i've never heard of this problem but there's an ATTRIB command in dos that can fix this, e.g. ATTRIB -R C:\ /S whether this is actually a good idea is another matter. On 3/20/06, Tsunhin John Wong <tjw23(a)pitt.edu&gt; wrote: > > Hi all, > > I'm using a self-compiled XEmacs, and this self-compiled XEmacs > subsequently cannot write to my Desktop directory (~/Desktop). Therefore I > checked my desktop folder property, and found out that's marked > "Read-only", and eventually I found most of the directories in XP are > marked "Read-only". I tried unchecked the "Read-only" box in the property > window, but then I found out that I can't successfully change the property > > I was thinking that is a problem of my WinXP, however, when I tried using > notepad or Vim to write new files to these directories, they all succeeded > doing so > > Then, I think that "write-protection" phenomena that exist only to my > XEmacs may posssibly be due to some tricks that I haven't done in the > window registry, so that those registry entries may allow some > applications (such as notepad.exe or vim) to write on these "read-only" > directories > > Can somebody give me a clue on solving this problem? > > Regards, > > Tsunhin > > > >