Windows 10: File says it's read only, even though permissions are set to full-control

Hi,


I"m trying to clear out the properties on some photos & video files, but I'm getting the error message "This item is read-only. It cannot be modified."


The permissions were set to "read & execute" & "read." Even after I modified every group and user to have full control of the file, it still generates the same error message. I am logged in as administrator on my account. Running Windows 10 Pro.


I went through the advanced list for every possible Group & User and gave them full control, to no effect.


Any help would be greatly appreciated!

:)

 

File Permissions Mysteriously set to read only

Hi Doug,

Welcome and thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

Please follow the steps to modify ownership and permissions of folders and files and check if it helps or not:

1. Right-click the file or folder, click Properties, and then click the
Security tab.

2. Click Advanced, and then click the
Owner tab.

3. Click Edit, and then do one of the following:

· To change the owner to a user or group that is not listed, click
Other users and groups and, in Enter the object name to select (examples), type the name of the user or group, and then click
OK.

· To change the owner to a user or group that is listed, in the
Change owner to box, click the new owner.

4. If you want to take ownership of the contents of the folder, select the
Replace owner on sub containers and objects check box.

5. Click OK, and then click
Yes when you receive the following message:

You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?

All permissions will be replaced if you click
Yes.



Note folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of.

6. Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.

Additional considerations

· An administrator can take ownership of any file on the computer.

· Assigning ownership of a file or a folder might require you to elevate your permissions using User Access Control.

Hope this information helps. Please post us if you need any further assistance with Windows.

Thank you.

 

Read only files

Since you mentioned above that you are using an Administrator account, and after creating a new user account didn't make any changes, we suggest that you perform the troubleshooting steps below and see if it helps:

Take full control on permissions.

• Open File Explorer. 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.
• Click 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.

Let us know the results.

 

No permissions

Hi,

I would suggest you to right click on the user's folder for your profile and check if the permissions shows as "read only'. If this is the case, it might be causing the issue. In this case, I would suggest you to go to C:\User folder, right click on the
folder with your username and follow these steps:

• Open the properties of the main user profile folder where the files are located (such as Documents, Pictures, etc).
  
• Go to the Security tab and click Advanced.
• Check the box at the bottom of this window. It is labeled "Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object" and then click Ok.
  

This does a one-time action that replaces the security on all the files/subfolders. It’s one-time, so you won’t find that box checked if you peek at it later. Try these steps and let us know the results for further assistance.