I dual boot with windows on the same SSD. I copied a folder over from the windows partition, into the local EOS user’s partition and desktop folder. Many files which were open in the windows partition are still locked.
Thinking that’s weird because it was a copy paste of the files where in my head they’re totally new and unlinked files at this point, I then copied the copied folder once again and pasted it into a different local EOS directory.
STILL locking me out??? Can someone please explain how this is possible, and what the remedy is to completely distance myself from the windows partition with a new set of files that act completely natively to EOS?
I realized it’s specifically happening with files in pCloud. Everything placed in there becomes read only. That folder is shared with my phone and my windows instance, but it was all originally installed in Linux.
-rw-r–r-- 1 name user 16371465 Mar 24 12:50 ‘Getting started with pCloud.pdf’
drwxr-xr-x 2 name user 4096 Mar 24 12:50 ‘My Music’
drwxr-xr-x 2 name user 4096 Mar 24 12:50 ‘My Pictures’
drwxr-xr-x 2 name user 4096 Mar 24 12:50 ‘My Videos’
drwxr-xr-x 3 name user 4096 Mar 24 14:40 ‘pCloud Backup’
drwxr-xr-x 20 name user 4096 Mar 25 16:47 ‘Work Backup’
drwxr-xr-x 20 name user 4096 Mar 25 16:40 ‘Work Docs’
Yes i am. So it allows me to write to files that i for sure dont have open in the windows partition, but the files that i likely had open in Windows are the ones staying read only. I copied the folder and copied it again, doesnt make sense that every copy of a copy made on EOS will somehow link back to the windows instance that may be open?
The only files that give me the popup warning are excel and word files that i know were left open on my windows partition. I never officially shut it down, it must be hibernating in the background ready to auto open a bunch of files if i ever boot it back up.
One thing i noticed is that even with that warning message, it gives me a few options.
First is open read only, second is notify when read only is writable. Third is open a copy. Then on the bottom you still have Cancel and Open. When i click open, it DOES open the file from the source folder, and when i click save it DOES save back to the source folder. So i think EOS is making an effort at telling you the original state of the file is that it was open, but you still have the ability to save over any other shared instance, and vice versa. I just wish EOS would give a warning about the bottom “Open” option that you can still write to it, instead of multiple detailed options then a quiet open option on bottom that makes it seems as if it wont open a writable instance to the source folder. I tested by making sure the pcloud file immediately showed changes on my cell phone and it did, so it is working. Just another EOS thing to pick up that could throw off a noob!
When i open a file that was open in windows, even IF its a brand new copied file that is no longer “open”, i get a dialogue on EOS that says something like “this file is open by another user. you have options, open a read only; open a copy” but on the bottom of the popup window, you have the option to cancel or open. The bottom option to open will actually write to the file it’s warning about, even though the previous options make it seem like the only real selections are read only or open a copy. As a newbie, the bottom open option seemed like it’d be a copy or read only. Since read only and open copy carry a brief note on what it’ll do, the bottom open option should also say you can still write to the file with this option, but it will write over the other user if the file is still shared. I think this popup is a bug because it still carries the “opened by another user” flag even though its a copied file no long open in the other partition.
Ok, so I copied a folder from my windows partition that has work files (they were on an iCloud folder). This new folder was sitting on my desktop folder in EOS. I also copied this copied folder again and put it in my pCloud folder in EOS. All the files open normally, except all the files that i know are still open in my hibernating partition of windows on the same SSD. Those files somehow carried flags that they are still open by another user. Hope that clears it up. Appears to be a bug, because if I click the unassuming open option next to the cancel button, I can still write to the file even though the options above tell me I must choose read only or open copy. What I’m saying is the third option is that open button on the bottom, but it doesn’t explain whether its to open a read only or a copy. It seems to me that it will force open and write to the file even though it doesnt disclose it. Here’s a picture of the popup, it came from the newly copied folder that’s saved on my pDrive folder in EOS https://i.postimg.cc/HWrR5zTJ/Screenshot-2023-03-26-10-40-16.png
OK, so you still didn’t answer my question. However the screenshot helps. That tells me the application you are using is “libreoffice”.
That doesn’t indicate the file is locked by the operating system. It is probably an annotation inside the document itself. This means that no matter how many times you copy it, the result will still be the same.
To avoid that, you need to properly close documents when you are finished editing them. Also, disabling “fast startup” in Windows will help as it doesn’t really shutdown when you say shutdown, it pseudo-hibernates leaving some things open.
It’s just a bit confusing terminology for a new user such as myself, because when a file has been locked by another user, and the two main options are to go read only or open a copy, the obvious takeaway for me is that i cannot write to this file. The open button on the bottom makes me assume its either going to open a read only or a copy, since it doesn’t explain its function like the two top buttons do. And you’re right, its an annotation inside the file causing it. I just had to go though a little trial and error with that last open button, testing to make sure saving it actually wrote to the same path, and that it would reflect on another device. I would say it’d be nice if the popup noted that the last open option will still force write and could lose unsaved data from the other user.
Yes agreed though about closing files and the fast boot. It’s just strange that the locked annotation carries across copied files. Maybe EOS could at some point code in to lose those annotations if they just become ghosted leading to false locked flags.
