"Read Only"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I'm having trouble with files and folders on my second hard drive. These
files existed before installing vista. It seems that Vista has marked all
files and folders as read only and I can't change that. (un-checking it has
no effect, just changes back to read only after closing and re-opening) Is
this a bug, or something microsoft did as a safeguard? Is there anyway I can
fix this or a workaround so I can modify files? (eg. rotate pictures,
resize, replace existing files with modified ones, etc.)
I've even tried using Irfanview to modify pictures and save them, but it
won't let me replace existing with modified.
 
No similar problem here, though I installed Vista with the other drives
disconnected and reconnected after the install. FWIW the files on my other
drives update fine so far.
 
The problem here is that in Windows Vista, even though you are technically
an administrator, the programs you run are only given "standard user"
access. Because of this, and the fact that the files were created in another
version of windows, means that you will not be able to modify these files
without changing some settings.

In order to tell you how to fix this, I need some information ...

Are the files on your second hard drive part of another version of windows
(for example, a windows xp installation), or is this a data only hard drive
that contains only your files?

- JB
 
Jimmy,

I have the same problem except that the files are marked "read only" when I
access them from another computer on my home network. The computer that I am
using to access the files is running windows XP Professional. The computer
that I am running Vista on had its files created in XP Professional. Can you
help me with how to access and change these files?
 
Wow...this went through. I got a message when I tried to post that I
couldn't post, to try again later. So I tried posting again and got the same
message. I see both messages were posted though, weird.
Anyway. The files and folders are not from another OS. They are personal
files, Pics, Word Docs, etc. I've tried changing permissions under
'Properties(of drive),Security tab'. It says I'm not allowed to change
permisions.
 
Its a well known bug.

Xiphoidfugu said:
Wow...this went through. I got a message when I tried to post that I
couldn't post, to try again later. So I tried posting again and got the
same
message. I see both messages were posted though, weird.
Anyway. The files and folders are not from another OS. They are personal
files, Pics, Word Docs, etc. I've tried changing permissions under
'Properties(of drive),Security tab'. It says I'm not allowed to change
permisions.
Click to expand...
 
Well, if the files weren't created from your current account in Vista, and
they are on a drive formatted with NTFS, then they will inherit permissions
from the drive, which are (roughly): Administrators full access, Owner full
access (which is not your account in Vista), and everyone else read access.

So ... writing to these files will be a problem due to the standard-user
nature of the programs you run (at least the ones that don't prompt for
admin permissions, which is ... oh, any program not included in Vista, and
most that are)

Isn't living in a pseudo-admin world bliss!! ;)

The solution (as you mentioned) is to give full access to your user account
in vista to the drive, which will propagate down to all the container files
that don't have overriden permissions.

Unfortunately, Vista Beta 2 makes this nearly impossible ... but here's how:

First thing, we're gonna open an "administrator" instance of explorer. This
gets rid of those nag screens every time you try to do something dangerous,
as well as avoids some bugs where the nag screens don't come up when they
should.

- Click start
- Type explorer
- Right-click windows explorer under programs when it comes up, then click
run as administrator

So far, so good ... Now, on Vista formatted NTFS drives, it doesn't give
permission to edit permissions to Administrators ... OK, I have been fairly
supportive of the new security things so far... but THIS IS REDICULOUS! lol.

So, we have to get around that ...

- Browse to Computer
- Right-click on the drive in question
- Click Properties
- Click Security Tab
- Click Edit
- Click Advanced
- Click Owner
- Click Administrators
- Click OK
- Click OK
- Click OK

All right .. we now have ownership of the drive, which overrides NTFS
settings and allows us to change permissions (Sheesh)...

- Right-click the drive
- Click Properties
- Click Security tab
- Click Edit

Allright ... from this screen you should now be able to edit the NTFS
security on your drive :)

- Click Add
- Type your username and press enter
- Select full control
- Click OK

You will get a warning about changing security settings on a drive. Click
Yes to continue. It will then propagate down the filesystem to every folder
file that you have access to and that doesn't have overridden settings.

Well ... wasn't that fun! lol

Let me know how it went

- JB

- JB
 
Oh yeah,

To everyone else reading this ... the reason I am suggesting that he give
himself full permissions to the ENTIRE DRIVE is because he has a seperate
hard drive just for storing his data ...

