Removing read only attribute on a directory using C#

Question

I was successfully able to remove read only attribute on a file using the following code snippet:

In main.cs

FileSystemInfo[] sqlParentFileSystemInfo = dirInfo.GetFileSystemInfos();

foreach (var childFolderOrFile in sqlParentFileSystemInfo)
{
        RemoveReadOnlyFlag(childFolderOrFile);
}

private static void RemoveReadOnlyFlag(FileSystemInfo fileSystemInfo)
{
fileSystemInfo.Attributes = FileAttributes.Normal;
var di = fileSystemInfo as DirectoryInfo;

if (di != null)
{
foreach (var dirInfo in di.GetFileSystemInfos())
      RemoveReadOnlyFlag(dirInfo);
}
}

Unfortunately, this doesn't work on the folders. After running the code, when I go to the folder, right click and do properties, here's what I see:

The read only flag is still checked although it removed it from files underneath it. This causes a process to fail deleting this folder. When I manually remove the flag and rerun the process (a bat file), it's able to delete the file (so I know this is not an issue with the bat file)

How do I remove this flag in C#?

Answer 1

Try DirectoryInfo instead of FileInfo

DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(@"c:\temp\content");
di.Attributes = FileAttributes.Normal;

To clean up attrbutes on files-

foreach (string fileName in System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(@"c:\temp\content"))
{
    System.IO.FileInfo fileInfo = new System.IO.FileInfo(fileName);
    fileInfo.Attributes = FileAttributes.Normal;
}

Answer 2

Set the Attributes property on the original dirInfo:

dirInfo.Attributes = FileAttributes.Normal;

FileSystemInfo[] sqlParentFileSystemInfo = dirInfo.GetFileSystemInfos();

foreach (var childFolderOrFile in sqlParentFileSystemInfo)
{
    RemoveReadOnlyFlag(childFolderOrFile);
}

Answer 3

The dialog just works in a fairly bizarre way. It always shows up the way you see it in your screen shot, whatever the state of the ReadOnly attribute. The checkbox is in the 'indetermined' state. You have to click it and either clear or check it to make it perform its action. And in spite of the prompt text (but not the hint next to the checkbox), it only changes the ReadOnly attribute on the files in the directory, not the directory itself.

Use the attrib command line command to see what is really going on. In all likelihood, your code fails because the directory contains files that have their ReadOnly attribute set. You'll have to iterate them.

Answer 4

You could also do something like the following to recursively clear readonly (and archive, etc.) for all directories and files within a specified parent directory:

private void ClearReadOnly(DirectoryInfo parentDirectory)
{
    if(parentDirectory != null)
    {
        parentDirectory.Attributes = FileAttributes.Normal;
        foreach (FileInfo fi in parentDirectory.GetFiles())
        {
            fi.Attributes = FileAttributes.Normal;
        }
        foreach (DirectoryInfo di in parentDirectory.GetDirectories())
        {
            ClearReadOnly(di);
        }
    }
}

You can therefore call this like so:

public void Main()
{
    DirectoryInfo parentDirectoryInfo = new DirectoryInfo(@"c:\test");
    ClearReadOnly(parentDirectoryInfo);
}