Unlocking a folder

i just realized one of my folders is locked and i cannot delete anything from the root of the folder. I can delete anything inside folders. Does anyone know how i can unlock the folder so i can delete stuff? i did go to get info and tried to uncheck the locked box, but that did not work? any ideas would be greatly appreciated....thanks

What happened when you went to the Get Info and tried to unlock it?

it doesn't allow me to uncheck it....it says i only have read only access. is there a way to force permissions?

First: Are you using an Admin account?

Second: When you're looking at the window, can you change the Sharing and Permissions?

my account is the admin account....this is also on a external harddrive....when i click on sharing and permissions it says i only have read only rights

I'm assuming that the lock in the bottom right-hand corner is in the locked position. If you click on it, you will be prompted for your password. Type that in and you should be allowed to change your permissions. Change them to Read & Write.

but it doesn't ask for a password.....this thing is driving me crazy....thank you soo much for you help
do u have any other ideas?

What type of folder is it? What type of files does it contain? Where does the folder come from, its origine?


Edited to add:

You could try this, Unable to move, unlock, modify, or copy an item in Mac OS X.

is the external hard drive windows based?

yes it is external hard drive based....i copyed the folder from a PC. it is just a folder of MP3's but i can't delet anything off the root of the folder

Read this Apple Discussions thread or this one, it might help you solve this.

Report back. Good luck.

i'm interested in the outcome of this too, i'm having the same problem. i have a single folder that is preventing me from deleting any of my trash, the option+empty trash command doesnt work either. i tried to remove the folder from the trash to unlock but it just copies the folder out to the desktop?? weird.

If a Windows HDD is NTFS formatted, it is Mac read only and you cannot do anything with it. Needs to be FAT32 for write etc.

Unlocking documents

I wonder if we can unlock the documents in a folder with one click in Leopard or we have to check them one by one ?
Thank you.

I have posted this one a couple of times before:

RobertC said:

Log into an administrative account, go to Applications - Utilities - Terminal. Enter the command sudo chflags -R nouchg , making sure you include the space. Then drag the files to the terminal window, so it says chflags -R nouchg /Users/UserName/Folder. Press enter and enter your password (by the way your password won't show up as you type it). You should be able to delete it then.

Click to expand...

And

THESTARATSKY said:

I wonder if we can unlock the documents in a folder with one click in Leopard or we have to check them one by one ?
Thank you.

Click to expand...

Yes. Unlocking a folder unlocks all its contents as well.