Folders randomly become "read only"

[Guest]

Recently many of my folders have started requiring special permission to do
normal explorer functions like moving and deleting files. For instance, the
"New" menu when I right-click will only offer to make new folders, not
short-cuts, text doc's, etc. Whenever I try to move or delete files in these
folders, the "User Account Control" window pops up asking for administrator
permission. Also, these folders are marked "read only" under
Properties>Attributes, and "read only" cannot be unchecked.

This has happened to maybe half of my folders across my computer and on
several different hard drives without any apparent pattern. Any help would
be greatly appreciated

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Trent

In Vista, the permissions that are set for a folder, depends on which
folders you are working with. There are areas that are more restricted than
others, such as the root of the C: drive, C:\Program Files, and C:\Windows.

Depending on where you right click a folder the New menu will show different
options. If you right click a folder in the Navigation Pane (Left side of
Windows Explorer) you will only see a 'folder' option in the New menu. If
you right click a folder in the right side pane of Windows Explorer, you
will see the full New menu options.

If you right click a folder and select Properties/General Tab, the 'Read
Only' check box, will be filled with a color. This has no effect on the
'files' that are in that folder. This the default configuration for all
folders.

More details here:

Why can't I clear or set the Read Only attribute checkbox on a folder?:
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/Administration/read_only_folders.aspx

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