I dual boot Vista and Windows 7 both on separate partitions on same hdd. All working fine. Added Office 2007 to Window 7 and I have this on Vista as well. At first I could edit and save files in both OS's using Word and Wordpad. Windows 7 downloaded a large update and suddenly all my files (kept on a separate, second hdd) were all marked ""Read Only" in Vista. I could still edit and save in Win7. I have "fixed" this so far by changing the security settings in Vista for the drive.

Are the files marked Read Only or are the folders marked Read Only? It's ignored for folders.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326549The problem is probably NTFS permissions and not the Read Only attribute.Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

I recall it was both. The issue was I could only open an Office document (.doc or ppt for example) read only. When I tried to save any changes I had to "Save As" and change the filename. It is working fine now in both OS's since I changed teh secutity settings to "Full Permission" for the drive.

That's probably a bad idea. The best security is based on a least privilege model. You should only change NTFS permissions on the folders where relaxed security is needed. Unfortunately better security almost always means more inconvenience.Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

I am not sure that I understand how I have increased the risk (for me). I am running a stand alone machine and I am the only user. The setting with my name on was "allowing" only read and I don't want that. How come "the system" changed its behaviour some time after updating Windows 7. And then Windows 7 would only open them read only. After changing the security settings for the drive in Vista all is well even in Windows 7! Go figger! I am not knowledgeable here to know the in-depth working of Windows Vista and Windows 7 actions to automatically change from full permission to read only at any of System, User, Folder or File levels.

I hav just noticed that in Vista I can no longer change the permissions. they are all set to full permissions. The boxes are greyed out. I can put a tick in the "Deny" box but I don't want to click OK incase I can't get back to the position I am in now where files are read, write etc.

Hiare the files in one folder or are they in different folders. I dont know if this will work but can you make the folders shared folders on the vista system and then in the windows 7 system make the vista system part of the homegroup. This worked in my system were windows 7 runs in a virtual machine. By opening folder view and clicking on network I can open and manipulate the files in my shared folders on the vista machine. This may be the only way to do it as although the 2 systems are running on the same hardware technicaly they are 2 different machines.all the bestmalc

I don't think this will help my situation as I am dual booting. Thus I believe the Vista system is not "running" when I am using Windows 7 (and vice versa) so I can't network between them like you can in a virtual machine.

Hithats true vista is not running so thats no good. As windows 7 can see the drive ok try on one folder to take control of the folder on the vista drive from within 7. Do it on a test folder with nothing important in it. First make the folder shared in vista. In windows 7 right click it and choose security and then click advanced. In the advanced setting choose owner and click edit. You may now be able to select yourself as the owner. Tick replace owner in sub containers and apply then ok. I have no idea if this works but its worth a try.malc

Windows uses SIDs (Security Indentifiers) when figuring out who has what permissions. Even if you have accounts with the same names in both the Vista and the Win7 installations they will have different SIDs so Windows will know they are different accounts. You will have to give yourself the needed permissions from both installations. When looking at the permissions afterward you will see permisions for an account that does not have a name but is a long string of numbers. That is the SID of the user account from the other installation.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_IdentifierKerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

Hi everyone and thanks for your help. This is proving an interesting issue for me who does not know a great deal about security and sttings. Having said above that the four user names listed were all full permission but were greyed out, I look today and they are no longer greyed out. Both systems are working fine. With regard to your note above Kerry one of the four users is a long string of numbers so thanks I now understand where that came from.

HiAs a follow up to this I am now running vista and 7 as dual boot on two seperate drives. On my Vista drive I have two ordinary folders set as shared. When I run 7 on the other drive I can access these folder and their files with no problems at all. I can even access them from xp in xp mode and all the files in them are useable. This was achieved just by making the folders shared when I was in Vista. I dont know were the sid comes into this but I expect that to be different on both systems as above but by setting the folder and its contents as shared in vista allows me to access and manipulate them in 7.malc