Cannot Remove Read Only Attribute At All

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Masonisbetter

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Jun 5, 2013
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Trying to remove read only from a file in my program files folder. I uncheck the box, and it is rechecked when I open properties again. Further investigation showed that my Program files folder itself has the read only attribute. I unchecked it, and it prompted me to do so as an administrator. I hit okay. It showed a long progress bar of it changing all the attributes, and then guess what? The computer forgot that it ever did it, all the files are unchanged. I go into command prompt and can't get the -r to work. I typed "attrib -r c:\Program Files (x86)" and it tells me my parameter format is not correct. Suggestions?
 
Solution
ex_bubblehead
The command line won't work for the same reason you can't change the attribute via the gui, the read-only flag cannot be set/reset on a folder. That flag means nothing and it's a waste of time trying to change it.
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ex_bubblehead

ex_bubblehead

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Aug 24, 2012
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The state of the read only flag on a folder is meaningless (by design), it exists only to allow you to reset the state of all files in the current directory (or subdirectories) if you so choose. The read only attribute on folders is a legacy throwback from DOS. Windows uses it to determine whether the folder has a customized Explorer view, changing it in the GUI won't actually make any difference.
 
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Masonisbetter

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Jun 5, 2013
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Yeah that's what everything else I found said as well, any advice on why the command won't work?

 
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