Permanent read-only folder problem

czerwian · 09 Jul 2020

Hello everyone, I'v got small problem with few folders downloaded from github from one guy. Namely I'm making open tibia server, but it doesn't matter. I'v got there cache folder with two subfolders.

Permanent read-only folder problem-atrib1.png

When I'm trying to change read only option from properties, it's changing back to be marked on. I'm trying to change owner of this folders from properties/security etc. but it doesen't help me.. Same with CMD run as admin and command attrib -R. CMD Showing then this folders don't have any attributes after attrib command like this

Permanent read-only folder problem-attrib2.png

But when I go to propetries again I see something like this

Permanent read-only folder problem-attrib3.png

Independently what I'm doing it's always read only.. Guys please help me with this problem..
It's 100% Admin account, only one account btw on this windows so...

Ghot · 09 Jul 2020

You might want to try this...

Add Take Ownership Context Menu in Windows 10

Ten Pink · 09 Jul 2020

It could be a permissions issue as noted by @Ghot. It might also have something to do with the names starting with a period. I had a similar issue once under Windows XP with files starting with a period.

LMiller7 · 09 Jul 2020

This seems to confuse a lot of people. What you are seeing is completely normal.

This does not show that the folder is read only. In fact there are no attributes that will make a folder read only in Windows. This can only be done by setting permissions. You can set the read only attribute from the command line but this does not make the folder read only. It just tells Windows Explorer to check if the folder contains a desktop.ini file which provides information about how to display the file.

That is a 3 state checkbox. The 3 states are:

1. Checked
2. Unchecked
3. Undefined. Folders will always show this. The text beside the checkbox does say it applies only to files in the folder.

For files the checkbox will be checked or unchecked to show the read only state.
For folders it has a different purpose. It is a convenient way to set or clear the read only attribute of all of the files in the folder. It will not effect folders.

If there is a problem with the folder this is not it.

Try3 · 09 Jul 2020

LMiller is right. Read-only propertis on folders do not mean that the folders are read-only. See
Read-only or the System attributes of folders - MSSupport
folder read-only indicator [KeithM] - TenForums
interesting ditty about folder R attribute [KeithM] - TenForums

MS said:

Cause

Note 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. When a folder has the Read-Only attribute set it causes Explorer to request the Desktop.ini of that folder to see if any special folder settings need to be set. It has been seen where if a network share that has a large amount of folders set to Read-only, it can cause Explorer to take longer then what is expected to render the contents of that share while it waits on the retrieval of the Desktop.ini files. The slower the network connectivity to the share the longer this process can take to the point where Explorer may timeout waiting for the data and render nothing or appear to hang.

Denis