Can Read Only actually be changed???

My computer (call it W7) has two hard drives: the C: drive, which has Windows and all of the various programs; and the D: drive, which has the \Users directory. The other day, I tried to edit an Excel file located on the D: drive, from another computer (call it W10) , and was informed that the file could not be written because it is Read Only.

While on W7, I looked at the file, and sure enough (for reasons that I cannot begin to grasp), it was designated as Read Only. I unchecked the box, tried to save the file again, but got the same error. I then looked at properties for the folder that contains the file, and saw that it too is designated as Read Only. I unchecked the box without issue. However, I looked at the properties again and saw that the box is still checked (actually, it is filled which implies that for some entities, it is checked and for others not). Oddly, none of the files within the folder have this box checked…

I did some looking around, and found out about the command attrib. First, I cd’ed to D:\. Then, I ran the following: attrib -r *.* /s /d, but was presented with more than a few error messages “Not resetting hidden file”. I then ran attrib -h *.* /s /d, followed by attrib -r *.* /s /d, but nothing changed.

So, why on earth are folders marked as Read Only? More importantly, how can I get rid of this designation? Note that under Folder Options->View, the setting ‘Show hidden files, folders, and drives’ is checked and the three settings that start with ‘Hide’ and unchecked. Most importantly, what can be done so that I can edit the Excel file on another LAN computer and save the updates? (As an aside, the username and password is the same across the LAN.)

The apparent Read Only state of folders has been the source of a lot of confusion. Not all of the explanations I have seen are correct.

The filled block in the status does not indicate that the folder is Read Only. In fact there are no attributes that will make a folder read only. This can only be done with file and folder permissions which are something else entirely.

The Read only checkbox is a 3 state checkbox. The checked and unchecked state is just as indicated. But the third filled state tells us nothing at all about the status of the folder or it's contents. It was never meant to. It is used when setting the Read Only state of the files in the folder. If the box is checked or unchecked and the OK button clicked this will set the Read Only status of the files in the folder and if the appropriate option is checked it will also do this for files in any sub-folders. Folders will be unaffected. If the box is in the filled state the file Read Only state will not be changed.

It is possible to set the Read Only state of folders with the attrib command line command. But this will not make the Folder Read Only. This just tells Explorer to examine the hidden desktop.ini file for special instructions for displaying the folder, such a a locale specific name or a special icon.

LMiller7 - thanks for the explanation. Seems to me that there is a bug in the system: The checkbox for a folder should only be filled if elements below said folder are both checked and unchecked. In every other application, this is what a filled box means. But, Hey!, why bother sticking with standards?

The Read Only checkbox will ALWAYS be filled when showing the properties of a folder. The checkbox does not indicate status. Other applications may handle this differently. The behavior you describe would be problematic for it's intended purpose. This has not changed in Windows 8 or Windows 10.