You Cannot View or Change the Read-Only or System Attribute of Folders (326549)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 64-Bit Datacenter Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 64-Bit Enterprise Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
- Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition
- Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition
- Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
- Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Premium Edition
- Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard Edition
This article was previously published under Q326549 For a Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, Windows
Millennium Edition, Windows 98, and Windows 95 version of this article, see
256614. SYMPTOMSYou may experience any of the following symptoms:
- You cannot view or change the Read-only or System
attributes of a folder by using the Properties dialog box for
the folder. For example, you may experience the following symptoms:
- When you view the General tab of a
folder's Properties dialog box, the Read-only
check box is not available, and there is no check box to change the System
attribute.
- You click to clear or click to select the
Read-only check box on the General tab of a
folder's Properties dialog box. When you click
OK or Apply, you receive the following
message:Confirm Attribute Changes
You have chosen
to make the following attribute changes: unset read-only Do you want to
apply this change to this folder only, or do you want to apply it to all
subfolders and files as well?If you click Apply changes to
this folder only, the Read-only attribute is changed for all the files
in the folder, but the Read-only attribute is not changed for the folder, its
subfolders, or any files in its subfolders. If you click Apply changes
to this folder, subfolders, and files, the Read-only attribute is
changed for all files in the folder and all files in the subfolders, but the
Read-only attribute is not changed for the folder or its subfolders.
- Some programs may display error messages when you try to
save files to a folder with the Read-only or System attribute. As a result,
these programs may not be able to save files to the folder.
CAUSEUnlike 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. It has been seen where if a network share that has a large amount of folders set to Read-only, it can cause Explorer to take longer then what is expected to render the contents of that share while it waits on the retrieval of the Desktop.ini files. The slower the network connectivity to the share the longer this process can take to the point where Explorer may timeout waiting for the data and render nothing or appear to hang.
Note In some previous versions of Windows, you can change the
Read-only attribute for folders by using the Properties dialog
box for the folder, but no versions of Windows permit you to change the System
attribute by using Windows Explorer.WORKAROUNDTo work around this issue, use the Attrib command at a
command prompt (Cmd.exe) to view or remove the Read-only or System attributes
of folders. Type attrib /? at the command prompt to view
the syntax for the Attrib command. Warning If you remove the Read-only or System attribute from a folder, it
may appear as a ordinary folder and some customizations may be lost. For
example, Windows customizes the Fonts folder and provides a special folder view
that permits you to hide variations, such as bold and italic. It also permits
you to change the folder's view settings in ways that are specific to fonts. If
you remove the Read-only and System attributes of the Fonts folder, these
customized view settings are not available. For folders that you have
customized by using the Customize tab of the folder's
Properties dialog box, the folder icon and other other
customizations may be lost when you remove the Read-only attribute.
If a program cannot save files to a folder with the Read-only
attribute, such as My Documents, change the Read-only attribute to System by
using the Attrib command at a command prompt. For example, to change
the Read-only attribute to System for the C:\Test folder, use the following
command: Note that some programs may not operate correctly with folders
that have the System attribute set. To remove both the Read-only and System
attributes from the C:\Test folder, use the following command: STATUSThis
behavior is by design.MORE INFORMATIONWindows stores file and folder attributes in the file system
with the file and folder name, extension, date and time stamps, and other
information. 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. However, you cannot use
Windows Explorer to determine if a folder has the Read-only and System
attributes set. To determine the attributes that are set on a folder, or to
change these attributes, you must use the Attrib command from a command
prompt.
Modification Type: | Minor | Last Reviewed: | 1/13/2006 |
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Keywords: | kbenv kbprb KB326549 |
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