Changing Read-Only attribute of Microsoft folder

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phil Rabichow
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Phil Rabichow

Hi:
I am unable to change the read-only attribute for the folder

C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Microsoft

I read the article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326549/
which says you can change it at the command prompt, but the read-only
attribute won't go away.

Does anyone know of a workaround?
--
Thanks in advance,
Phil

P.S. The reason I'm trying to change it is that I use a utility called
"DirNow!", which allows me to navigate to a folder by typing in only the
last part of the path. However, it won't index read-only folders, as far as
I can tell.
 
Phil Rabichow said:
Hi:
I am unable to change the read-only attribute for the folder

C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Microsoft

I read the article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326549/
which says you can change it at the command prompt, but the read-only
attribute won't go away.

Does anyone know of a workaround?
Click to expand...


What do you mean by "won't go away"? Do you mean that no matter what you do, it remains grayed? If so, then just ignore it. As
long as a folder has anything in it, the read-only attribute box in it's properties dialog box will be grayed. It does NOT mean
that it, or anything in it is read-only (although there may be). Frankly, the read-only attribute means pretty much nothing for
folders. The only effective way of clearing it permanently is to remove everything from within the folder. Obviously this is not
practical, so just ignore it.
 
Hi Alec:
Thanks for the response. Yes, by "won't go away", I meant the attribute is grey with a checkmark in it. I am mistaken in my original
thought...that my DirNow! utility won't index read-only folders. I'm not quite sure why it won't index that folder, but that's a
different issue. In the meantime, I'll take your advice and ignore it.
 
Phil Rabichow said:
Hi Alec:
Thanks for the response. Yes, by "won't go away", I meant the attribute is grey with a checkmark in it. I am mistaken in my original
thought...that my DirNow! utility won't index read-only folders. I'm not quite sure why it won't index that folder, but that's a
different issue. In the meantime, I'll take your advice and ignore it.
Click to expand...


If it's written properly, it should be able to read read-only files (hence the term). Reading a read-only file is no different from
any other file, so if there was a problem, it was likely something else like you said.

You can test for yourself by making a folder somewhere and you'll see that as soon as you put anything in it, the read-only box gets
grayed.

So yes, just ignore it because the folder isn't read-only, it's just a weird quirk of the shell (which may be fixed in Vista, or
not).
 
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