Folders are saying Read-Only but no files inside are marked Read-Only, have tried everything to fix it.

My friend, are you sure that you understand the difference between

and

Here's a hint: Every top-level folder in my C: drive and in my user profile looks like this 

and yet my computer runs superbly.

Please do not worry. I will be glad to explain. It's much simpler than you think. 

[Since I do not play in the foolish ratings game, you can rate me like garbage and we can still be friends.  😉]

Okay, here's another hint. See "Turn Windows features on or off" below. Can you spot the difference now?

This has been standard Windows notation for many years.

I still don't quite get what your trying to explain could you explain it further?

No problem.

This:

means that some files are read-only.  Whereas this:

means that all files are read-only.

In Windows, a square with a black box means 'some' and a square with a check mark means 'all.' This has been standard notation in Windows for a very long time.

If you go back to 'Turn Windows features on or off,' you can see that .Net Framework 4.8 has a black box because only one of its two components is selected: WCF Sevices is selected but ASP.Net 4.8 is not. And WCF Services has a black box because only one of its four components is selected - TCP Port Sharing, which has a checkmark because all its components are selected.

Returning to your question ...

When you see this in a folder's properties:

it means that some of the files inside the folder - it could be as few as one - are read-only. There's nothing mysterious about this. Like I keep saying, it's standard Windows notation.

But someone, somewhere, decided that this was a big problem, and came up with all kinds of 'solutions' that include messing with the Windows registry and interfering with the carefully laid-out system of users and permissions, neither of which accomplishes anything of lasting value, but does run the risk of causing serious damage to Windows both now and in the future; or persuading people to redo their computers from scratch, which is not such a bad idea in its own right, but isn't going to solve the 'problem' - because there's no problem to solve.

Interesting.. do you know how I could determine whether a folder was truly Read-Only or just marked with it?

As I was going through my art files I noticed none the files inside the folder were marked with Read-Only but when I looked at the art folder's properties it was fully blackened. It doesn't make sense.

Oh ... that's different.

For a file, read-only truly means read-only. The read-only attribute for a folder is different. After all, you can rename or even delete a folder that is marked read-only, which you could not do if it was really 'read-only.'

The read-only attribute for a folder is like a toggle - used to indicate that the folder has special features, like the customizable appearance of Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos, or the special treatment given to the Fonts folder. (Those are fonts in there, not just lines of text.)

That's why your folder of art files is marked read-only, even though none of the files themselves are read-only. Folders of photos can take on a customized appearance, if you choose, that they inherit from the top-level Pictures folder.

It's explained in more technical language by Microsoft here: You cannot view or change the Read-only or the System attributes of folders ... That article was written for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, but it still applies in Windows 10. Here's an excerpt:

"Unlike the Read-only attribute for a file, the Read-only attribute for a folder is typically ignored by Windows, Windows components and accessories, and other programs. For example, you can delete, rename, and change a folder with the Read-only attribute by using Windows Explorer.

The Read-only and System attributes is only used by Windows Explorer to determine whether the folder is a special folder, such as a system folder that has its view customized by Windows (for example, My Documents, Favorites, Fonts, Downloaded Program Files), or a folder that you customized by using the Customize tab of the folder's Properties dialog box." 

So, once again, there is no 'problem' here that needs to be solved.

I don't play games and don't know how the SIMs work so, sorry, I can't help you with that.

Hi SS. I'm Greg, an installation specialist, 10 year Windows MVP, and Volunteer Moderator here to help you.

Yes, we see it every day here and it is a chronic problem most often caused by account corruption. To understand better and try to fix Read Only please follow the steps here:

https://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/windows...

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/why-di...

https://www.easeus.com/storage-media-recovery/f...

This can also mean a corrupted account which you can troubleshoot by creating a new Local Admin account in Settings > Accounts > Family & Other People > Other, as shown here: http://www.howtogeek.com/226540/how-to-create-a...

Sign into the new account, test if the problem persists, if not then move your files over, test that all programs work or else reinstall them, then when ready delete the old account in the same place.

You can then change it to your Microsoft account if desired:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5375-switch...

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and keep me posted. If you will wait to rate my post, I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

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