read only files

i hav a new asus lappy with the main hd drive partitioned in 2 plus recovery
section (as it comes), and 2 external usb hdd in enclosures. am running vista
ultimate, i am the administrator of the system, only user, no guest accounts.
UAC is off.

now my problem is that ALL the drives have turned them selves into "ready
only" and i cannot delete any folders, files or stuff. click on a folder an
check properties, "read only" highlighted.

uncheck it, it comes up with a box asking if i want to change this option,
click yes, goes off, comes back saying i need admin rights to do this. but i
am the admin of the system

as far as i know i havent changed anything.

any thoughts???

thanks in advance

Rick
Sun May 11 04:10:40 PDT 2008

Hi,

Read-only, as an attribute, applies only to files not folders. The attribute
cannot be changed because it doesn't actually exist even though it appears
to. It's appearance happens as a side affect of customizing a folder. This
is a known quirk that happens in XP as well.

Whether or not a file is read-only has no bearing on whether or not you can
delete it. That would be a permissions issue.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"river" <river@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:630A8249-7553-4F64-923B-FCE2C576C9A8@microsoft.com...
>i hav a new asus lappy with the main hd drive partitioned in 2 plus
>recovery
> section (as it comes), and 2 external usb hdd in enclosures. am running
> vista
> ultimate, i am the administrator of the system, only user, no guest
> accounts.
> UAC is off.
>
> now my problem is that ALL the drives have turned them selves into "ready
> only" and i cannot delete any folders, files or stuff. click on a folder
> an
> check properties, "read only" highlighted.
>
> uncheck it, it comes up with a box asking if i want to change this option,
> click yes, goes off, comes back saying i need admin rights to do this. but
> i
> am the admin of the system
>
> as far as i know i havent changed anything.
>
> any thoughts???
>
> thanks in advance

Synapse
Sun May 11 05:18:43 PDT 2008

"Rick Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:%23Ky1oe1sIHA.4528@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> Read-only, as an attribute, applies only to files not folders. The
> attribute cannot be changed because it doesn't actually exist even though
> it appears to.

Not sure what you mean there, as the ATTRIB command works on folders, and
you even need the read-only attribute set on User Shell Folders for their
icons to display.

> It's appearance happens as a side affect of customizing a folder. This is
> a known quirk that happens in XP as well.

Do you mean the grey tick? I thought the explanation for that was that it
just means that the folder may or may not contain read-only files (it does
not know, as finding out could take ages which deep hierarchies). Well,
that's what I have thought for nearly a decade, and it seems to fit
perfectly.

ss.

Rick
Sun May 11 05:38:07 PDT 2008

Hi,

I find this article to be the best explanation of why it's there:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256614

Shell folders are unique in how they function and, as you stated, are
handled differently by the OS.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Synapse Syndrome" <synapse@NOSPAMsyndrome.me.uk> wrote in message
news:eq8nwE2sIHA.4476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> "Rick Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:%23Ky1oe1sIHA.4528@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>
>> Read-only, as an attribute, applies only to files not folders. The
>> attribute cannot be changed because it doesn't actually exist even though
>> it appears to.
>
> Not sure what you mean there, as the ATTRIB command works on folders, and
> you even need the read-only attribute set on User Shell Folders for their
> icons to display.
>
>> It's appearance happens as a side affect of customizing a folder. This is
>> a known quirk that happens in XP as well.
>
> Do you mean the grey tick? I thought the explanation for that was that it
> just means that the folder may or may not contain read-only files (it does
> not know, as finding out could take ages which deep hierarchies). Well,
> that's what I have thought for nearly a decade, and it seems to fit
> perfectly.
>
> ss.
>

river
Sun May 11 23:40:01 PDT 2008



"Rick Rogers" wrote:

> Whether or not a file is read-only has no bearing on whether or not you can
> delete it. That would be a permissions issue.
>
> --


OK then how do i setup 'permissions' to all the drives/folders connected to
my comp?

thanks

alan

Rick
Mon May 12 02:39:22 PDT 2008

Edit permissions on the security tab of the root folder's properties.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"river" <river@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8322BB21-9DE3-4568-A0DF-2CD6F6090274@microsoft.com...
>
>
> "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>
>> Whether or not a file is read-only has no bearing on whether or not you
>> can
>> delete it. That would be a permissions issue.
>>
>> --
>
>
> OK then how do i setup 'permissions' to all the drives/folders connected
> to
> my comp?
>
> thanks
>
> alan
>

Mike
Tue May 27 14:53:06 PDT 2008

Rick Rogers wrote:
> Edit permissions on the security tab of the root folder's properties.
>
Hi, I have the same problem, however Vista Ultimate 64 SP1 will change
on reboot so a whole drive as seen in Logical Disk Manager is Read Only.
Shut down, leave it for a while, re-boot and its OK, but now another
physical drive is now read only. It seems to be a random thing, the only
good thing so far is it hasn't affected the physical drive hosting C.

Mike