Windows 11 folder keeps reverting back to read only

Nice to hear from someone who gets it! 🙂

And it reminds me that a lot of people seeing that interface are assuming that a read-only attribute is the same as read-only permissions. As I'm sure you know, even if the folder attribute were set to read-only (and we know it isn't) it would have no effect on whether you could save, delete, or change files within the folder. It only controls whether you get an "access denied" message when you try to delete the folder at a command line. It doesn't even cause any warning in Explorer.

It's a shame that users waste so much time barking up the wrong tree when they see this interface instead of looking at things that really could matter, such as the ownership and permissions on the folder or a problem with the application etc. If their files are getting into a read-only state we'd like to focus on what's causing that and not get distracted by this non-issue.

Thanks to Microsoft for devising one of the most misleading interfaces ever and sticking with it for decades!

What all the confusion boils down to is the UI doesn't make it clear that the checkbox is a command along with a status indicator. Filled in with a "-" means the folder can have read only files in it, but doesn't indicate whether it does or not. It's the default for folders. For what it's worth the checkbox does work as intended. I did just verify that putting a check in the box (click twice) makes all the files in the folder read only, and unchecking the box removes the read only status of all files in the folder as long as those files are not locked. You will get an error after clicking Apply or OK if you don't have permission to edit any file(s) in the folder the system attempts to change. If you remove read only status from all files in the folder the box will revert to filled in with a "-" the next time you pull up properties for that folder. As I said before, it's the default and you can safely ignore it - it doesn't mean the system changed files in the folder back to read only. Most definitely not the way I would have scripted this part of the UI, but I guess it made sense to whoever did.

I believe some of the people posing questions in this thread have file locks or network share issues that result in not being able to save edited files.

LesFerch - Thanks, and keep up the good work. Just remember you can't get through to everyone.

Your friendly neighborhood hacker, oops, system security specialist. lol.

Context menu is the right click on your mouse. This is your context menu. RIGHT CLICK

                                                                                                                      [![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/f197b1c9-3d64-4651-bd76-0f62cfd89f47?platform=QnA "filestore.community.support.microsoft.com")

I have only been using Windows 11 for a short time, but had a similar problem with read only files. It seems win 11 indexes a lot of the files or folders on my computer as read-only. I had to take ownership of files that I already owned (Admin- Full Control).. Try this and it should solve your problem. I added this (Take Ownership) to the Context menu and used that anytime I encountered a read only folder or file.. And it allowed me full control of the file in question every time. Best of Luck !

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/add-take-ownership-to-context-menu-in-windows-11.1230/

The problem that myself, and potentially some others here are having, is specifically the fact that that block being filled means there is a read-only file somewhere within the target folder,

That is not correct. If you look carefully, you will see that the box is always a solid block even if there are zero files marked read-only within the folder.

It is, in fact, not an indicator at all. Microsoft should never have used a checkbox for a command. And that's all it is, a command. When you click it clear, you're telling Windows that you want to unset read-only from any files that may be read-only within the folder and its subfolders. When you check the box, you're telling Windows you want to set all files within the folder and its subfolders to read-only. Whether you set or unset, it only affects files. The read-only state of the folder, and any of its subfolders, is not affected. Only files are affected.

So, the item labeled "Read-only (Only applies to files in the folder)" does not indicate anything. However, to your point, it may be used to provide relief (possibly temporary) from a problem (TBD) that is setting one or more files within your folder to read-only. The problem with this bad interface design is that it is misleading people into believing that Windows "keeps resetting my folder to read-only". And that certainly distracts from finding the root cause of whatever problem they're having.

No doubt something is setting one or more files to read-only for some users and I will go back and edit my replies to be considerate of the fact that the use of this command to remove the read-only attribute from files could be helpful, but more investigation is needed to identify which files are being set read-only, when that occurs, and what processes are involved.