It is *not secure* to do this in any other case (and the permissions on
drives with windows installed to them are set up to make this next to
impossible to do correctly anyway).

For best security, you should only give yourself full access to folders that
contain the data files you need to access, and no more.

For example, if you need access to a folder on a Windows XP partition that
you dual-boot with:

- Following the steps in my previous post, but instead of going to the
drive, browse to the folder you need access to

- COMPLETELY SKIP the "take ownership" part ... this is not necessary for
folders, and may screw things up if you have a normal user account in the XP
you are dual booting with.

- JB
 
OK...

First things first ... when you are accessing your files on Vista from the
network, does it ask for your username and password?
 
That Helped. Thanks....worked great. Isn't Vista supposed to be more user
friendly? I mean I understand all the security, but it shouldn't be that
hard to change settings.
I have another thought....just say I didn't do it this way. Would it work
out if I disconnected the drive, rebooted, then shut down and reconnect the
drive again. Would Vista then see the files and folders as newly created,
and therefore allow full access? I noticed before I followed your
instructions, that any files I added to the drive after installing Vista were
fully accessible (modifiable [if that's even a word, lol])
 
That Helped. Thanks....worked great.

I'm glad :)
Isn't Vista supposed to be more user
friendly? I mean I understand all the security, but it shouldn't be that
hard to change settings.
Click to expand...

Agreed! Microsoft needs to do so MAJOR, MAJOR work to make NTFS security
settings easier to use, now that they are forcing them on everybody!
Would it work
out if I disconnected the drive, rebooted, then shut down and reconnect
the
drive again.
No.

I noticed before I followed your
instructions, that any files I added to the drive after installing Vista
were
fully accessible (modifiable [if that's even a word, lol])
Click to expand...

modifiable ... eh, I'll allow it!

The reason you could modify files you created from within Vista is because
whenever you create a file you are set as the owner. Generally, the owner of
the file or folder has full access to that item.

(If you go into one of those security dialogs, take a look at the
permissions for CREATOR/OWNER ... this is what access the creator of that
folder or file has to that folder or file)

Because your other files were created from Windows XP, the user account set
as the creator doesn't match your user account in vista (not even if they
are the same name). So the CREATOR/OWNER permission doesn't get applied to
you ... instead, you get the USERS permission, which is generally read-only.

The opposite would happen to you in Windows XP if you were running as a
normal user ... you would be able to modify the files you created from
Windows XP, but you wouldn't be able to modify any files you created from
Windows Vista.

You see, this problem isn't a Vista-specific problem. This is a NTFS
permissions problem. And this is going to make running a multiboot with
WinXP a nightmare for the techies out there that know nothing about NTFS.

So ... why hasn't this been a problem before?

Because 99% of people run in XP as Administrator, which pretty much negates
ALL of the security that is built-in to NTFS.

Now that Vista makes it much harder to run as full Administrator, this is
now a huge problem. Microsoft really needs to re-think the tools they have
available for messing with permissions and make this easier!

- JB
 
That makes everything clearer. Thanks for the education on NTFS, I never
knew that before.

Jimmy Brush said:
That Helped. Thanks....worked great.
Click to expand...

I'm glad :)
Isn't Vista supposed to be more user
friendly? I mean I understand all the security, but it shouldn't be that
hard to change settings.
Click to expand...

Agreed! Microsoft needs to do so MAJOR, MAJOR work to make NTFS security
settings easier to use, now that they are forcing them on everybody!
Would it work
out if I disconnected the drive, rebooted, then shut down and reconnect
the
drive again.
No.

I noticed before I followed your
instructions, that any files I added to the drive after installing Vista
were
fully accessible (modifiable [if that's even a word, lol])
Click to expand...

modifiable ... eh, I'll allow it!

The reason you could modify files you created from within Vista is because
whenever you create a file you are set as the owner. Generally, the owner of
the file or folder has full access to that item.

(If you go into one of those security dialogs, take a look at the
permissions for CREATOR/OWNER ... this is what access the creator of that
folder or file has to that folder or file)

Because your other files were created from Windows XP, the user account set
as the creator doesn't match your user account in vista (not even if they
are the same name). So the CREATOR/OWNER permission doesn't get applied to
you ... instead, you get the USERS permission, which is generally read-only.

The opposite would happen to you in Windows XP if you were running as a
normal user ... you would be able to modify the files you created from
Windows XP, but you wouldn't be able to modify any files you created from
Windows Vista.

