Windows Batch File – Change File and Folder Attributes Without Slowing Down Hard Disk

batchbatch filewindows

I had created two files to change the icon of some folders. More specifically, I added one .ico file and then a folder.ini with the following content:

[ViewState]
Mode=
Vid=
FolderType=Pictures
[.ShellClassInfo]
IconFile=Icon.ico
IconIndex=0

The trick did not work and in order to see the folder icons I created a .bat file:

set startdir=%cd%
ATTRIB +s %startdir%
ATTRIB +s "%startdir%\*.*" /S /D

When I right click at the settings of the folder I can see that the "Read-only (only applies to files in folder)" is ticked and even if I untick it and save, it remains the same. Also, if I open an image with the default photo viewer from Windows, I am not able to scroll using the arrows (when there are more than 1 images in the same folder). This is working before I applied the batch.

So, my step was to change the bat file to this:

set startdir=%cd%
attrib -s "%cd%" /s

but it did not work. What am I missing?

Best Answer

you can set the folder icon with 1 click if you put this .batch file in "C:\Users\User\SendTo"

(
echo [.ShellClassInfo]
echo IconResource=folder.ico,0
) > %1\desktop.ini
attrib -A %1\desktop.ini
attrib +S +H %1\desktop.ini
attrib +R %1

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Check Multiple if conditions in bat file/ and operator in bat

What about this? XP or higher required, of course...

if %errorlevel% GEQ 1 (
  if %errorlevel% NEQ 255 goto :NotClosed
  ::other statements go here, if you need 'em
  ::don't forget to close the parenthesis on the last statement ->)

To clarify further:

if %errorlevel% EQU 0 (
  ::commands you want to perform if 0 go here. Notice ->) 
else (
  ::We got here because errorlevel was GEQ 1 or less than one...watch out
  ::if you program returns negative errorlevels!
  if %errorlevel% NEQ 255 goto :NotClosed
  ::other statements go here. But don't forget the parenthesis ->)

Windows NTFS – Folder Icon, Desktop.ini, and File Attributes Explained

It has no meaning to the rest of the OS, and is used specifically as an indicator for Explorer to look for a desktop.ini file.

The Old New Thing: Why is the readonly property for folders so strange?

It's actually a signal to Explorer to look harder. It doesn't mean that the directory is read-only.

If a folder has the Readonly or System flag set, then Explorer will look for a desktop.ini file which describes the folder customizations. For performance reasons, Explorer does this only if the directory has the +R or +S flag. (This is enormously important on slow networks.)
MS KB 256614 : Unable to remove Read-Only attribute from folder

Windows Explorer uses the Read-Only attribute to determine whether or not the folder is customized.
MS KB 326549: You Cannot View or Change the Read-Only or System Attribute of Folders

Unlike the Read-only attribute for a file, the Read-only attribute for a folder is typically ignored by Windows, Windows components and accessories, and other programs. [...] The Read-only and System attributes is only used by Windows Explorer to determine whether the folder is a special folder, such as a system folder that has its view customized by Windows (for example, My Documents, Favorites, Fonts, Downloaded Program Files), or a folder that you customized by using the Customize tab of the folder's Properties dialog box. As a result, Windows Explorer does not allow you to view or change the Read-only or System attributes of folders.

When a folder has the Read-Only attribute set it causes Explorer to request the Desktop.ini of that folder to see if any special folder settings need to be set. It has been seen where if a network share that has a large amount of folders set to Read-only, it can cause Explorer to take longer then what is expected to render the contents of that share while it waits on the retrieval of the Desktop.ini files. The slower the network connectivity to the share the longer this process can take to the point where Explorer may timeout waiting for the data and render nothing or appear to hang.

Note that I'm talking about the ReadOnly file attribute on a directory file system entry, which differs from the read-only checkbox displayed in the property window.

It doesn't; the checkbox uses the same attribute. Only newer Windows versions have changed what objects the checkbox will apply the attribute to (i.e. it only applies it to files inside, instead of the directory itself), but it's still the same attribute.

In older Windows versions, such as Windows 98 SE, the checkbox directly controlled the attribute on the directory itself.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Check Multiple if conditions in bat file/ and operator in bat

Windows NTFS – Folder Icon, Desktop.ini, and File Attributes Explained

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