Read-Only Problem - More Discussion

[Mark]

I have Win XP Home with a two partition disk. The first partition is a
FAT32 and the second NTFS. The other day I ran DiskCleanup and
Defragmentation programs, and after they finished, all my directories
were marked read-only on the NTFS disk. Unchecking the read-only box
doesn't make it go away.

After reading all of the past posts I now understand that it's a file
handling weakness in Win XP Home for NTFS volumes. Someone suggested
getting a Windows 2000 program to help reset the files:

http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/downloads/recommended/scm/default.asp

But, the page will not let me DL the scesp4i executable. Any ideas
where else I could get it? Are there any other programs out there that
would work on this problem? Where can I find them?

I still don't know why the file attributes were changed in the first
place. The disk is not "shared", and it's not on a network. It seems
like there's some sort of bug in either DiskCleanup or Defragmentation
that locks some file attributes while it's working on it, but then
fails to reset it after it's done. It's very annoying to not be able
to change the name of the read-only directories, which is what I need
to do.

 

[Nick Burns]

Folders are read only by design. Some very old programs might have a problem
with that.
This is no problem.

 

[purplehaz]

Your folders didn't change to read-only, they were always marked as
indeterminate. Not sure what your reading but it is not a file handling
weakness it is by design and it is not a problem at all. It does not effect
file sharing, access, or permissions, at all. Here is the info you need to
read to understand this:

XP just marks all folders indeterminate by default. It is a tri-state check
box. Colored in is indeterminate, checked is read-only, unchecked is normal.
The folders are not read-only and should work as normal. Just ignore the
inderterminate or read-only box on folders. If you have a piece of software
that is having problems writing to a folder then try to get an xp compatible
version of the program. Or post the exact problems you're having.
Most likely if it is a well written app then is it not the read-only check
box, more likely a permissions setting.

Here is some info on it:

XP does this by design. In XP the read only attribute
is only used by explorer to see if the folder is a special or a system
folder. Read up on it:
For XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;326549
or for other win versions:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;256614

File permissions info:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q308418

 

[Mark]

Folders are read only by design. Some very old programs might have a problem
with that.
This is no problem.

Well, I think it is a serious problem. Before I ran the DiskCleanup
and Defragmentation programs, I was able to change the names of the
directories. Now I cannot. Keep in mind that these are not system
folders, but simple "work" folders that I created. There's no reason I
can think of why I could rename them one day, and suddenly I cannot.

Mark

 

[Mark]

Thanks for the reply, but I guess I wasn't clear enough...

All I want to do is get back to two-days ago where I *could* change
the name of the folders. After I ran DiskCleanup and Defrag, the
folder names can no longer be changed in Explorer. What is causing
this if not a hidden NTFS attribute?

 

[Test Man]

Are you sure they were actually marked as Read Only? If the box has a block
in it, this means that one or more of the folders within the folder whose
properties you're checking have a read-only status set. If it has a check
mark, then it means ALL of the folders have a read-only status set on them.
A block would be normal behaviour

 

[purplehaz]

Ok, you never said that. So basicly your problem is that you cannot rename
folders? You have to be specific when stating the problem. I would just do a
system restore back three days ago and that should fix you up.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have Win XP Home with a two partition disk. The first partition is a
FAT32 and the second NTFS. The other day I ran DiskCleanup and
Defragmentation programs, and after they finished, all my directories
were marked read-only on the NTFS disk. Unchecking the read-only box
doesn't make it go away.

After reading all of the past posts I now understand that it's a file
handling weakness in Win XP Home for NTFS volumes. Someone suggested
getting a Windows 2000 program to help reset the files:

Read only is an attribute that has no meaning for folders (the
directories are always open for writing), and XP makes an alternative
use of it. You can change it and on Apply it will ask if you want the
change applied to all contained objects, but the display of it for the
folder will revert to greyed

 

[Alex Nichol]

All I want to do is get back to two-days ago where I *could* change
the name of the folders. After I ran DiskCleanup and Defrag, the
folder names can no longer be changed in Explorer. What is causing
this if not a hidden NTFS attribute?

That is probably not a matter of the Read Only attribute, but of an NTFS
access permission (if this is XP Pro). Right click it; Properties;
Security page and highlight your account: Ensure it has 'Full Control'

 

[Mark]

Well, it's XP Home and I don't have any utility for resetting NTFS
access permissions.

Where can I find such a utility?

Also, why did it happen? Is there a bug in Microsoft DiskCleanup or
Defragment?

Mark

 

[Mark]

I think that most of the people on here who are complaining about
"Read-Only" problems are actually complaining about the inability to
rename Folders. When you try to rename the folder, you get an error
message and then you look at the permissions and see "read-only". You
try to change it and it won't go away.

What I need is a NTFS attribute utility.

Mark

 

[Mark]

Yes, they are all marked read-only. But, I don't think that's the
problem. It's something weird with the NTFS access attributes

Mark

 

[purplehaz]

http://www.attributemagic.com/attributemagic_standard.html