Can't remove "Read Only" attribute

Using IE7, XP w/SP2, Automatic Updates turned ON. I have extracted some
files ( Using IsoBuster ) to my hard drive and all the files have the
Attribute "Read Only" enabled. I right click on the file, click properties,
and click on the checkbox which removes the green square in it. When I
check
again, the "Read Only" attribute has the green square
in the checkbox for this attribute. It did not delete it at all. Is there
anything that I can do to remove this green square from this file?

I am having the Same problem as is Jim and just now looked at this forum to
see if there was a solution. My problem suddenly appeared about three weeks
ago. The read only attribute seems to prevent some programs from writing to
a file but not others.

Hello David. I just discovered that this problem is on ALL directories on by
two hard drives and also on the ZIP drive. These directories were not marked
Read Only a few weeks ago. This leads me to believe that the problem was
introduced by one of Microsoft's Updates and the MVP's don't address this
because they do not want to admit a MS Goof on this public forum. I have
done everything that I know to do, even ran the attrib commands from the
command line, but NOTHING removes that green square. Normally, the Read Only
attribute is turned on with just a simeple check in the box. Where this
green square came from that we cannot remove, only Microsoft and God knows.
Let's hope that one of the MVP's will take on the task of solving this
problem for us because I am convinced that nothing we will do will remove
the green box.

There's some info about this here..
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326549/en-us

I read the entire article on the link you provided and it
says you can't clear the Read Only using the properties in IE but that you
have to use the Command Prompt "attrib". I have used the command prompt
"attrib" twice now and it does not remove the Read Only from the folders. By
the way, I have another PC with XP Pro and it has exactly the same problem.
Further proof that this problem is caused by something a Microsoft Update
did to us. I'm wondering when Microsoft will wake up and fix the problem.

The "Read-Only" attribute problem on the XP folders is a well-know
"visual" problem. You can not remove this setting and XP seems to
still "ignore" this. However, you are supposed to be able to remove
the "Read-Only" attributes on each/every file directlt.

Did you check the dates of the posts in the thread you replied to?
Probably not (the last post was TWO YEARS AGO).

[tscalpelli]

I have the same problem today. The fix is wierd but simple. copy sub-folders and files inside the folder to an another directory then remove the directory content and finally the directory. Hope this helps someone.

To all who may read this i have tried everything in these postings including microsofts fix wich they said was by design but nothing worked. Then I ceated a new share with now get this with the very same permissions and now I can change my files the attribute remains read only on the folder but everything works as it should hope this work for everyone else

[Sourcerer]

I found sometimes this happens for files as well, not just folders, particularly downloaded executables. This was giving me a headache when I downloaded a program and then realized it doesn't quite do what I wanted it to do, or I didn't need it any more.

One solution is to log in to an admin account and remove all permissions for the problematic file/folder. Then give full access only to the user you need to use that file or folder with. You'll need to restart the system for permissions to take hold.

If you just need to delete the file or folder, another solution is to mount the drive on another OS and delete it from there. That is, of course, only an option if you have another OS.

When only folders have the read only attribute set and files don't you can also recreate the directory structure elsewhere then copy files from the original structure to the newly created structure.

In any case, this is a nuisance, particularly if you simply need to rename the folder like I do.