Write-protected files in XP Pro

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  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hi,

All of a sudden, within the last 3 days, ALL folders on my HD have gone into
"read only" for all users - all users are Computer Administrators.

I've read the "how to take ownership" - and am wondering if I should try
this, and how would I accomplish it for all files?

I am currently running my McAfee virus scan to determine if there is
anything that I've been infected with.

Could it also have something to do with the amount of spybots that were
removed from my computer on Wednesday?

Thanks!
 
You do not have a problem. Quit wasting your time.

Read-only means *nothing* for folders. Only a *file* can be Read-only.

The Read-only check box for folders is there for convenience, it allows you
to change the Read-only attribute of all the *files* contained in that
folder.

[[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.]]

The HELP question mark (?) explains it this way.
[[Specifies whether the files in this folder are read-only, which means that
they cannot be changed or accidentally deleted.

For multiple folders, if you select this check box all of the files in the
folders will be read-only. If you clear the check box, none of the files in
the selected folders will be read-only.]]

[[Read only on a folder does NOT mean read only. It means parse the
desktop.ini file. ]]

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...id+author:candy&rnum=2&hl=en#3123f0a6561130da

[[There is no such attribute called read only on a folder, only Parse the
desktop.ini. ]]

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...id+author:candy&rnum=3&hl=en#c3b9cc87ab178b12

[[It DOES NOT mean read only when applied to a folder, it means parse the
desktop.ini (as does the system attribute). ]]

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...d+author:candy&rnum=11&hl=en#c5ebff5b666cbc2a

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
It is very hard to tell what happened without knowing more and having
auditing enabled for permission change ahead of time. However this certainly
does not sound good as often malware will do such in order to try and
prevent anyone from trying to manage the operating system. You may want to
doing a clean install of the operating system after backing up needed data
and configuration settings first. See the link below on how to use the
secedit command to restore defined security settings to default levels and
note you can use the /areas switch to change only specific settings such as
filestore. --- Steve

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;313222
 
I can't thank you enough for helping. However, after reading the links
posted, I don't think this is my problem:

I've accessed a few programs already today, such as a peer-to-peer program,
and others, which indicate that "A drive or directory is write protected" or
that the program is a protected file.

ALL of the folders in my entire computer have this issue...and it seems that
all programs that try to automatically write to a folder have trouble with it.

What I'm wondering is if I should try the "ownership" trick - but how would
I do this for EVERY file folder in my computer.

Also, would parsing the "desktop.ini" file be a solution to this problem -
the google groups discussions weren't entirely clear on that.

PS - I think it happened when I either installed or uninstalled a program
today.

Thanks again,
Macdian






Wesley Vogel said:
You do not have a problem. Quit wasting your time.

Read-only means *nothing* for folders. Only a *file* can be Read-only.

The Read-only check box for folders is there for convenience, it allows you
to change the Read-only attribute of all the *files* contained in that
folder.

[[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.]]

The HELP question mark (?) explains it this way.
[[Specifies whether the files in this folder are read-only, which means that
they cannot be changed or accidentally deleted.

For multiple folders, if you select this check box all of the files in the
folders will be read-only. If you clear the check box, none of the files in
the selected folders will be read-only.]]

[[Read only on a folder does NOT mean read only. It means parse the
desktop.ini file. ]]

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...id+author:candy&rnum=2&hl=en#3123f0a6561130da

[[There is no such attribute called read only on a folder, only Parse the
desktop.ini. ]]

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...id+author:candy&rnum=3&hl=en#c3b9cc87ab178b12

[[It DOES NOT mean read only when applied to a folder, it means parse the
desktop.ini (as does the system attribute). ]]

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...d+author:candy&rnum=11&hl=en#c5ebff5b666cbc2a

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
Macdian said:
Hi,

All of a sudden, within the last 3 days, ALL folders on my HD have gone
into "read only" for all users - all users are Computer Administrators.

I've read the "how to take ownership" - and am wondering if I should try
this, and how would I accomplish it for all files?

I am currently running my McAfee virus scan to determine if there is
anything that I've been infected with.

Could it also have something to do with the amount of spybots that were
removed from my computer on Wednesday?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Macdian,

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308421

Try taking ownership of your My Documents folder first. If that doesn't
help, you'll have to figure out what other folder(s).
What I'm wondering is if I should try the "ownership" trick - but how
would
I do this for EVERY file folder in my computer.
Click to expand...

You'd have to take ownership of Local Disk (C:) if that is your hard drive.
Also, would parsing the "desktop.ini" file be a solution to this problem -
the google groups discussions weren't entirely clear on that.
Click to expand...

Windows already does that. If you have a cutomized icon for a folder,
Windows uses the destop.ini to store that information. Shared Documents,
Shared Music, Shared Pictures and Shared Video folders all get their name
from the desktop.ini. Otherwise their real names are Documents, My Music,
My Pictures My Videos.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
Macdian said:
I can't thank you enough for helping. However, after reading the links
posted, I don't think this is my problem:

I've accessed a few programs already today, such as a peer-to-peer
program, and others, which indicate that "A drive or directory is write
protected" or that the program is a protected file.

ALL of the folders in my entire computer have this issue...and it seems
that all programs that try to automatically write to a folder have
trouble with it.

What I'm wondering is if I should try the "ownership" trick - but how
would
I do this for EVERY file folder in my computer.

Also, would parsing the "desktop.ini" file be a solution to this problem -
the google groups discussions weren't entirely clear on that.

PS - I think it happened when I either installed or uninstalled a program
today.

Thanks again,
Macdian






Wesley Vogel said:
You do not have a problem. Quit wasting your time.

Read-only means *nothing* for folders. Only a *file* can be Read-only.

The Read-only check box for folders is there for convenience, it allows
you to change the Read-only attribute of all the *files* contained in
that folder.

[[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.]]

The HELP question mark (?) explains it this way.
[[Specifies whether the files in this folder are read-only, which means
that they cannot be changed or accidentally deleted.

For multiple folders, if you select this check box all of the files in
the folders will be read-only. If you clear the check box, none of the
files in the selected folders will be read-only.]]

[[Read only on a folder does NOT mean read only. It means parse the
desktop.ini file. ]]

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...id+author:candy&rnum=2&hl=en#3123f0a6561130da

[[There is no such attribute called read only on a folder, only Parse the
desktop.ini. ]]

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...id+author:candy&rnum=3&hl=en#c3b9cc87ab178b12

[[It DOES NOT mean read only when applied to a folder, it means parse the
desktop.ini (as does the system attribute). ]]

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...d+author:candy&rnum=11&hl=en#c5ebff5b666cbc2a

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
Macdian said:
Hi,

All of a sudden, within the last 3 days, ALL folders on my HD have gone
into "read only" for all users - all users are Computer Administrators.

I've read the "how to take ownership" - and am wondering if I should try
this, and how would I accomplish it for all files?

I am currently running my McAfee virus scan to determine if there is
anything that I've been infected with.

Could it also have something to do with the amount of spybots that were
removed from my computer on Wednesday?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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