All folders are marked read only.

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right click on C:\ OS drive

at top select change ownership

check box on top «replace owner on subcontainers and objects

click on APPLY on bottom and OK

go back to security tab>advanced and make sure the ADMINISTRATORS in the list have FULL CONTROL

Now you should have no problems, if you do, there is one more thing to do.

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right click on C:\ OS drive

at top select change ownership

check box on top «replace owner on subcontainers and objects

click on APPLY on bottom and OK

go back to security tab>advanced and make sure the ADMINISTRATORS in the list have FULL CONTROL

Now you should have no problems, if you do, there is one more thing to do.

5 people found this reply helpful

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right click on C:\ OS drive

at top select change ownership

check box on top «replace owner on subcontainers and objects

click on APPLY on bottom and OK

go back to security tab>advanced and make sure the ADMINISTRATORS in the list have FULL CONTROL

Now you should have no problems, if you do, there is one more thing to do.

I tried this step but it still would not change the folder situation. The Administrators was a Full Control

open windows defender>virus and protection settings>scroll down to folder control access and turn OFF and leave OFF. it is useless and causes these types of issues.

35 people found this reply helpful

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right click on C:\ OS drive

at top select change ownership

check box on top «replace owner on subcontainers and objects

click on APPLY on bottom and OK

go back to security tab>advanced and make sure the ADMINISTRATORS in the list have FULL CONTROL

Now you should have no problems, if you do, there is one more thing to do.

I tried this step but it still would not change the folder situation. The Administrators was a Full Control

open windows defender>virus and protection settings>scroll down to folder control access and turn OFF and leave OFF. it is useless and causes these types of issues.

could not find virus and protection settings in Defender. Defender is running though. is there a way to turn off defender if so could that help

All folders are stuck in Read Only on C Drive in Windows 10

I am unable to edit these folders or move or copy anything to or from them, which is obviously a massive inconvenience. I first noticed this yesterday but have no idea when it actually started, so I’m hesitant to start doing system restore points. If I try to change it to not read only, it changes back once I re-open the folder properties. I am logged in as an administrator. Most of the existing answers I have looked on this forum have not worked.

I have already tried this —

right click on C:\ OS drive

at top select change ownership

check box on top «replace owner on subcontainers and objects

click on APPLY on bottom and OK

go back to security tab>advanced and make sure the ADMINISTRATORS in the list have FULL CONTROL

Now you should have no problems, if you do, there is one more thing to do.

I tried this step but it still would not change the folder situation. The Administrators was a Full Control

open windows defender>virus and protection settings>scroll down to folder control access and turn OFF and leave OFF. it is useless and causes these types of issues.

With no resolution.

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My name is Angel. I am an Independent Advisor. Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

I would recommend that you review the following post can apply to solve your issue, please keep me informed about:
https://appuals.com/how-to-fix-folder-keeps-rev.

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

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Launch Files Explorer
Click This PC

Right-click on your C Drive, and choose Properties.
Go to Security tab.
Click Advanced, then Change Permissions.
Highlight the user, and click Edit.
Choose This folder, subfolders and files under Applies to:.
Choose Full Control under Basic Permissions.
Hit OK.

If there are other users on the computer, follow the steps below:

Go to C Drive.
Right-click your user name in Users folder, then click Properties.
Go to Security tab.
Click Advanced, then click Continue.
Click Enable Inheritance.

If that does not work, try resetting the driver permissions.

Do this from the command line:

Open Start, type: CMD
Right click CMD
Click Run as administrator

Type in at the prompt OR Copy and Paste these one at a time : (Hit enter after each)

TAKEOWN /F C:\ /R /D Y

Once you have taken ownership, then you have to set the permissions; for this, you use ICACLS:

How to Fix Folder Keeps Reverting to Read Only on Windows 10

If your folder keeps reverting to read-only it could be due to a recent Windows 10 upgrade. Many users have reported that when upgraded their system to Windows 10, they encountered this error. Read-only is a file/folder attribute which lets only a specific group of users read or edit the files or folder. This can get really infuriating, however, the fix is quite simple and easy but may differ depending on the scenario that caused it.

Generally, when you encounter such an issue, you can easily overcome it by unchecking the read-only attribute box found in the properties of the file/folder. However, this case is not that simple. You won’t be able to change the read-only attribute of the file/folder which gets annoying. Nevertheless, this article will teach you how to access your files/folders again — just follow through the instructions.

What causes the folder to revert to read-only on Windows 10?

