Solved How Do You Create a "Protected Operating System File"?

[happinessiseasy]

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.

 

[Brink]

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

 

[happinessiseasy]

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.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[grande007]

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?

 

[Brink]

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

 

[Radical924]

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

Hey there I just tried using this command and it will not work for some reason... I was trying to mark 3 folders as protected since they should be and it didn't work. Anything else I can try?

 

[Brink]

Hello Radical,

Did it give you an error message?

Did you do this in an elevated command prompt?

Hope this helps for now.

 

[Radical924]

Hello Radical,

Did it give you an error message?

Did you do this in an elevated command prompt?

Hope this helps for now.

Yeah I used an elevated command prompt and it didn't give me an error... I typed them in exactly like this:

attrib +s +h "C:\Recovery" /S /D /L
attrib +s +h "C:\MSOCache" /S /D /L
attrib +s +h "C:\NST" /S /D /L

I also tried without quotes... it seems to take a while or something in command prompt because it never goes back to showing C:\Windows\system32> and so I have to close off command prompt and enter in the next full line.

 

[Brink]

Usually it should only take a brief moment after each command before the prompt appears again.

Do you have ownership and "full control" access rights of these folders and their content?

 

[Radical924]

Usually it should only take a brief moment after each command before the prompt appears again.

Do you have ownership and "full control" access rights of these folders and their content?

Yep I have full ownership and permissions...... Idk it just "hangs" in command prompt when I execute the commands... then the folders don't become protected operating system files when they should.

 

[andrew129260]

Are you right clicking the batch and running as admin?

EDIT: Nvm saw that you did

 

[Brink]

Usually it should only take a brief moment after each command before the prompt appears again.

Do you have ownership and "full control" access rights of these folders and their content?

Yep I have full ownership and permissions...... Idk it just "hangs" in command prompt when I execute the commands... then the folders don't become protected operating system files when they should.

Odd. Are the folders faded afterwards?

 

[Radical924]

Usually it should only take a brief moment after each command before the prompt appears again.

Do you have ownership and "full control" access rights of these folders and their content?

Yep I have full ownership and permissions...... Idk it just "hangs" in command prompt when I execute the commands... then the folders don't become protected operating system files when they should.

Odd. Are the folders faded afterwards?

Nope they are already set as hidden... Maybe if I unhide them then try running the command it'll work?

EDIT: Didn't change a thing... Could I possibly be doing this wrong??? All I am doing is running an elevated command prompt and then typing in a full command of attrib +s +h full folder path /S /D /L Where it says full folder path I am putting in the path of the folder I need to make protected... Idk why it isn't working...

Are you right clicking the batch and running as admin?

EDIT: Nvm saw that you did

Batch? I didn't make a batch file for this lol...

 

[Brink]

That command only sets the attribute of the folder and it's contents to be system and hidden.

What's the size of the folder? If you have a lot in it, then it may take longer before you see the prompt return after running the command.

 

[Radical924]

That command only sets the attribute of the folder and it's contents to be system and hidden.

What's the size of the folder? If you have a lot in it, then it may take longer before you see the prompt return after running the command.

The NST folder is only 3.02 MB in size and contains 1 file.

EDIT: Waiting a while longer seemed to work... before it would not work but now it is working... Thank you!

 

[Brink]

What are these folders used for, and what is NST? If NST is for Linux, then that could be why this isn't working.

As a test, create a new folder, copy the file from the other folder into it, and see if you are able to use the command on it.

 

[Radical924]

What are these folders used for, and what is NST? If NST is for Linux, then that could be why this isn't working.

As a test, create a new folder, copy the file from the other folder into it, and see if you are able to use the command on it.

I got it too work by waiting a lot longer... Thank you!

 

[Brink]

Good news.

 

[M18XR2]

what to do to make the folder and ALL the files inside protected operating system file? ie show hidden files will not show but show system protected files will show everything.