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You Cannot View or Change the Read-Only or System Attribute of Folders
View products that this article applies to.
Article ID : 326549
Last Review : November 5, 2003
Revision : 5.1
This article was previously published under Q326549
For a Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, Windows Millennium Edition,
Windows 98, and Windows 95 version of this article, see 256614.
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SYMPTOMS
CAUSE
WORKAROUND
STATUS
MORE INFORMATION
APPLIES TO
SYMPTOMS
You may experience any of the following symptoms: . You cannot view or
change the Read-only or System attributes of a folder by using the
Properties dialog box for the folder. For example, you may experience the
following symptoms: . When you view the General tab of a folder's Properties
dialog box, the Read-only check box is not available, and there is no check
box to change the System attribute.
. You click to clear or click to select the Read-only check box
on the General tab of a folder's Properties dialog box. When you click OK or
Apply, you receive the following message:
Confirm Attribute Changes
You have chosen to make the following attribute changes:
unset read-only
Do you want to apply this change to this folder only, or do you
want to apply it to all subfolders and files as well?
If you click Apply changes to this folder only, the Read-only
attribute is changed for all the files in the folder, but the Read-only
attribute is not changed for the folder, its subfolders, or any files in its
subfolders. If you click Apply changes to this folder, subfolders, and
files, the Read-only attribute is changed for all files in the folder and
all files in the subfolders, but the Read-only attribute is not changed for
the folder or its subfolders.
. Some programs may display error messages when you try to save files
to a folder with the Read-only or System attribute. As a result, these
programs may not be able to save files to the folder.
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CAUSE
Unlike the Read-only attribute for a file, the Read-only attribute for a
folder is typically ignored by Windows, Windows components and accessories,
and other programs. For example, you can delete, rename, and change a folder
with the Read-only attribute by using Windows Explorer. The Read-only and
System attributes is only used by Windows Explorer to determine whether the
folder is a special folder, such as a system folder that has its view
customized by Windows (for example, My Documents, Favorites, Fonts,
Downloaded Program Files), or a folder that you customized by using the
Customize tab of the folder's Properties dialog box. As a result, Windows
Explorer does not allow you to view or change the Read-only or System
attributes of folders.
Note In some previous versions of Windows, you can change the Read-only
attribute for folders by using the Properties dialog box for the folder, but
no versions of Windows permit you to change the System attribute by using
Windows Explorer.
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WORKAROUND
To work around this issue, use the Attrib command at a command prompt
(Cmd.exe) to view or remove the Read-only or System attributes of folders.
Type attrib /? at the command prompt to view the syntax for the Attrib
command.
Warning If you remove the Read-only or System attribute from a folder, it
may appear as a ordinary folder and some customizations may be lost. For
example, Windows customizes the Fonts folder and provides a special folder
view that permits you to hide variations, such as bold and italic. It also
permits you to change the folder's view settings in ways that are specific
to fonts. If you remove the Read-only and System attributes of the Fonts
folder, these customized view settings are not available. For folders that
you have customized by using the Customize tab of the folder's Properties
dialog box, the folder icon and other other customizations may be lost when
you remove the Read-only attribute.
If a program cannot save files to a folder with the Read-only attribute,
such as My Documents, change the Read-only attribute to System by using the
Attrib command at a command prompt.
For example, to change the Read-only attribute to System for the C:\Test
folder, use the following command:
attrib -r +s c:\test
Note that some programs may not operate correctly with folders that have the
System attribute set. To remove both the Read-only and System attributes
from the C:\Test folder, use the following command:
attrib -r -s c:\test
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STATUS
This behavior is by design.
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MORE INFORMATION
Windows stores file and folder attributes in the file system with the file
and folder name, extension, date and time stamps, and other information. The
Read-only check box for folders is not available because it does not apply
to the folder. You can use this check box to set the Read-only attribute for
files in the folder. However, you cannot use Windows Explorer to determine
if a folder has the Read-only and System attributes set. To determine the
attributes that are set on a folder, or to change these attributes, you must
use the Attrib command from a command prompt.
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APPLIES TO
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based
Systems
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
. Microsoft Windows XP Professional
. Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
. Microsoft Windows XP Professional 64-Bit Edition (Itanium)
. Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2002
. Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
. Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition
. Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition
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Keywords: kbenv kbprb KB326549
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