How to change the Trusted Location folder's properties (remove read only)

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How to change the Trusted Location folder's properties (remove read only)

Richard Matthews 55

I am the system administrator. I'm trying to change the property "read only" for the trusted location folder. I can change the property but when I try to apply the change I'm told that my administrator has to give permission. What's wrong?

Thanks...Rich

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Answer 1

No worries. Love helping fellow community members here.

Sounds like you've already done a lot. Let's go through a few more things to try and get that Access file out of ready-only mode.

Try these steps:

Give your user account full access - even if "Administrators" have full control, your own account might need it too.

Right -click the folder > click Properties
Go to the Security tab > click Edit
If your username isn't there, click Add, type your name, and give it Full control
Do the same for the Access file itself

2.Take ownership of the folder and file - you might need to take full ownership.

Right-click the folder > Properties > Security > Advanced
Click Change next to where it says Owner
Tick the box that says "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects"
Click Apply and OK
Repeat for the Access file

3.Unblock the file (if needed)

Right-click the Access file > Properties
If you see an Unblock checkbox, tick it and click Apply

4.Make sure it's not marked as read-only

Right-click the file > Properties
On the General tab, uncheck Read-only if it's ticked

5.Close all Access windows - if the file is open somewhere else, it can cause this issue. Close everything and try again.

Check for leftover lock files

In the same folder, look for files ending in .ldb or .laccdb with the same name as your database
If you find one and Access is closed, delete it.

7.Try running Access as Administrator

Right-click the Access shortcut > choose Run as Administrator
Open your database and see if it's still read-only

8.Check your drive

Make sure there's enough free space on your drive
Open Command Prompt as admin, type this, and hit Enter: chkdsk /f to check for disk errors

9.Check Access Settings

Open Access, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Trusted Locations

10.Check for Cloud Syncing

If the file is in a folder synced by OneDrive or another cloud service, sometimes that can lock files. Try moving the file to a non-synced folder and open it from there.

Hope this helps! If you try all these steps and the file is still opening as read-only, let me know, we can dig a little deeper, like checking for corruption in the Access file or looking at more advanced settings.

Answer 2

Richard Matthews 55

Still not working.

2025-07-13

No missing references

Trusted location: Read Only unchecked but database in read only state when opened

Win10 and Win11 Access both 64 bit

No Declare statements

Created Blank database and imported everything from original database in OneDrive Access folder.

When importing tables got this message "One or more newly created objects contains a datatype that isn't compatible with earlier versions of Microsoft Access" Comment: could have shown which ones and the data type.

Macro and queries that update tables flagged and not operable.

Likewise VB code affecting tables won't compile

Compacted and repaired new database

Yve 435 Reputation points

2025-07-13T21:43:28.9233333+00:00
Thanks for sticking with this and providing more details. At this point, it looks like the problem isn’t with your folder or computer, but something inside the database itself. We’ve ruled out the usual suspects like permissions, sharing, file attributes, and Windows settings. The consistent errors and compatibility warnings, even after rebuilding the database, point to something wrong inside the file, like corruption, incompatible data types, or damaged objects. That’s why we’re now focusing on the database contents and structure.

Here's what to try next:

1.Import tables one at a time.

Open a new blank Access file, then import your tables one at a time (not all at once). This helps us spot if a certain table is causing the issue. If you get an error on a table, open it in Design View and check for unusual field types. Try switching them to standard types like Text or Number if possible.

2.Add other parts slowly.

Once your tables are in, add your queries, macros, and code one at a time. If the error comes back, you’ll know which object is the cause.

3.Keep the file off OneDrive.

Move the database to a regular folder like Downloads or Documents (not synced to OneDrive). Sometimes syncing can cause problems even when everything looks fine.

4.Check the file format.

Make sure it’s saved as .accdb and not an older type like .mdb. You can check this under File > Save As in Access.

5.Rebuild problem tables if needed.

If a table keeps giving trouble:

Export the data to Excel

Create a new table in Access

Import the data from Excel back into Access

Let me know how it goes. Each step gets us closer to the solution.

Answer 3

Thanks again for your input.

I don't have a user account, just the Administrator account, which has full access.

I ran Access as administrator, which opened the file without the read only restriction. However, when I executed the first operation I got the error message "There was an error compiling this function" and indicating the function contains a syntax error. To see if this was correct I commented out all of the code except for the function name and the end function statement so that there was no code to compile and got the same result. This also happened when I executed the database in my OneDrive Access folder, which is why I copied the database to the trusted location folder.

Regarding ownership, when I clicked on Change there was no "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects" option

My disk has 51.8 GB of space free

Access trust settings for Activex and macros are set to unblocked

Copied the file to the Downloads folder, opened it and got the compile error

Answer 4

Richard Matthews 55

Regarding the ownership of the folder it is Administrators (RJMWIN11\Administrators)

RJMWIN11 is my computer

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Answer 5

Richard Matthews 55

Thanks for taking the time to give me an assist.

The folder is on my computer, not on the network and isn't shared with another device

I'm having the problem with a MS 365 Access database on Windows 11: It is being opened in a read only status, which prohibits making updates to the data

I'm not part of a company or school network, I'm the only user

Not sure if I'm the owner, I'll have to check

Regarding the Security and Sharing tabs; the folder is not shared and I gave full control to Administrators and apps

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How to change the Trusted Location folder's properties (remove read only)

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