How do you unprotect files in Dos? I need to delete a folder and it says it is write protected. I can't get onto Windows currently so I can't do it from there, I need to delete it from Dos. So does anyone know how to unprotect the folder?

"it says it is write protected"

You mean you want to delete a folder on a floppy disk or a hard disk?

And what command did you use to delete the files? DEL or DELTREE?

I used 'del' and I'm trying to delete a folder on the hard disk.

three words. DOS for Dummies. i've been using it for a year.

The DEL command is for deleting files, not directories.

The RD (Remove Directory) command will remove an empty directory.

You can use the DELTREE command to remove a directory and all its contents in DOS.

A directory can be marked hidden, system and/or read/only which the Attrib was not designed to change, but it works on most versions of DOS.

But you keep saying "folder" not directory, and "write protected" not read only, and Windows XP not DOS. DOS does not use those terms, Windows XP does, and DOS can not access the HPFS file system on a Windows XP system, just their diskettes. DOS only supports up through FAT16 file format. There is a Windows DOS 7.10 that comes with Windows 98/ME that supports FAT32 disk drives, but normally you do not run FAT32 file system on XP systems. But if you did you would need a Windows Startup or Boot diskette, not a DOS diskette.

The term "folder" is OK, but the term "write-protected" is confusing.

JackG,

"DOS only supports up through FAT16 file format ... but normally you do not run FAT32 file system on XP systems. But if you did you would need a Windows Startup or Boot diskette, not a DOS diskette. "

This is obviously wrong! Even older versions of DOS should support both FAT12 and FAT16 file format, not just FAT16 file format!! And most newer versions of DOS should support FAT32 file system as well, such as MS-DOS 7.10, PC-DOS 7.10, ROM-DOS 7.10, PTS-DOS 32, and FreeDOS 2029+. So a normal DOS boot disk with newer DOS kernels will be able to see all FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 drives, not only the so-called "Windows boot disks". Some more information is available from:

http://newdos.yginfo.net/msdos71/index.htm

Attrib *.* -W

or

Attrib *.* -A