This might be happening to you due to various reasons, nonetheless, the most generic ones are —

• Windows upgrade. If you’ve recently upgraded your system to Windows 10, this might be occurring due to that as your account permissions may have been altered.
• Account permissions. Sometimes, the error could be simply because of your account permissions which is the most common cause without you realizing it.

The possible and effective solutions for this problem are: –

Solution 1: Disabling Controlled Access

Before we try other technical solutions, we will first try to disable the Controlled Folder Access in your settings. This is a hotfix and you may proceed with other solutions if this doesn’t work for you.

1. Press and hold the “Windows Key + I” button to launch Windows Settings.
2. Once the Settings are opened, navigate to Update & Security and then click on Windows Security.
3. Now, under the Virus & threat protection settings, click on Manage settings. Virus & threat protection settings
4. Under Controlled folder access, select Manage Controlled folder access and switch the access to Off. Manage Controlled folder access to Off
5. Restart your computer completely and then check if the issue is resolved.

Solution 2: Login as an Administrator

To start off with the common mistake, if you have created multiple accounts on your system, make sure you are signed in as an administrator while accessing the file. The reason you are not able to read or edit the file/folder could be that the file/folder was created using an administrator account and you are trying to access it using a guest account or any other. Hence, before you move into the solutions mentioned below, make sure you are using the administrative account.

Solution 3: Changing the Attribute of the Folder

If you are logged in as an administrator and still unable to access the files, then in such a case, you’ll have to change the attribute of the file using the command prompt. To do this, follow the given instructions:

1. Press Winkey + X and select Command Prompt (Admin) from the list.
2. In order to remove the read-only attribute and set a new attribute, use the following command: Enter the command to remove Read-only Attribute

1. The above command will remove the read-only attribute of the file and change it to a system attribute. However, some files/folders do not operate properly in the system attribute so use the following command if you want to remove the system attribute:

Solution 4: Changing Permissions of the Drive

If you are facing this issue after upgrading your system to Windows 10, then changing the permissions of the drive could fix your problem. There have been several reports according to which the issue has been solved via this method. Here’s how to do it:

1. Right-click on the drive where your files/folders are located.
2. Select Properties.
3. Navigate to the Security tab. Local Disk Properties (Security)
4. Click Advanced and then select Change permissions. Select change permissions
5. Highlight your user and then click Edit. Highlight your user and click Edit
6. Select This folder, subfolders and files from the drop-down list.
7. Check the Full Control box under Basic Permissions. Check the Full Control Box
8. Click OK.

If you have more than one account on the system, then you’ll have to enable inheritance first. Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to your System drive (where your Windows is installed).
2. Go to the Users folder.
3. Right-click on your username and click Properties.
4. In the Security tab, click Advanced.
5. Hit Enable Inheritance. Highlight your user and click Enable Inheritance

Solution 5: Disabling your Third-party antivirus

If the error persists whenever your system restarts, it could be due to your third-party antivirus software. Your antivirus might be detecting the files as a threat and consequently, stopping you from accessing them. In such a case, you’ll have to disable your antivirus software, change the attributes of the files/folders as mentioned above and restart your system to see if the files/folders still revert to read-only. If they don’t, this means your antivirus is causing the issue and you should probably uninstall it.

All folders stuck read only in Windows 8

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Is the read only box in the properties menu checked or filled with a solid square?

We will need to run a scan to ensure that the drive is clean from any infections.

Further, this could just be a permissions or ownership issue. If you give yourself Full Rights permission to the drive and take ownership as well you should be able to change these attributes .

I would have you to take permission of the drive.

Try these steps:

How to take ownership of a file or folder or Drive in Windows 8

a) Go to the drive that contains the file or Folder whose ownership you want to change.

b) Right Click of mouse on that file or Folder and Choose “ Properties “.

c) Navigate to “ Security ” tab.

d) Click on “ Advanced ” on the Security tab to open the Advance security setting for the file.

e) On the Owner; Click on “ Change “.

f) Click on “ Advanced ” on the open “S elect User or Group ” Window.

g) Click on “ Find Now ” on the open Window.

h) It will show you all the available user on the Search results.

i) Now select the user that you want to give the ownership and click on “ OK “.

j) Again Click on “ OK ” on the “ Select User or Group ” to change the ownership.

k) Now the Ownership for that file or folder is changed.

l) Now apply all the changes and Click on OK and close all the open Window.

