Files moved to shared public folder "locked"

I have my Public Desktop folder set to share for everyone, so it can be accessed from other pc's on the home network. But when I move a file from my user desktop to the public desktop it suddenly adds the lock icon over it and can't be accessed from another pc, even though the public desktop still can. I have to change the permissions on the file every time, although this never used to be the case. I used to be able to move a file to the public desktop without having to manually "share" it each time.

All settings look correct: Sharing is enabled for the folder and set for full control "everyone", and public folder sharing is turned on.

Again, this just started and was working fine before. Would one of the recent security patches have changed something?

I'm not sure how this could occur but in order for the Public folders to be shared you need to enable sharing through the Sharing tab of the main Public folder, otherwise anything placed in one of it's subfolders won't be sharable.

If the share is being moved from a folder with a lock then moving that folder to a Public folder won't remove the lock.

The main Public folder is located at the C:\Users\Public and should appear like the picture.

Thanks for your reply.

A couple questions....
If Public folder sharing is set to "ON" in Network and Sharing Center > Advanced sharing settings is that not supposed to make all the appropriate settings to allow public folders for network sharing?

Anyway, it is set like your screencaps show and also, was working for a long time until just recently. I also have it set up identically on my other pc and don't have this issue on that machine.

pjfarr said:

Thanks for your reply.

A couple questions....
If Public folder sharing is set to "ON" in Network and Sharing Center > Advanced sharing settings is that not supposed to make all the appropriate settings to allow public folders for network sharing?

Anyway, it is set like your screencaps show and also, was working for a long time until just recently. I also have it set up identically on my other pc and don't have this issue on that machine.

It's required to have sharing turned on for the Public folders and it's also required to share the main Public folder in order for the Public subfolders to be shared.

The lock could be showing up because the folder being moved was created under a different User name then the one you are using in which case you would need to take ownership of the folder.

Okay, something's definitely gone wonky. I was going to try unsharing then re-sharing to see if that would work out the kink, but now that I've unshared it it won't let me re-share (message comes up: "Your folder can't be shared").

Since all of this works perfectly on my other pc (no lock icon when moving a file from private desktop to public desktop) is there a way I can copy the settings from one machine to the other? A reg setting or something?

pjfarr said:

Okay, something's definitely gone wonky. I was going to try unsharing then re-sharing to see if that would work out the kink, but now that I've unshared it it won't let me re-share (message comes up: "Your folder can't be shared").

Since all of this works perfectly on my other pc (no lock icon when moving a file from private desktop to public desktop) is there a way I can copy the settings from one machine to the other? A reg setting or something?

It sounds like the User account is corrupted. In this case it's easier to take ownership of the folders you need to work with and save them someplace safe, then create another Admin User account and get rid of the old one. The links should help.

Take Ownership Shortcut

User Account - Create

An old thread but I thought I'd bump it because I have had this hassle for a while
and eventually solved it.

Desktops are tied to user accounts.
Any file moved from the desktop to [any other folder anywhere] gets a lock icon
and has its permissions changed. It's no longer accessible by everyone,
it's accessible only by the user tied to that desktop plus administrators.

There's probably a good security reason for this, but it's a nuisance anyway.
To fix it permanently, give "Everyone" permission to your desktop.

- C:\Users\YourUserName\Desktop, right click, Properties --> Security tab -->
Change Permissions --> Add --> Type Everyone in the box and press enter -->
When prompted check the top left box (allow full control to Everyone) -->
Click OK and keep OKing until finished.

Now files won't get the lock icon when they are moved from the desktop.

Yes, old thread but still have the issue, so thanks for jumping in.

The thing is it's already set for "Everyone" and always worked before. Then suddenly one day locks started appearing. My other PC (virtually same setup) doesn't have this problem. Computers, eh?

Edit: I should add that both private and public desktop folders are set to "Everyone" security setting.

weird, I suspect it happens due to a windows update, after some security flaw was discovered. I seem to remember it suddenly appearing one day too. I STILL have the issue when I right click files, and then choose Send To --> Compressed (Zipped) Folder. The 'folder' gets a lock icon. No idea what to do with that so I just use 7zip's "Add to Archive" right click option.