Progam Files (x86) folder stays in read-only.

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Timpie

PCHF Member
Aug 13, 2018
21
2
34
Hello all,

After a recent windows 10 update.
I've been unable to make a shortcut for a program.
I could however make the shortcut on my desktop and put it back in the folder.
I discovered alot of my folder on my C: drive are set in read-only mode.
And i am unable to change that. The properties for my C: drive itself under security is all on ' Allow ' for all users basically.
But not the folders inside C: most commonly Program Files (x86) and Program Files. and also other folders.

I tried several steps from different websites to give myself full access. But it wont work.
I tried " attrib -r +s C:\Program Files (x86) " in CMD, but i get a " parameter format not correct ".

When i right click Program Files (x86) > Properties > Security > I see there is no permission for any users including System.
And everything is greyed out. When i go to edit. Everything is greyed out in there too. And there are different users in there aswell.
Like " ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES, ALL RESTRICTED APPLICATION PACKAGES, CREATER OWNER, Trusted Installer ".
I never seen those before. I also run a scan with Spybot as i thought it would be malware afflicted. But no serious threats were discovered. Just cookies.

Also when i am right clicked in Program Files (x86) > General > I click out Read-Only > Apply > Apply to all folders and Subfolders > Need to provide Administrator permissions > Continue.

I get this error "An error occured applying attributes to the file: C:\Program Files (x86)\Com...\tifffilt.dll Acces denied" to that and a bunch of other files. I do ignore all.
And Progam Files stays in read-only mode afterwards. I am kind of frustrated by this. I hate windows 10 updates.
Hope anyone can help me out. I am going for a walk be back in a hour or so
 
Hi Timple!

Can you try changing the permissions for the whole C:\ drive rather than just the Program Files folder?

  1. Right-click the C:\ drive and select Properties
  2. Navigate to the Security tab
  3. Click Advanced, then Change permissions
  4. Choose a user and select Edit
  5. Under Applies to: select This folder, subfolder and files
  6. Under Basic permissions select Full control
  7. Click Ok
 
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Hi Timple!

Can you try changing the permissions for the whole C:\ drive rather than just the Program Files folder?

  1. Right-click the C:\ drive and select Properties
  2. Navigate to the Security tab
  3. Click Advanced, then Change permissions
  4. Choose a user and select Edit
  5. Under Applies to: select This folder, subfolder and files
  6. Under Basic permissions select Full control
  7. Click Ok

The settings on my Boot (C:\) drive are already like this.
However when i press on apply. I get this error

"An Error occured while applying security information to: C:\$RECYCLE.BIN. Failed to enumerate objects in the container. Access is denied"

And i get this error everywhere. And on the security tab, of my C:\ drive all the users, groups strangely have full access. This folder, subfolder and files.
 
Which account is listed as the owner of the C:\ drive? This will be listed at the top of the Advanced security settings window (the one with the users listed).
 
Authenticated users - Full Control - Inherited from: None - Applies to: This Folder, subfolders and files.
System - same
Administrators (Desktop..) - same
Users (Desktop...\Users) - Same.

So Authenticated users is on top. And all the users have same settings basically
 
Let's give this a go.

Tweaking.com - Windows Repair All-In-One (Portable)

- Download Windows Repair All-In-One (Portable Version) from here.

- Extract tweaking.com_windows_repair_aio.zip to your Desktop.

- Disable all your antivirus and antimalware software.
- Right click on
QfBzvq1.png
and select Run as Administrator (XP users just double click) to start Windows Repair All-In-One.
(Windows Vista/7/8/10 users: Accept UAC warning if it is enabled.)

- A window will appear. Click Step 2.
2f8o60N.png


- Click the Open Pre-Scan button, then click Start Scan. Wait for Windows Repair to finish scanning.

- Depending on which error Windows Repair found, click Repair Reparse Point or Repair Environment Variable accordingly. When the button changes to "Done!", click the close button to return to Windows Repair.

- Go to Step 3, then click Check in the See If Check Disk Is Needed.

