How to remove a single Attribute (e.g. ReadOnly) from a File?

Question

Let say, a file has the following attributes: ReadOnly, Hidden, Archived, System. How can I remove only one Attribute? (for example ReadOnly)

Answer 1

For a one line solution (provided that the current user has access to change the attributes of the mentioned file) here is how I would do it:

VB.Net

Shell("attrib file.txt -r")

the negative sign means to remove and the r is for read-only. if you want to remove other attributes as well you would do:

Shell("attrib file.txt -r -s -h -a")

That will remove the Read-Only, System-File, Hidden and Archive attributes.

if you want to give back these attributes, here is how:

Shell("attrib file.txt +r +s +h +a")

the order does not matter.

C#

Process.Start("cmd.exe", "attrib file.txt +r +s +h +a");

References

• Google
• ComputerHope.com - Lots of examples and OS specific notes
• Microsoft - Page is for XP, but probably applies to later versions
• Wikipedia - Particularly the Particularities section