Can't remove "Read Only" attribute

[Lupin]

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I am running Windows XP SP2 with IE7 and automatic updates are turned on. I extracted some files using a tool called IsoBuster to my hard drive and all the files have the attribute 'read only' enabled. So I right clicked on the file and then go to its properties and click on checkbox that removes the green square in it. After that I checked again, the "Read Only" attribute still has the green sqare in the checkbox for this attribute and it didnt delete it at all. Does anyone know how to remove this square from the file? Thanks.

[kyosang]

Even I am facing similar issues and was checking any website for any kind of solutions. This issue appeared just a couple of weeks ago. The read only attribute looks to be preventing some programs from writing to a file but not others? Can anyone help us out?

[agarwalm11]

Check the article on "You cannot view or change the Read-only or the System attributes of folders in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, in Windows Vista or in Windows 7" from here - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326549/en-us

[JUSTICE]

This issue of the attribute on the XP folders is a well known visual problem. You are not able to remove this setting and XP seems to still ignore this. But you are supposed to be able to remove the read only attributes on each and every file directly.

[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.