Read only folders

[john9210]

All of a sudden, the attributes on many of my folders have changed to read only. What's causing this? Is there a simple way to find the read only folders so I can remove the attribute? Could this be caused by malware?

 

[trimful]

Right-click the file or folder icon. Remove the check mark by the Read Only item in the file’s Properties dialog box.

 

[cavalierking]

Sorry, this method doesn't work even if you click on "apply". I have several folders on my desktop with "read only" and unchecking the box will not change the attributes.

 

[mawazi]

The following is from: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/326549

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.
​

 

[Dan Glanz]

I have a similar issue with some similar results. The folders I cannot get into, and cannot delete. In addition I have an ever increasing quantity of .tmp files that cannot be deleted except one by one. There ar e now over 1000 such animals. Someone have a magic wand?

 

[Allan Pendlebury]

I have a similar issue with some similar results. The folders I cannot get into, and cannot delete. In addition I have an ever increasing quantity of .tmp files that cannot be deleted except one by one. There ar e now over 1000 such animals. Someone have a magic wand?

My way of dealing with these "one off" situations and if everything else in W10 is working as it should; is to boot to my Linux Mint OS and delete them there. Even if you don't dual boot you can always boot to a Linux live USB or DVD and do it there. The only problem I've had is mounting the W10 partition. This happens if hibernate is enabled.

Edit: Thought of something else; if you are concerned that you may be deleting something that you shouldn't be; cut and paste the files onto a USB stick.

 

[cavalierking]

Open "Run" and type in box: %temp%. All the temp files on your C drive will come up. Now you can delete them all. Select "All", click on delete. If a message that says some of these folders are in use, just skip. Should be good to go. I do this twice a week, sometimes more.

 

[Kitty]

Is there a simple way to find the read only folders so I can remove the attribute?

If you have a LOT of folders to clear, you can edit and run this batch file to remove read-only in every file in a folder tree F:\MyFiles - including all its subfolders. A log file is created in D:\Temp\ClearReadOnly.txt.

REM Clear read-only bits in files in a folder tree
@echo off
ECHO ClearReadOnly.bat for all D Folders
set log=D:\Temp\ClearReadOnly.txt
set DIR=F:\MyFiles
attrib -R %DIR%\* /s >> %log%
​

 

[jaxonbur]

From the original description of the issue, I can't tell whether the OP wants to write to these folders, can't move or delete them or what. What exactly is the problem? Are you just looking to take ownership, or what?