# Solved: All folders stuck on "read-only"



## Alias50 (Sep 29, 2008)

Hey guys,

Truth be told, I'm not sure how to categorize this. When I went to use my PC today, an installer spit out an error about the target folder being set to a read-only attribute. Upon trying to change it in Windows Explorer, I realized that every single folder on my PC is set to "read only" and I can't change it.

Now, I know windows usually ignores "read only" as set by Windows Explorer but using the _attrib _command did nothing to allieviate the problem. I decided to use Symantec to scan for virues, and that found a few things, but I`m not sure if they were related to the problem or not. As far as I can remember, everything was fine yesterday when I last logged on, and now, everything folder is locked down, however individual files are fine.

From the research I`ve managed to conduct I`ve leared that this is somewhat of a common issue with Windows, but I`ve never had it affect me before. So can anyone help me find out exactly what is going onÉ

(that`s supposed to be a question mark... don`t know what`s going on there, seems apostraphes are messed up too. Oh well, one thing at a time.)


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## jiml8 (Jul 3, 2005)

That often indicates a hard drive failure is underway, and attempts to write to the hard drive are failing. Therefore, to try to protect things, the OS switches the drive mount to read only.

If I were you, I would start by investigating the health of the hard drive. Look in the events viewer for evidence.

Beyond that...I dunno. Truthfully, I run Windows operating systems as virtual machines hosted in a Linux environment; it has been years since I've done troubleshooting of a Windows hard drive using Windows tools. In your position, I would be running the badblocks command in Linux or just booting into Spinrite. I don't know what the best choice for you is using Windows.


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## rainforest123 (Dec 29, 2004)

Which version of Windows; 2000, XP, Vista, 7, other? Which flavor [ home, pro, etc ]?
32 or 64 bit? 
Is your account part of the Admin group?

Go into "documents" or "My documents"
On a folder *other than* "music" / "my music" and "pictures" / "my pictures", 
RIGHT click said folder > properties.
Is "read only" checked? 
If so, uncheck it. Apply to all folders, files & sub folders.
OK
Reboot
Are the files read only , or have the changes remained?

RF123


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## Alias50 (Sep 29, 2008)

Alright then,

@Jiml8

Event viewer shows no hard drive read/write failures of any kind over the last few weeks, and I haven't been getting any of the associated symptoms. Ran a_ chkdsk _command to be sure, no bad sectors reported.

@rainforest123

Running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
My account is part of the admin group.

Did as suggested, picked a folder other than defaults, unchecked read only attribute and rebooted. No change.

@davison2

At this point, it _is _looking like an effect of whatever virus I've picked up. It might be User Account corruption, but the problem affects every account on the PC, not just mine. I'll try manual removal and report back here if I've managed to fix anything.


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## rainforest123 (Dec 29, 2004)

> Did as suggested, picked a folder other than defaults, unchecked read only attribute and rebooted. No change.


By "No Change", do you mean that the situation has not changed, or that the read only attribute was gone from those I suggested that you change? 


How did you run chkdsk?

Our malware removal experts can help you, if / as needed.

Let us know how things go.

RF123


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## Alias50 (Sep 29, 2008)

@rainforest123

The folder remained set as read only. However, I booted into safe mode, ran a virus scan again, and then followed removal instructions to remove residual traces of the infection. Everything seems to be fine now, folder settings are back to normal. _Chkdsk _was ran without any parameters, just wanted to see if any bad sectors were reported.

Thanks everyone for your help.


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## rainforest123 (Dec 29, 2004)

A 50: 
Congratulations! 

Woo Hoo! 

Thanks for posting your solution. 

unsubscribed

RF123


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