How to change permission of a file or folder or drive in Windows 8

a) Go to the drive that contains the file or Folder whose ownership you want to change.

b) Right Click of mouse on that file or Folder and Choose “ Properties “.

c) Navigate to “ Security ” tab

d) Click on “ Edit ” on the Change permission.

e) Now it will the Windows to change the permission.

f) Now select the user whose permission you want to change on the “ Group or User names “.

g) Now on the permission for selected user tick below the Allow Section of Full Control .

h) Now click on “ Apply “.

i) It will show you a warning message “ You are about to change the permission setting on system folders. This can reduce the Security of your computer and cause users to have problems accessing the files. Do you want to Continue? “. Just ignore the message and Click on “ Yes “.
OK

j) Now click on “OK” and close all the open Windows.

k) Now you have change the permission for the selected user and give them Full control.

These steps should help you in working towards a fix. Try these steps and keep us posted.

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The box is filled with a square, not checked.

The scan showed no evidence of infections or malware.

I took ownership of a folder to test and see if this would work. While it did appear to give me ownership, when I try to change the permissions I get a pop-up saying the application of security settings failed because it is «unable to enumerate objects in container».

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Edit: Changed the way it’s done . It works for us here. This should help.

Be logged in as the Administrator account to change the ownership or permissions

How to take ownership of a file or folder or Drive in Windows 8/8.1

a) Go to the drive that contains the file or Folder whose ownership you want to change.

b) Right Click of mouse on that file or Folder and Choose “Properties“.

c) Navigate to “Security” tab.

d) Click on Edit, then click Add.

e) Under the «Enter the object names to select box«- type «Everyone«(without quotes) and click on «Check names«.

f) Click Ok

g) A new window will open up with Security tab- Under «Permisssions for Everyone«, Check mark the «Full control» option.

h) Apply and Ok.

i) Ownership allowed for folder or file

How to change permission of a file or folder or drive in Windows 8/8.1

a) Go to the drive that contains the file or Folder whose ownership you want to change.

b) Right Click of mouse on that file or Folder and Choose “Properties“.

c) Navigate to “Security” tab.

d) Then Click «Advanced«.

e) In the section «Owner«-Click on «Change«, this will open «Select User or Group window. In the box, type «Everyone» and click «Check names«, hit Ok.

f) Check the box «Replace owner on subcontainers and objects» and hit Apply.

g) Now you will see a prompt «If you have taken ownership of this object, you will need to close and reopen this object’s properties before you can view or change permissions.»

h) Hit Ok and then again Ok.

i) Permissions allowed for folder or file.

@thanks for the original steps Vidyaranjan A V

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Edit: Changed the way it’s done . It works for us here. This should help.

Be logged in as the Administrator account to change the ownership or permissions

How to take ownership of a file or folder or Drive in Windows 8/8.1

a) Go to the drive that contains the file or Folder whose ownership you want to change.

b) Right Click of mouse on that file or Folder and Choose “Properties“.

c) Navigate to “Security” tab.

d) Click on Edit, then click Add.

e) Under the «Enter the object names to select box«- type «Everyone«(without quotes) and click on «Check names«.

f) Click Ok

g) A new window will open up with Security tab- Under «Permisssions for Everyone«, Check mark the «Full control» option.

h) Apply and Ok.

i) Ownership allowed for folder or file

How to change permission of a file or folder or drive in Windows 8/8.1

a) Go to the drive that contains the file or Folder whose ownership you want to change.

b) Right Click of mouse on that file or Folder and Choose “Properties“.

c) Navigate to “Security” tab.

d) Then Click «Advanced«.

e) In the section «Owner«-Click on «Change«, this will open «Select User or Group window. In the box, type «Everyone» and click «Check names«, hit Ok.

f) Check the box «Replace owner on subcontainers and objects» and hit Apply.

g) Now you will see a prompt «If you have taken ownership of this object, you will need to close and reopen this object’s properties before you can view or change permissions.»

h) Hit Ok and then again Ok.

i) Permissions allowed for folder or file.

@thanks for the original steps Vidyaranjan A V

I have read loads of posts on this subject and it still infuriates me that the replies are all the same. Go through the steps above and all will be well. That is total BS. This process does absolutely nothing but waste your time. I understand the reason for this stupid restriction but it’s is total BS. I am an administrator of my machine I am the only person who uses it, I have anti virus, and a firewall, yet I cannot change a folder from Read Only. As an administrator I should have access to everything and be able to change whatever I like. It is my machine. All I want to do is make a folder not Read Only. It is a folder I created and it contains files I created so why is it Read Only?