Windows 7: How Do You Create a "Protected Operating System File"?

Hey all,

This is a weird question, but I've been trying to figure out how to CREATE a "protected operating system file/folder." For example, "desktop.ini" is one.



My story is that I accidentally deleted a junction (the C:\Documents and Settings junction which maps to C:\Users for backwards compatibility). I created a new one using the command-line mklink tool, but the folder is not marked as a "protected operating system file", so when I turn the option on to hide those, it still shows up.

The only thing I can find online that is special about these files is that they have the System and Hidden attributes both turned on. I have turned these on, but it still shows up, so there seems to be another flag behind the scenes that marks files as "protected" files.

Any search turns up a million tutorials for how to go into the Folder Options GUI and turn on/off the "show..." option. Does anyone know how to do this? Let me know if I need to elucidate.

Hello Jim,

You might see if using this command in a elevated command prompt, then restart the computer may work. It should make it a hidden system file.

attrib +s +h full folder path /S /D

or

attrib +s +h full folder path /S /D /L

Hope this helps some,
Shawn

Ah! Got it! It was the /L. It must've been setting the properties of Users instead of Docs and Settings every time I used +h +s. Thanks for the help; I was really scratching my head about it.

You're most welcome.

So how would you do the reverse, make a "protected operating system file" unprotected so it shows up as normal?
I have some mp3's that for some reason are not showing up in my music folder until I uncheck the "Hide protected operating system files" box.
Any suggestions?

Hello grande007, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You can use the command below in a elevated command prompt to do so.

attrib -S -H "Full Path of File with extension"

Hope this helps,
Shawn