Making files not "read only"

hypochondriac · 20 Jul 2008 at 00:10

At the moment my new PC considers my external hard drives files all as "read only" which makes it impossible to alter them, ie alter mp3 tags etc.

Before I swapped over to my new PC, i had some half finished torrents downloading, so I thought I'd pick up where I left off but because of the read only attribute, utorrent cannot add to the files.

But when in the folder options I untick read only, as soon as I exit it switches back again.

Is this something to do with I have vista now and XP before and is there a way I can set it permanently to not read only.
New torrents don't have a problem but I'd rather not re-download it all again.

modo77 · 20 Jul 2008 at 00:19

Give this a try http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...ership-to-explorer-right-click-menu-in-vista/
Install it then just right click the folder and select take ownership

HangTime · 20 Jul 2008 at 08:49

attrib -R e: /S /D

(where e: is the drive letter you want to change)

hypochondriac · 20 Jul 2008 at 08:55

modo77 said:
Give this a try http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...ership-to-explorer-right-click-menu-in-vista/
Install it then just right click the folder and select take ownership

Nope didn't seem to change a thing.

sorry

HangTime said:
attrib -R e: /S /D

(where e: is the drive letter you want to change)

I don't quite understand, is it a command prompt?

Burnsy2023 · 20 Jul 2008 at 12:02

hypochondriac said:
is it a command prompt?

Yes.

Burnsy

marc2003 · 20 Jul 2008 at 13:07

edit: nvm, didn't read first post properly.

hypochondriac · 20 Jul 2008 at 17:55

How do you input commands into vista? (not had it long) there isn't a "run" option on the start menu.

uv · 20 Jul 2008 at 18:03

hypochondriac said:
there isn't a "run" option on the start menu.

win+R

hypochondriac · 20 Jul 2008 at 20:50

uvmain said:
win+R

sorry?
bit more explanation is needed

edit:
dw found it.

hypochondriac · 20 Jul 2008 at 21:01

It said it can't find the file. It has no problem with other drives however.

No matter how much permission I give the user over the drive it always reverts back to read only as soon as I change it.

mart981 · 20 Jul 2008 at 21:32

nevermind

hypochondriac · 20 Jul 2008 at 21:54

When I altered the control of the drive to myself... but apparently I still have no control and have to ask for permission for everything. When I try changing a specific folder it fails telling me access is denied. I'd love to know how to make it permanent, it's my own drive, you'd think I'd be able to alter the files without getting errors or multiple pop ups asking for permission to do simple tasks.

Why does vista even do this?

Mattus · 20 Jul 2008 at 22:24

It's nothing to do with Vista. It's because the files are from your previous PC. You need to take ownership of the files before you can set their attributes. I bet you haven't told it to apply the ownership change to all the files.

Right click the drive in My Computer, then properties > security > advanced > owner > edit, change it so the files are owned by you. Check 'replace owner on subcontainers and objects', click OK. When it's done you should be able to stop the files being read only.

hypochondriac · 20 Jul 2008 at 23:22

Mattus said:
I bet you haven't told it to apply the ownership change to all the files.

Right click the drive in My Computer, then properties > security > advanced > owner > edit, change it so the files are owned by you. Check 'replace owner on subcontainers and objects', click OK. When it's done you should be able to stop the files being read only.

Did that and still no change, it keeps saying access is denied then asking my permission and reverting back to read only.
could it be a problem with my external hard drive?

davestar_delux · 21 Jul 2008 at 00:49

hypochondriac said:
Did that and still no change, it keeps saying access is denied then asking my permission and reverting back to read only.
could it be a problem with my external hard drive?

He's right, just missed an extra step, one you've done the above then close the permissions window.

Then go back into it, click on Edit, choose Everyone (or yourself, whatever) and tick Full Permissions (or read and write at least).

Then remove the read-only attribute from the files on the drive and you should be fine.

Mattus · 21 Jul 2008 at 00:57

Argh, forgot that bit! Davestar's right, do that and you should be able to change the attributes.

hypochondriac · 21 Jul 2008 at 12:03

I followed the above steps but I'm clearly doing something wrong because the permission requests still appear.

hypochondriac · 21 Jul 2008 at 14:04

Found the solution......it's quite embarrasing really, so I'm not going to reveal my idiocity.

modo77 · 21 Jul 2008 at 16:01

Go on, please tell

We wont make fun

hypochondriac · 21 Jul 2008 at 17:00

Well in the control panel there's user account controls which I turned off, but it said I had to restart...but I couldn't be bothered, and it hadn't been turned off since...so I basically could only get control when I reset the PC...did it and it works fine.
Thanks for everyones help though.