.

Any ideas?

TIA,

Larry Woods
 
No, all of your folders are NOT Read-only. Some of them are. Like
special folders and folders that you have customized.

Windows Explorer does not allow you to view or change a folder's Read-only
or System attribute. Changing these attributes can break special folders
and screw up any of your folder customizations. You can only view or change
a folder's Read-only or System attributes by using the attrib command.

So why do you think that all of your folders are Read-only?

Read-only for folders does not mean Read-only like it does with files.

A file that is marked Read-only can be read, but it cannot be changed or
deleted.

You can delete, rename, move or change a folder that has the Read-only
attribute set.

For folders the Read-only and System attributes are used by Windows Explorer
to determine whether a folder is a special folder or whether you have
customized the folder using the Customize tab of Folder Properties.

Special folders include:
Cookies, Control Panel, Desktop, Downloaded Program Files, Favorites, Fonts,
History, My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos, Recycle Bin, Shared
Documents, Shared Music, Shared Pictures, Shared Videos, SendTo, Start Menu,
Startup, Temporary Internet Files, etc.

When a folder has the Read-Only attribute set, Windows Explorer reads the
Desktop.ini of that folder to see if any special folder settings need to be
set. That is all Read-only means for a folder.

The Read-only check box in Folder Properties does NOT apply to the folder.

The Read-only check box for folders is there for convenience, it allows you
to change the Read-only attribute of all the files contained in that folder.
The Read-only check box indicates whether the files in the folder are
Read-only, NOT the folder. If you select this check box all of the files
in the folder will be Read-only. If you clear the check box, none of the
files in the folder will be Read-only. If the check appears green or gray,
then some of the files in that folder may be Read-only.

If the check appears green or gray, it indicates either a mixed (some of the
files may be Read-only) or undetermined condition. Windows Explorer
displays the green or gray check because it would take too long to verify
the state of the read-only attribute for every file in the folder.

The System attribute serves to protect files from accidental deletion.

The System file attribute by default is set by the operating system or some
other program to mark files that are essentially important for proper
functioning of system.

The System attribute is usually used jointly with Hidden and Read-only
attributes to provide maximum protection of system files. The System
attribute is usually regarded by programs as a mandatory rule which forbids
any actions to be taken upon files or folders marked with this attribute.

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308421


--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
No, you are wrong. I have a LOT of folders in wwwroot, for example and they
are ALL marked as "read only"; folders, files. The way I discovered the
problem was that I started a "localhost" web app and tried to update an
Access database I got a "cannot update. database is read-only." This is
what got me looking into the problem.

I brought the system up in safe mode, thinking maybe some program was
setting this on the fly, but all folders are "read only" in safe mode also.

By the way, this computer has NINE logical drives defined and they are ALL
read-only!!!

Larry Woods
 
Where are you seeing Read-only for folders?

You *CANNOT* tell from Windows Explorer if a folder is Read-only or System
unless you display the Attributes column in Details View. The Attributes
column can display R, H, S, A, C & E. And you certainly cannot change the
System or Read-only attribute for any folders using Windows Explorer.

If you're looking at Folder Properties, you *CANNOT* tell if a folder is
System or Read-only. Only Hidden, Archived, Compressed, Encrypted or
Indexed. Read-only does not apply to the folder, only the files in that
folder.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
If you really think about it, if EVERYTHING is read-only ... how are you
able to bring the system up. Many files, not owned by you, are used in
bringing the system up and keep it running. These files have to be written
to by you.

When I used Microsoft's old Personal Web Server and created the WWWROOT
tree, there used to be an option on how to create/maintain files/folders
under wwwroot.

What are you using? FrontPage? IIS? What creates and maintains WWWROOT?
 
How are you determining that all your logical drives are read-only? When I
right-click on a Drive, select Properties ... what are you looking at that
shows the drive is read-only?
 
A hard drive cannot be Read-only without physical jumpers set or 3rd party
software installed on purpose to make it Read-only.

If a drive is NTFS a MAC will see it as Read-only.

However, on USB devices...

When this registry key is enabled, the devices function only as read-only
devices.

Who does this feature apply to?
* Users who do not want data to be written from their computer to a USB
storage device.
* IT professionals who want to implement organization controls over the use
of USB block storage devices

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\
CurrentControlSet\Control \StorageDevicePolicies
Value Name: WriteProtect
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 0 or 1
0 = Disabled
1 = Enabled

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
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