You see, this problem isn't a Vista-specific problem. This is a NTFS
permissions problem. And this is going to make running a multiboot with
WinXP a nightmare for the techies out there that know nothing about NTFS.

So ... why hasn't this been a problem before?

Because 99% of people run in XP as Administrator, which pretty much negates
ALL of the security that is built-in to NTFS.

Now that Vista makes it much harder to run as full Administrator, this is
now a huge problem. Microsoft really needs to re-think the tools they have
available for messing with permissions and make this easier!

- JB
Click to expand...
 
I had a similar problem except that mine is a separate logical drive
partition on my one physical drive. I tried the solution but it doe NOT fix
the problem! Can I try something else?
 
- What operating system were the files created in?
- Did you create the folder that your files/folders reside in, or were they
created by the operating system?

If the answer to the first question is "Not Windows Vista", and the answer
to the second question is "the operating system", you will need to set
permissions on the folder your files/folders are in.

For example, if your files are in: F:\documents and settings\joebob\

You will need to set permissions on the joebob folder.

To do that:

1) Open an "administrator/root" explorer
- Click start
- Type explorer
- right-click windows explorer
- click run-as administrator

2) From the admin explorer, allow access from Vista
- Browse to the folder you need access to
- Right-click it
- Click Properties
- Click security tab
- Click Edit
- Click Add
* If only your account needs acces, type your username
* If every account on vista needs access, type: Users
- Press enter
- Click the checkbox under Allow next to Full control
- Click OK
- Click OK

Repeat step 2 for all folders you need access to.

- JB

Vista FAQ
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/
 
Jimmy Brush said:
Well, if the files weren't created from your current account in Vista, and
they are on a drive formatted with NTFS, then they will inherit permissions
from the drive, which are (roughly): Administrators full access, Owner full
access (which is not your account in Vista), and everyone else read access.

So ... writing to these files will be a problem due to the standard-user
nature of the programs you run (at least the ones that don't prompt for
admin permissions, which is ... oh, any program not included in Vista, and
most that are)

Isn't living in a pseudo-admin world bliss!! ;)

The solution (as you mentioned) is to give full access to your user account
in vista to the drive, which will propagate down to all the container files
that don't have overriden permissions.

Unfortunately, Vista Beta 2 makes this nearly impossible ... but here's how:

First thing, we're gonna open an "administrator" instance of explorer. This
gets rid of those nag screens every time you try to do something dangerous,
as well as avoids some bugs where the nag screens don't come up when they
should.

- Click start
- Type explorer
- Right-click windows explorer under programs when it comes up, then click
run as administrator

So far, so good ... Now, on Vista formatted NTFS drives, it doesn't give
permission to edit permissions to Administrators ... OK, I have been fairly
supportive of the new security things so far... but THIS IS REDICULOUS! lol.

So, we have to get around that ...

- Browse to Computer
- Right-click on the drive in question
- Click Properties
- Click Security Tab
- Click Edit
- Click Advanced
- Click Owner
- Click Administrators
- Click OK
- Click OK
- Click OK

All right .. we now have ownership of the drive, which overrides NTFS
settings and allows us to change permissions (Sheesh)...

- Right-click the drive
- Click Properties
- Click Security tab
- Click Edit

Allright ... from this screen you should now be able to edit the NTFS
security on your drive :)

- Click Add
- Type your username and press enter
- Select full control
- Click OK

You will get a warning about changing security settings on a drive. Click
Yes to continue. It will then propagate down the filesystem to every folder
file that you have access to and that doesn't have overridden settings.

Well ... wasn't that fun! lol

Let me know how it went

- JB

- JB
Click to expand...
 
I'm having difficulty with a drive from my old (nonfunctional) computer. The
files I want are in My Documents on this drive and have high security
settings (I was paranoid). When I try to change the permissions for these
folders I am denied access.
 
Hi,

Did you encrypt them? If so, you need the encryption certificate or recovery
agent from that installation in order to access them. Without them, the data
will not be accessible.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Right-click folder, then, Properties | Security | Advanced | Owner -> set
yourself as the owner of the whole drive. Then, try again.

-Frank
 
The ownership does not propagate down to all the files and folders one the
drive. I have to go through and get control of each folder and file
individually. I'm trying to find an easier way to do this.
 
Back
Top