Summary: CD's are great for backup and storage. However CD-R's are not so good for files that you need to directly access from certain programs.
I made a CD of my address book & when I tried open it I got the following message. "The address book has been locked by another application. Please close the other application & try again later" I Googled the problem & I did as Microsoft suggested & made sure the "Read only" box was unchecked In all address book files. It was. Still no luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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The problem, I suspect, is that there are two types of read-only.
And a program that requires that files NOT be read-only wants it both ways.
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There are two ways that a file can show up as being "read-only":
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The read-only flag can be set for the file. Every file on disk has this flag and of course it can be either on or off. In Windows Explorer, right click on a file, click on Properties, and you'll get something like this:
This example shows the read-only flag as being set, so this file cannot be written to.
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The file can be on read-only media. ALL files on read-only media appear as read-only. And CD-R is a read-only media. The individual property, above, may or may not indicate read-only, but because you can't alter the contents of a CD-R once burned, they're read-only regardless.
What typically happens is that a program that tries to use the file will attempt to open the file and ask for the ability to write to it. If the file is read-only, for either of the above reasons, that open will fail.
The confusing part is that this attempt to open can fail in ways that are very similar to the failure that happens if another program has the file open. The net result is the slightly confusing error message you receive.
So, what to do?
Since the CD will always be read-only no mater what you do, you need to copy the file or files to your hard disk and open them from there.
But, naturally, there's a catch.
When files are copied the program you use to copy them sees that the files are read-only. Unless you tell it otherwise it "copies" the read-only attribute with the files. That means that even after copying the files from CD to your hard disk the files will still be marked as read-only.
But this time, on your hard disk, it'll simply be the read-only attribute on the file that has been set. Right click on the file, click on Properties, uncheck the "read-only" attribute, and hit OK. You'll need to do that for each file you copied and/or need write access to.
Related:
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Ask Leo! - Why can't I put my email on CD?
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Ask Leo! - Why can't I add files to my CD-R?
Article C2923 - February 5, 2007
Errr Leo, it's certainly not necessary to "do that for each file you copied and/or need write access to" (i.e. to remove the "Real-only" attribute); one can simply select more files and/or folders and do that only once for all the files/folders together.
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best regards,
Posted by: Ivan Tadej at February 20, 2007 5:48 AMIvan Tadej, Slovenia
http://tadej-ivan.50webs.com/
The read only message will not allow me to copy files to my computer - THAT IS THE PROBLEM!!!!!!
Posted by: Ryan at March 21, 2007 12:15 AMDear Leo,
When I burn CDs (RWs) with data files (MS Word) for the first time, everything is fine and I can open the files and work with them. I save the disk to be read on (or be compatible with) all "CD-ROMS." However, when I try to access the files on the CD the following day, the CD is not recognized. The CDs work fine on other PCs.
I thought perhaps the CD-ROM wasn't working, but it works perfectly when I insert a CD that I have not burned, but purchased or one that has been burned by someone else.
Thanks for your help.
Lutz
Posted by: Lutz at June 25, 2007 10:18 AMI finally copied and pasted onto an email to myself all the information that was on my CD-RW disk as "read only". Then when I tried to delete that information from the CD-RW disk, it will not let me delete it. How can I delete what I don't need anymore on the CD-RW disk?
Posted by: Ursula at April 8, 2009 3:30 AMIHAD PICTURES MADE OF MY KIDS AND THEY PLACED
Posted by: Danae at August 15, 2009 8:48 PMTHE PICS ON A CD SO I COULD PRINT MORE AT HOME
WHY DOESNT IT OPEN WHEN I PUT THE CD IN THE DRIVE? I LOOKED IN THE CONTROL PANEL AND IT DOESNT EVEN SHOW I HAVE ANYTHING IN THE DRIVE TO OPEN????
How annoying this is. I have XP and cd/rw drive and it is maddening that I can't just copy whatever I want to the CD without big brother watching and putting stops in my way. First I'm forced to put all the files into a temporary spot on my hard drive, and then it will "allow" me to copy but then it makes everything "read-only". You stated that cd-r is always read only. Is that ALL CD/R's, RW's, DVD's - I'm confused.
Posted by: Joyce at November 5, 2009 12:48 PM