Please write-enable disk?

[Poppa_Meth]

Someone I know is having a problem with his PC. I've never run into it and he doesn't know enough about computers to tell me a lot of details. I'm no where near him either to check it out. this is the info he's given me.

Well...I don't know much about computers. All I have observed is that if I ever try to download something, or open certain links (for example I can't open attachments in emails), a message appears and says:

X could not be downloaded because disk, folder, or file is write-protected.

Please write-enable disk or try saving to a different location.

Anyone have any clue what could be causing this?

[ViRaL1]

I'd say he's trying to download to some removable drive that has a write-protect tab (could be floppy, memory card, flash drive) OR possibly a CD. You might ask him to choose a different option in the Save In / Save As dialog box.

[Poppa_Meth]

That's what it sounds like to me too, but he swears it's to his HDD. It's got me stumped.

[Skith]

Could be he has a partial file downloaded that is being accessed/has the read only attribute set, is trying to save to a directory he doesn't have write privileges for, or set to read only. I have seen it happen. Hard to know how to fix without knowing what program (IE, Firefox, etc.) and what OS he is using, as well as what file type he is trying to download an where to.

If the disk is external (USB/Firewire) there may be an option or security software to enable/disable disk writing.

First step would be to see if he is only having trouble with the download, and that specific file/folder or the entire disk. Have him navigate to the disk (Drive letter) in windows explorer (not internet explorer) and right click ->new -> Text File (or any of the other options).

If he can create the file he has write access to the disk, then have him try again in the directory he is trying to download to. If that works, then the file he should clear his temp files, browser cache, and try again, possibly saving the file to a different folder and name. Simply adding an underscore before the extension is a good solution (example: filename_.zip).

[Poppa_Meth]

Only additional info I've gotten from him so far is that he is running a Mac. If he can't tell me a bit more about it there isn't much I can do.

[oldandinthe way]

If he's running a Mac he truly must be clueless. There are at least a dozen questions from the simple to the complex which would need to be answered.

Have him try the oh so impressive Apple techncial support. Of course if he has an older Mac which is not running OS/X they won;t help him.

[deadrats]

Someone I know is having a problem with his PC. I've never run into it and he doesn't know enough about computers to tell me a lot of details. I'm no where near him either to check it out. this is the info he's given me.

Well...I don't know much about computers. All I have observed is that if I ever try to download something, or open certain links (for example I can't open attachments in emails), a message appears and says:

X could not be downloaded because disk, folder, or file is write-protected.

Please write-enable disk or try saving to a different location.

Anyone have any clue what could be causing this?

it's a permission issue. either he's using a public computer (maybe in a computer lab) that has been set up only for surfing or he just bought it second hand configured that way but it's definately a permission problem.

this type of thing can be done on windows with ntfs, linux, unix or a mac, but i need more details, such as OS version. before i can tell you how to fix it.

[Poppa_Meth]

I think he did buy it used, but that was 2 years ago and he's just recently started having these issues. I'll see what kind of info I can get out of him.