Distance 8.0: Error when trying to open an existing file - data folder read only

[mariechill]

When I try to open an existing .dst file, I get the following error and the file won't load:

"the data folder '2026WHICEAS.dat' is read only"

file path: C:\Users\Marie.Hill\Documents\My Distance Projects\2026WHICEAS

• I have read/write permissions on these folder & files.
• I tried opening the file under an admin login.
• I unchecked the box: Check projects are on the local hard drive before loading them

I get the same message every time.

This happens whether I try to open the file from the program or by double clicking on the file where it lives.

Your help with this is greatly appreciated!

[lenthomas]

Sorry to hear this Marie. One thing to try is to put the .dst file and corresponding .dat folder into a directory that has a simple path, i.e., without dots, spaces or names more than 8 letters long -- for example c:\test If it works then, my guess is that it's either the dot between Marie and Hil, the spaces in "My Distance Projects" or the fact the latter is >8 letters long. The software was designed to cope with such things, but it was written a long time ago and the Windows components it relies on have changed significantly over time with every-increasing restrictions that may be causing this problem. Let us know how you get on.

[mariechill]

Thank you so much for your quick response Len!

I tried moving the 2026WHICEAS folder to the C: drive and renaming the folders & files

C:\WHICEAS\WHICEAS.dst
C:\WHICEAS\WHICEAS.dat
C:\WHICEAS\WHICEAS.ldb

Unfortunately, I am getting the same error.

Tomorrow morning I will try to create a new file under the C: drive and see if that does anything.

[lenthomas]

Needs to be
C:\WHICEAS\WHICEAS.dst
C:\WHICEAS\WHICEAS\WHICEAS.dat
-- i.e., the .dat file needs to be in a subdirectory with the same name as the project name.

(Also, you don't need the .ldb file -- this is just a file that locks the .dat database when it's open -- it shoudl disappear under normal circumstances when you close a project.)

[mariechill]

Putting the files directly in the C: drive works perfectly! Thanks again!

Distance places the .dat folder in the parent folder along with the .dst file. I have attached a screenshot. I created the "StudyArea" folder for my region shapefile.

[lenthomas]

Great that you've got it working. Would you mind doing some experimenting for us, so we can see what is/was causing the problem? Please try four things separately, each time putting a copy of the files in the newly-created folder and seeing if they open okay:

• a folder with a dot in it, such as "M.H"
• a long folder name (longer than 8 letters) such as "MarieHill"
• a folder name with a space in it, such as "My Distance projects"
• a folder that starts with a number such as "123MH"

All of these work fine on my machine here. If any of them don't work for you I have some other things to suggest that may diagnose the problem.

[mariechill]

No problems with any of those naming conventions.

[lenthomas]

OK, so it's not a probem with the directory names then (this has been a problem in the past, but I thought I'd fixed it - but I'm suspicious it may still occur under some Windows setups).

I guess we didn't check already whether the folder is actually read only or not. Do you have the original .dst file and .dat folder still, in the original directories? If so, to check, you can open a Windows command prompt (open Windows search and type "Command prompt"), then type
attrib "[full file name]"
where [full file name] is the path to the .dat file - for example (in my case
attrib "C:\Users\lt5\Documents\My Distance Projects\Marie.Hill\Amakihi.dat"). The line you get back will be something like this:

but could be with or without that R on the left hand side. If it has the R that means the folder is read only. If you do see this, type
attrib -r "[full file name]"
and then
attrib "[full file name]"
to see if the R has gone away (the -r option in attrib removes the read-only flag). Assuming it has, now try opening the Distance project.

If that solves the problem then it appears the folder became read only for some reason. I have no idea why that might happen, but at least you now know how to make it go away! Let me know how you get on...

(BTW to get the above screen shot I had to set the read-only status to on manually. When I did this and then tried to open the folder, I got the same error message you reported, giving me some reason to think this was indeed the problem.)

[mariechill]

I walked through each of these steps. The was an 'R' next to the full file name, indicating that it was marked as read-only.

I could also see this in the properties of the folder (right-clicking on the folder). I had previously tried unchecking the box but it reset to read-only every time. The Read-only setting seems to be the default for all folders (within the properties window), but it doesn't seem to have the same limitations for other programs.

using attrib -r worked for the parent .dat folder.

I got an error that the 'R' folder within the .dat folder is read-only.
When I deleted that folder (which was empty), it opened with no problem.

Is there a command that removes the read-only for subfolders?

I closed the file and reopened it without an issue. I haven't tried shutting down my computer and testing whether the attrib -r holds. I'll let you know when I do.

[lenthomas]

Great! The visual "Read only" checkbox you can see in the Properties tab in Windows is misleading -- it only applies to the files inside the folder, not to the folder itself. Attrib -r is the only way I know to remove read-only status on folders, rather than files within folders. There are probably other ways to do it.

I still don't know why the folders were became read-only. If it ever does come back as read-only then perhaps we'll find out what caused it. Do let me know if you get any insights!

[mariechill]

Thanks for the info and for your help with this! I'll keep you posted.

[mariechill]

Unfortunately, the Read-only status resets after shutting down the computer. This may only be related to the fact that I do not have administrative privileges on my computer and our IT department manages the settings. There is probably some hidden setting that defaults to marking these files as read-only.

[lenthomas]

I Googled "folder becomes read only automatically" and found entries talking about (1) "allowing an app through Controlled Folder Access which is found beneath Ransomware Protection in Settings" and (2) the more general-sounding (and so unlikely to be allowed by your IT folks) "disabling Controlled Folder Access in Windows Security". Perhaps something along these lines will be the trick. Hopefully your IT department can assist. If it makes any difference, Distance for Windows 8.0 is distributed with a code signing certificate which means the operating system should recognize it as a trusted piece of software.

[mariechill]

Thanks for your research Len! I will share this with our IT and see what they say.

Mahalo,
Marie