- If Windows Repair stated that errors are found, click Open Check Disk At Next Boot. Choose (/R) Fixes errors on the disk also locate bad sectors and recovers readable information, then click Add To Next Boot. Reboot the computer to let Windows check the disk.
Ymy7crZ.png


- Go to Step 4, then click Do It.
zDtdN75.png


- Go to Step 5. Under System Restore click Create.
f7lEe1N.png


- Go to Repairs and click Open Repairs. Ensure Reset File Permissions is checked, then click Start Repairs.

- By default Windows Repair All-In-One will create a "Logs" folder in its folder on the Desktop. Please post the contents of the log in your next reply.
 
Oh wait, i made a mistake i misread you. The ownership currently is Thypi (DESKTOP-SU6S5Q5\Thypi).
I changed that not so long ago.
I was following steps on a different website trying to resolve it.
But before that ownership was something else.
 
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Reactions: AndroidOS
I have to inform you that i am now at step 4.
Everything went successfully. Until i rebooted my laptop at step 3. Check disk /R was enabled for next reboot.
So i rebooted, and then it ran this disk check thing. It only went to like 14%.
Then i got a BOSD, with the 🙁 smiley. From there on it kept restarting itself. For automatic repair, diagnosing.
Failing to start up windows 10. I got an error with this in it as well " C:\windows\system32\logfiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt "
When i tried to do an automatic repair from the recovery system. I had to Shut down my computer and restart it from there and skip the disk check to come back in Windows 10 again.

Step 4 is complete now, and it found corrupt files unable to fix some of them. Atleast there's a CBS.log.
It wants to reboot but ill be doing step 5 now. Made a system restore. I'll paste the repair log in my next post
 
Tweaking.com - Windows Repair 2019 (v4.9.0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

System Variables
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Running In Windows Safe Mode: False
OS: Windows 10 Home
OS Architecture: 64-bit
OS Version: (1903) 10.0.18362.959
OS Service Pack:
Computer Name: DESKTOP-SU6S5Q5
Windows Drive: C:\
Windows Path: C:\WINDOWS
Program Files: C:\Program Files
Program Files (x86): C:\Program Files (x86)
Current Profile: C:\Users\barto
Current Profile SID: S-1-5-21-1572603852-2933295829-1351681238-1001
Current Profile Classes: S-1-5-21-1572603852-2933295829-1351681238-1001_Classes
Profiles Location: C:\Users
Profiles Location 2: C:\WINDOWS\ServiceProfiles
Local Settings AppData: C:\Users\barto\AppData\Local
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

System Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
System Up Time: 0 Days 00:17:11

Process Count: 242
Commit Total: 7,34 GB
Commit Limit: 16,56 GB
Commit Peak: 7,68 GB
Handle Count: 101410
Kernel Total: 629,65 MB
Kernel Paged: 384,12 MB
Kernel Non Paged: 245,54 MB
System Cache: 2,26 GB
Thread Count: 3431
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory Before Cleaning with CleanMem
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory Total: 7,82 GB
Memory Used: 5,20 GB(66,5219%)
Memory Avail.: 2,62 GB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cleaning Memory Before Starting Repairs...

Memory After Cleaning with CleanMem
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory Total: 7,82 GB
Memory Used: 4,49 GB(57,4357%)
Memory Avail.: 3,33 GB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starting Repairs...
Started at (20-7-2020 22:42:17)

Setting Any Missing 'InstallDate' From Uninstall Sections Before Running Repair...
Total Missing 'InstallDate' Fixed: 99

01 - Reset Registry Permissions
Restore Windows 7/8/10 Default Registry Permissions
Start (20-7-2020 22:42:20)


Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\hku.7z
Done, 0,41 seconds.


Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\hklm.7z
Done, 6,46 seconds.

Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 22:43:29)

02 - Reset File Permissions
Restore Windows 7/8/10 Default File Permissions
Start (20-7-2020 22:43:29)


Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\default.7z
Done, 0,16 seconds.


Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\profile.7z
Done, 0,19 seconds.


Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\program_files.7z
Done, 0,43 seconds.


Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\program_files_x86.7z
Done, 0,16 seconds.


Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\programdata.7z
Done, 0,16 seconds.


Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\windows.7z
Done, 1,23 seconds.

Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 22:59:04)

03 - Reset Service Permissions
Start (20-7-2020 22:59:04)

Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 22:59:31)

04 - Register System Files
Start (20-7-2020 22:59:31)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:00:33)

05 - Repair WMI
Start (20-7-2020 23:00:33)

Starting Security Center So We Can Export The Security Info.

Exporting Antivirus Info...
Avira Antivirus Exported.
Windows Defender Exported.

Exporting AntiSpyware Info...
Spybot - Search and Destroy Exported.
Avira Antivirus Exported.
Windows Defender Exported.

Exporting 3rd Party Firewall Info...
No Firewall Products Reported.

Running Repair Under Current User Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:04:10)

06 - Repair Windows Firewall
Start (20-7-2020 23:04:10)

Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\services.7z
Done, 0,18 seconds.

Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:04:28)

07 - Repair Internet Explorer
Start (20-7-2020 23:04:28)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:04:57)

08 - Repair MDAC/MS Jet
Start (20-7-2020 23:04:58)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:05:06)

09 - Repair Hosts File
Start (20-7-2020 23:05:06)
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:05:08)

10 - Remove Policies Set By Infections
Start (20-7-2020 23:05:08)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:05:12)

11 - Repair Start Menu Icons Removed By Infections
Start (20-7-2020 23:05:12)
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:05:13)

12 - Repair Icons
Start (20-7-2020 23:05:13)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:06:17)

13 - Repair Network
Start (20-7-2020 23:06:17)

Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\services.7z
Done, 0,23 seconds.

Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:06:36)

14 - Remove Temp Files
Start (20-7-2020 23:06:36)
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:06:38)

15 - Repair Proxy Settings
Start (20-7-2020 23:06:38)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:06:40)

16 - Repair Windows Updates
Start (20-7-2020 23:06:40)

Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\services.7z
Done, 0,18 seconds.

Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Setting Windows Updates Files That Are In Use To Be Removed At Next Boot.
Done (20-7-2020 23:07:08)

17 - Repair CD/DVD Missing/Not Working
Start (20-7-2020 23:07:08)
iTunes or GEARAspiWDM.sys not found, not applying UpperFilters iTunes Reg Key
Done (20-7-2020 23:07:08)

18 - Repair Volume Shadow Copy Service
Start (20-7-2020 23:07:08)

Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\services.7z
Done, 0,17 seconds.

Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:07:51)

19 - Repair Windows Sidebar/Gadgets
Start (20-7-2020 23:07:51)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:07:53)

20 - Repair MSI (Windows Installer)
Start (20-7-2020 23:07:53)

Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\services.7z
Done, 0,17 seconds.

Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:07)

21 - Repair Windows Snipping Tool
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:07)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:09)

22.01 - Repair bat Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:09)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:11)

22.02 - Repair cmd Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:11)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:13)

22.03 - Repair com Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:13)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:16)

22.04 - Repair Directory Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:16)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:18)

22.05 - Repair Drive Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:18)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:20)

22.06 - Repair exe Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:20)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:22)

22.07 - Repair Folder Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:22)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:24)

22.08 - Repair inf Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:24)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:27)

22.09 - Repair lnk (Shortcuts) Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:27)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:29)

22.10 - Repair msc Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:29)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:31)

22.11 - Repair reg Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:31)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:33)

22.12 - Repair scr Association
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:33)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:36)

23 - Repair Windows Safe Mode
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:36)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:38)

24 - Repair Print Spooler
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:38)

Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\services.7z
Done, 0,17 seconds.

Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:08:53)

25 - Restore Important Windows Services
Start (20-7-2020 23:08:53)

Decompressing & Updating Windows Permission File C:\TeringProgramma's\Tweaking.com\files\permissions\10\services.7z
Done, 0,16 seconds.

Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:09:04)

26 - Set Windows Services To Default Startup
Start (20-7-2020 23:09:04)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:09:13)

27.01 - Repair Windows 8/10 App Store
Skipping Repair.
This repair is currently disabled for this version of Windows due to the constant changes to the app store.

29 - Restore Windows 8/10 COM+ Unmarshalers
Start (20-7-2020 23:09:13)
Running Repair Under System Account
[X] -----Job Complete----- Items Done: 1
Done (20-7-2020 23:09:15)

30 - Repair Windows 'New' Submenu
Start (20-7-2020 23:09:15)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:09:17)

31 - Restore UAC (User Account Control) Settings
Start (20-7-2020 23:09:17)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Running Repair Under System Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:09:20)

32 - Repair Performance Counters
Start (20-7-2020 23:09:20)
Running Repair Under Current User Account
Done (20-7-2020 23:09:22)

Cleaning up empty logs...

All Selected Repairs Done.
Done at (20-7-2020 23:09:22)
Total Repair Time: 00:27:06


...YOU MUST RESTART YOUR SYSTEM...
 
I still have the same issue.
When i go for example to C:\ProgramData and want to open Application Data. Acces is denied.
And when i right click properties, security tab, change permissions, change ownership or in advanced.

Edit anything in there afterwards i press apply. I get the "Failed to enumerate objects in the container. Acces is denied"
This is with alot of folders in my C:\
 
Thought maybe time for a little update here from my part.
Last night i played around a bit with cmd.exe administrater mode, and this command: " takeown /F X:\FULL_PATH_TO_FOLDER /r /d y "
Initially it didn't worked, i went to bed, left my laptop on. Today i can access my appdata folder again.
Meaning the programs i usually use. Don't have a problem retrieving the stored data.. profiles.. login credentials for automatically login on start-up.
So that was good. There's still some weird stuff going on. I made a screenshot of it. Hopefully it shows here.
You can see what i mean.

PCHelpReadOnlyProblem.png
 
With out knowing what and or how you have tried to create the shortcut

See if this helps at all.

Is it listed in the start menu?

Right Click on the file that you use to run it
You can click Pin to Taskbar which will put it on the taskbar

OR

Click on More and select Open File Location
The file should be highlighted right click on it and hover over Send To
Now Select Desktop (Create Shortcut)

OR

Right click on the desktop go to New
Select Shortcut
Then click the browse button
Find the executable file and select that.
Click OK
Click Next
Click Finish
 
First time folder i wanted to take ownership of was C:\Program Files (x86)
It didn't worked, so i tried other folders. First was just my C:\ drive like this " takeown /F C:\"
That worked, then i put takeown on C:\Telegram. that was successful too.
Then finally i did it on C:\Users. and it kept on running taking ownership of all those subfolders.. It was too much. After an hour and a half i closed that out.
When i do it now on C:\Telegram. I get this:

ERROR: The current logged on user does not have ownership privileges on
the file (or folder) "C:\Telegram".

Even though on my C:\ it went good:

SUCCESS: The file (or folder): "C:\" now owned by user "DESKTOP-SU6S5Q5\Thypi".
 
With out knowing what and or how you have tried to create the shortcut

See if this helps at all.

Is it listed in the start menu?

Right Click on the file that you use to run it
You can click Pin to Taskbar which will put it on the taskbar

OR

Click on More and select Open File Location
The file should be highlighted right click on it and hover over Send To
Now Select Desktop (Create Shortcut)

OR

Right click on the desktop go to New
Select Shortcut
Then click the browse button
Find the executable file and select that.
Click OK
Click Next
Click Finish

I have moved the folder of the entire program (MetaTrader 5) that resides in: C:\Program Files (x86)\MetaTrader5
To another location on my external harddrive. That works. I created a shortcut in there with a "/portable" in the target field of the new shortcut.
I have to re-configure and adjust all my charts.. indicators.. back to how it was.
My profiles where saved in " C:\Users\barto\AppData\Roaming\MetaQuotes\Terminal\2ACA3D1E33AC9178E1A290174FACE687 " which i previously didnt had access towards
 
Status
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