Can't Clear Read-Only Flag ??

I've had this problem a few times before and I'm not sure what I did that fixed it.

I'm trying to install Borland Turbo Prolog 2.0 on my system:
4 Core AMD/ XP Pro SP3/ 2 x HDD

But the install can't create the directories it needs to install to. So I created the directory structure myself.
H:\TProlog20

\Answers
\Examples
\Pie
\Programs
\Refexamp
\BGI
under that.

And tried to install again. The install program can't write to the directories below TProlog20 because they are read-only. I created them from the DOS prompt, BTW. The only directory it can write to is TProlog20.

I open properties on TProlog20 and it says Read-Only so I click that off and agree to do that to all sub-directories. Then I check the sub-directories and they are still Read-Only. So I turn off the read-only property for each sub-directory individually. As soon as the popup closes, I check it again, and it is still read-only. No matter where I put the directory frame, the sub-directories are read-only, and I can't change them. I've tried both HDDs a flashdisk and even a Zip drive.

Does anyone know how I can fix this?

Edit: I'm logged in as an administrator.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/attrib.mspx?mfr=true

have you read above on how to use attrib and change the attributes like read only??

 

Yes. Many times. I've even written programs in Visual Basic and C to do it for me and then copy a file before it goes back to read-only. But I shouldn't have to do that.

I weaseled my way through this particular problem by hanging all of the sub-directories off the root instead of TProlog20, and completely re-writing the batch file that does the installation. As soon as I cut and pasted the sub-directories under TProlog20 they turned into read-only again. No big deal maybe. I usually hang work directories off the root anyway.

But I'm really curious about this problem. I did take your advice about Malabytes and Anti-Spyware. I was surprised. Malabytes found 161 problems on the first run. I did a scan with my anti-virus program before fixing them and it didn't find any problems, so I guess it's time for a change. Cleaning up all those problems didn't help the read-only problem, though.

 

http://stackoverflow.com/

the forum above is where you should post your question, they are pretty good with batches and scripts.

===============

one antivirus can not find everything, I always have an antivirus running in real time and also run MBAM as an on demand scanner.

Plus every once in a while I run an online scan with ESET or Kaspersky.

You can also make a rescue disk from Kaspersky, that you can run before booting,

I do not know what your current antivirus is but you should insure that they are still supporting xp.

 

I think we need to get back to the original question. I've already taken care of the batch file, and installed the Comodo Anti-virus package on a trial basis.

Can you think of any reason why the sub-directories of a root level directory would be read only when created, and why I can't change that flag?

 

that is why I sent you to stack overflow forum, I have no experience with changing attributes.

Never needed to so, nor am I as technologically advanced as you appear to be. You can keep this thread open and maybe someone else will be able to help. Good Luck

 

Thanks. I'll keep looking. Surely I'm not the only one who has ever had this problem.

 

Okay, and if you find a solution, please post it for others looking with your same issue, thanks.

 

It turned out to be the freeware Anti-virus program I was using. So I susbscribed to a name brand anti-virus program and the problem went away.

Since I can't send private messages yet, I'm just going to go ahead and add this here.

Edit: In one of your posts you said that XP can only address a little more than 3 Gig of memory. Am I wasting resources by having 16 Gig installed?

Suppose I replaced it with 2 x 2 Gig DIMMs and put the two 8 Gig DIMMs in another computer. Would this have any effect on performance? The other computer runs UBUNTU.

 

Yes, any thing over 3-4 is wasted

read the following for more technical info:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx

http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthread.php?277661-How-much-RAM-does-Windows-XP-support