How can I mark a drive as read onlyZ

InfiniteNothing · 05-23-2006, 09:24 PM

I want to mark a drive as read only. It belongs to another operating system. Anyone know how to do that in Win XP?

Hiro · 05-23-2006, 09:33 PM

1) Right click the drive.
2) Go to Properties.
3) Go to the "Security" tab.
4) Select "Everyone" under the Group or user names field.
5) For the "Allow" line just below that, uncheck everything except "Read & Execute," "List Folder Contents" and "Read" and you should be okay.

InfiniteNothing · 05-23-2006, 09:39 PM

I don't apear to have a security tab. All I have is General, Tools, Hardware, and Sharing.

Hiro · 05-23-2006, 09:45 PM

Are you on Windows XP Home or Professional?

InfiniteNothing · 05-23-2006, 09:51 PM

Pro SP2

Hiro · 05-23-2006, 09:54 PM

Bleh, must be an option only for PC's in domains then.

Best thing to do then is to go into the drive itself, highlight all the folders, right click and go to "Properties" then check the "Read-only" box under Attributes.

InfiniteNothing · 05-23-2006, 09:58 PM

Heh. That could work though wouldn't that be writing to the folders? I wouldn't want to switch operating systems and find that they are still read only.

Hiro · 05-23-2006, 10:01 PM

It's worth a try. Worst case, you re-boot and un-check the box. I've never tried booting two operating systems and making one drive read-only.

InfiniteNothing · 05-23-2006, 10:09 PM

Worst case, operating system number two tries to boot, finds it can't and barfs on me.

Jeffbx · 05-24-2006, 05:36 AM

I wouldn't recommend changing all of the file attributes on the drive... that can cause weirdness when you go back to the other OS.

You can enable the security tab by turning off simple file sharing in XP - here's an article that explains how to do it.

InfiniteNothing · 05-24-2006, 05:59 PM

That worked! But I only get the security tab on NTFS drives. D'oh!

05-23-2006, 09:24 PM	#1
InfiniteNothing Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Diego Posts: 10,086	How can I mark a drive as read onlyZ I want to mark a drive as read only. It belongs to another operating system. Anyone know how to do that in Win XP?

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05-23-2006, 09:33 PM	#2
Hiro Rear Admiral Upper Half Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 3,654	1) Right click the drive. 2) Go to Properties. 3) Go to the "Security" tab. 4) Select "Everyone" under the Group or user names field. 5) For the "Allow" line just below that, uncheck everything except "Read & Execute," "List Folder Contents" and "Read" and you should be okay.

05-23-2006, 09:39 PM	#3
InfiniteNothing Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Diego Posts: 10,086	I don't apear to have a security tab. All I have is General, Tools, Hardware, and Sharing.

05-23-2006, 09:45 PM	#4
Hiro Rear Admiral Upper Half Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 3,654	Are you on Windows XP Home or Professional?

05-23-2006, 09:51 PM	#5
InfiniteNothing Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Diego Posts: 10,086	Pro SP2

05-23-2006, 09:54 PM	#6
Hiro Rear Admiral Upper Half Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 3,654	Bleh, must be an option only for PC's in domains then. Best thing to do then is to go into the drive itself, highlight all the folders, right click and go to "Properties" then check the "Read-only" box under Attributes.

05-23-2006, 09:58 PM	#7
InfiniteNothing Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Diego Posts: 10,086	Heh. That could work though wouldn't that be writing to the folders? I wouldn't want to switch operating systems and find that they are still read only.

05-23-2006, 10:01 PM	#8
Hiro Rear Admiral Upper Half Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 3,654	It's worth a try. Worst case, you re-boot and un-check the box. I've never tried booting two operating systems and making one drive read-only.

05-23-2006, 10:09 PM	#9
InfiniteNothing Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Diego Posts: 10,086	Worst case, operating system number two tries to boot, finds it can't and barfs on me.

05-24-2006, 05:36 AM	#10
Jeffbx Fleet Admiral Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Michigan Posts: 9,390	I wouldn't recommend changing all of the file attributes on the drive... that can cause weirdness when you go back to the other OS. You can enable the security tab by turning off simple file sharing in XP - here's an article that explains how to do it.

05-24-2006, 05:59 PM	#11
InfiniteNothing Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Diego Posts: 10,086	That worked! But I only get the security tab on NTFS drives. D'oh!

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