Folders Alway Say Read Only. I Want To Put Items In Them. How To Eliminate Read Only ?

Hello,

I have tried, literally, about every possible setting and permutation for this, but nothing works.

When I create a new Folder, it always comes up as read only.
The Read Only box is always blackened in (selected)

I have All the Admin Privileges, etc., etc.
Have tried everything in General, Sharing, Security.

Nothing works.

Always reverts back to Read Only.

What am I missing, as usual ?
Blame it on old age now.

How do I set the Folder up so as not to be Read Only ?

Thanks,
appreciate the help,

Bob

Most of my folders have the read only flag set but they're still open for business.

I just checked and @Rollback_Jockey is correct. If you are having problems you can try this. Redirecting

Hello Bob,

It will only be Read-only if the box is checked instead of empty or solid. If it is checked, then you should be able to use an option in the tutorial below to remove the read-only attribute.

The black blob in the read only box is just that - a black blob. It has no significance whatsoever and has been present (and a mystery) for as long as I can recall in Windows Operating Systems.

Bob,

That property does not mean what you think it means.
In fact, it is almost meaningless and has been for over a decade.
Ignore it.
Or waste your life investigating it so precisely that you will decide, in six months time when you've finished, that you could have ignored it

The answer is the same with Windows 10 - www.tenforums.com/general-support/210717-all-folders-new-old-have-read-only-how-eliminate-read-only.html

Denis

allan said:

The black blob in the read only box is just that - a black blob. It has no significance whatsoever and has been present (and a mystery) for as long as I can recall in Windows Operating Systems.

Click to expand...

Indeed.

If you do want to waste your life by investigating further then include these articles in your search.

Read Only (Folders) - MSA
You cannot view or change the Read-only or the System attributes of folders [Win7 etc] - MSSupport
folder read-only indicator [KeithM] - TenForums
interesting ditty about folder R attribute [KeithM] - TenForums
list of refs for folder read-only tri-state indicator - my post #3 - TenForums


Denis

Note that item is labelled "Read-only (Only applies to files in the folder)"

That means it has absolutely nothing to do with the read-only status of the folder itself. You can see that for yourself with the Attrib command. If you look carefully, you will see that the box is always a solid block, on ALL folders, even if there are zero files marked read-only within the folder.

It is, in fact, not an indicator at all! It is just a dual-purpose command, implemented as a checkbox. Microsoft should never have used a checkbox for a command because it just causes confusion (there are many other posts like yours).

This is all it does:

When you click that box clear, you're telling Windows that you want to unset read-only from any files that may be read-only within the folder and its subfolders. When you check the box, you're telling Windows you want to set all files within the folder and its subfolders to read-only. Whether you set or unset, it only affects files. The read-only state of the folder, and any of its subfolders, is not affected. Only files are affected.

So, the item labeled "Read-only (Only applies to files in the folder)" does not indicate anything.

Unless you are actually having some problem, you can completely ignore this item.

If you are having some problem, that is causing one or more files within a folder to be changed to read-only, then this item may be used to provide relief (possibly temporary) by unsetting the read-only attributes of files within the folder. The problem with this bad Microsoft interface design is that it is misleading you into believing that Windows "keeps resetting my folder to read-only". And that certainly distracts from finding the root cause of whatever problem you may be having.

You may also notice that the folder is NOT marked as read only, it is marked as neutral, meaning it can contain both read only files and non read only files. Notice the dash in the image below, this is the default:



The following shows a folder that is marked for only containing read only files, notice the tick:



A black blob or square also means neutral, hence the neutral colour, black.

A white square (like the hidden option above) signifies the folder contains no read only files.

trumpy81 said:

The following shows a folder that is marked for only containing read only files, notice the tick:

A white square (like the hidden option above) signifies the folder contains no read only files.

Click to expand...

You only see those variations just after you've checked or cleared the box. Close and reopen the properties window, and it will back to this:

Yeah that is correct Les, and it has caught me out several times when I have been trying to clear a folder of read only files ... lol