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.

Create mandatory user profiles

Applies to

A mandatory user profile is a roaming user profile that has been pre-configured by an administrator to specify settings for users. Settings commonly defined in a mandatory profile include (but are not limited to): icons that appear on the desktop, desktop backgrounds, user preferences in Control Panel, printer selections, and more. Configuration changes made during a user’s session that are normally saved to a roaming user profile are not saved when a mandatory user profile is assigned.

Mandatory user profiles are useful when standardization is important, such as on a kiosk device or in educational settings. Only system administrators can make changes to mandatory user profiles.

When the server that stores the mandatory profile is unavailable, such as when the user is not connected to the corporate network, users with mandatory profiles can sign in with the locally cached copy of the mandatory profile, if one exists. Otherwise, the user will be signed in with a temporary profile.

User profiles become mandatory profiles when the administrator renames the NTuser.dat file (the registry hive) of each user’s profile in the file system of the profile server from NTuser.dat to NTuser.man . The .man extension causes the user profile to be a read-only profile.

Profile extension for each Windows version

The name of the folder in which you store the mandatory profile must use the correct extension for the operating system it will be applied to. The following table lists the correct extension for each operating system version.

Client operating system version	Server operating system version	Profile extension
Windows XP	Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003 R2	none
Windows Vista Windows 7	Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 R2	v2
Windows 8	Windows Server 2012	v3
Windows 8.1	Windows Server 2012 R2	v4
Windows 10, versions 1507 and 1511	N/A	v5
Windows 10, versions 1607, 1703, 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903 and 1909	Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019	v6

Mandatory user profile

First, you create a default user profile with the customizations that you want, run Sysprep with CopyProfile set to True in the answer file, copy the customized default user profile to a network share, and then you rename the profile to make it mandatory.

How to create a default user profile

Sign in to a computer running Windows 10 as a member of the local Administrator group. Do not use a domain account.

Use a lab or extra computer running a clean installation of Windows 10 to create a default user profile. Do not use a computer that is required for business (that is, a production computer). This process removes all domain accounts from the computer, including user profile folders.

Configure the computer settings that you want to include in the user profile. For example, you can configure settings for the desktop background, uninstall default apps, install line-of-business apps, and so on.

Unlike previous versions of Windows, you cannot apply a Start and taskbar layout using a mandatory profile. For alternative methods for customizing the Start menu and taskbar, see Related topics.

Create an answer file (Unattend.xml) that sets the CopyProfile parameter to True. The CopyProfile parameter causes Sysprep to copy the currently signed-on user’s profile folder to the default user profile. You can use Windows System Image Manager, which is part of the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) to create the Unattend.xml file.

Uninstall any application you do not need or want from the PC. For examples on how to uninstall Windows 10 Application see Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage. For a list of uninstallable applications, see Understand the different apps included in Windows 10.

It is highly recommended to uninstall unwanted or unneeded apps as it will speed up user sign-in times.

At a command prompt, type the following command and press ENTER.

(Sysprep.exe is located at: C:\Windows\System32\sysprep. By default, Sysprep looks for unattend.xml in this same folder.)

If you receive an error message that says «Sysprep was not able to validate your Windows installation», open %WINDIR%\System32\Sysprep\Panther\setupact.log and look for an entry like the following:

Use the Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage and Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers cmdlet in Windows PowerShell to uninstall the app that is listed in the log.

The sysprep process reboots the PC and starts at the first-run experience screen. Complete the set up, and then sign in to the computer using an account that has local administrator privileges.

Right-click Start, go to Control Panel (view by large or small icons) > System > Advanced system settings, and click Settings in the User Profiles section.

In User Profiles, click Default Profile, and then click Copy To.

In Copy To, under Permitted to use, click Change.

In Select User or Group, in the Enter the object name to select field, type everyone , click Check Names, and then click OK.

In Copy To, in the Copy profile to field, enter the path and folder name where you want to store the mandatory profile. The folder name must use the correct extension for the operating system version. For example, the folder name must end with «.v6» to identify it as a user profile folder for Windows 10, version 1607.

• If the device is joined to the domain and you are signed in with an account that has permissions to write to a shared folder on the network, you can enter the shared folder path.

• If the device is not joined to the domain, you can save the profile locally and then copy it to the shared folder location.

Click OK to copy the default user profile.

How to make the user profile mandatory

In File Explorer, open the folder where you stored the copy of the profile.

If the folder is not displayed, click View > Options > Change folder and search options. On the View tab, select Show hidden files and folders, clear Hide protected operating system files, click Yes to confirm that you want to show operating system files, and then click OK to save your changes.

Rename Ntuser.dat to Ntuser.man .

Apply a mandatory user profile to users

In a domain, you modify properties for the user account to point to the mandatory profile in a shared folder residing on the server.

How to apply a mandatory user profile to users

Open Active Directory Users and Computers (dsa.msc).

Navigate to the user account that you will assign the mandatory profile to.

Right-click the user name and open Properties.

On the Profile tab, in the Profile path field, enter the path to the shared folder without the extension. For example, if the folder name is \\server\profile.v6, you would enter \\server\profile.

Click OK.

It may take some time for this change to replicate to all domain controllers.

Apply policies to improve sign-in time

When a user is configured with a mandatory profile, Windows 10 starts as though it was the first sign-in each time the user signs in. To improve sign-in performance for users with mandatory user profiles, apply the Group Policy settings shown in the following table. (The table shows which operating system versions each policy setting can apply to.)

Group Policy setting	Windows 10	Windows Server 2016	Windows 8.1	Windows Server 2012
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Logon > Show first sign-in animation = Disabled
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Allow Cortana = Disabled
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Cloud Content > Turn off Microsoft consumer experience = Enabled

The Group Policy settings above can be applied in Windows 10 Professional edition.