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File Attributes

File attributes are metadata settings that describe or control the behavior of files on a system. On Windows NTFS, common attributes include read-only, hidden, archive, compressed, and encrypted, each toggled independently per file.

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About this video

File attributes are pieces of metadata stored alongside a file that serve two general purposes: describing the nature of the file or governing how the operating system handles it. On Windows NTFS systems, these attributes each have two states and are identified by individual letter codes visible in file property details. Because they operate independently, multiple attributes can be active on a single file at the same time. The read-only attribute is one of the most straightforward examples. When enabled, it blocks any attempt to save changes to the file, forcing the operating system to prompt for an alternate filename rather than overwriting the original. Removing the attribute restores full write access. The hidden attribute works differently, making the file invisible in standard directory listings. Files with this attribute can be revealed by enabling the show hidden files option in Windows settings, but they remain inaccessible through normal browsing while the setting is off. Beyond read-only and hidden, NTFS supports additional attributes such as archive, which flags a file as available for backup operations, and advanced options for compression and encryption. The archive attribute, represented by the letter A, is applied by default to most files and can be cleared manually through the Advanced attributes dialog. Compression and encryption function similarly as toggleable attributes, though their effects on file storage and security are more substantial. Together, these attributes give administrators and users granular control over file accessibility, visibility, and data protection.

What you'll learn

What's covered

File Attributes

Aligned to

CompTIA A+ Core 2
1.3 Given a scenario, use features and tools of the Microsoft Windows 10/11 operating system (OS).
2.5 Given a scenario, manage and configure basic security settings in the Microsoft Windows OS.
1.4 Given a scenario, use the appropriate Windows settings.

Key terms

New Technology File System
NTFS
The default file system for Windows operating systems that supports large file sizes, permissions, encryption, journaling, and compression. NTFS replaced FAT as the standard Windows file system and provides advanced features for enterprise environments.
File Attribute
A metadata flag assigned to a file or folder that describes its properties or controls how the operating system handles it.
Read-Only
A file attribute that prevents a file from being modified or overwritten, allowing only read access.
Hidden
A file attribute that causes the file to be concealed from standard directory listings and File Explorer views.
Archive
A file attribute that indicates a file has been created or modified since the last backup, used by backup tools to identify files for backup.
Encryption
The process of converting readable data into an unreadable format using an algorithm and key to prevent unauthorized access.
Metadata
Data that describes other data — such as a file's name, size, creation date, and author — allowing operating systems and applications to organize, index, and manage content without reading the content itself.

Topics

File Attributes Ntfs Windows File System File Permissions Operating Systems

Transcript

Files have something called attributes. Attributes are something that we turn on or off on the file that either describe the file or affect the behavior of the file.

What Attributes Are

The first thing is that attributes are stored as metadata. It's additional information about a file. Attributes can either describe what a file is, and/or affect the behavior of how this file is presented and how it behaves.

One example of this is that we can turn on the attribute read only, and by turning that on then we can't alter the file. It's read only, we can't write to that file. So that's one example of an attribute.

Here are some of the attributes that we find on Windows NTFS systems, and these attributes typically have two different states, kind of an on or off switch that we have for each one of these attributes.

Read Only

Let's get on our demo machine and take a look at what this looks like. Here's a file right here. I'm going to right-click on this file and go to Properties. I can see this attributes section down here, and I've got two options here, read only and hidden, and there's some advanced ones as well.

Let's try this read only. I'm going to click on it to enable it, hit okay, and let's open it up. I'm going to open it up in the text editor, and then we're going to make another change to this, so we'll just add that. I'll go to File and Save, and notice now that brings up the Save As box, and I'm just going to try to save it over the original file. It's going to say do I want to replace it, yes, and here we get "this file is set to read only, try again with a different file name." So we can't save it because that file is read only.

So if I'm going to make a change to this, what I'm going to have to do is remove that read only that I checked before, and now I can go back and change this and save the changes. So I'll go File, Save, and I'm able to save it and the changes are saved.

Attribute Letters

There is in the details section a list where it has the attributes, and we see an A and an L right here, and so that stands for something. Each one of these attributes has a letter associated with it. A means that it's available for archive, and the L means that it's a reparse point.

On our file here I can right-click on this and we're going to go to Properties, and within the details I can see this particular one has just the A, the archive. If I wanted to change that, what I could do is I could go into the Advanced, and here's the archiving one, so I can uncheck that, okay, apply, and then go back into the details. Maybe I do need to do a refresh here, so I'm going to go back into the properties details, and we can see that that A has disappeared.

Hidden

Let's play around with another one of these. What I'm going to do is I'm going to go to the attributes section right here and do hidden, and let's go ahead and hide this. So I'll hit apply, and now that file is hidden. I can't see that file.

Now the problem is that file can't be seen, so I can't edit it, I can't access it, I can't even turn off that attribute. One thing I can do to make that reappear, or show all the hidden folders on my system, is I can click on the start menu, and I'm going to do a "show hidden files and folders." So I'll hit there and my settings comes up, and one of the options here is show hidden and system files. It's off right now, and I'm going to show them, so I'm going to turn them on, and notice now that file exists here. So that's an attribute I can turn on and off, but it's also a setting, whether I want those to be viewable or not.

Compression and Encryption

Let's take a look at a couple of the other attributes that we have on here, so I'm going to go into Properties. We played around with the read only, we played around with the hidden. We have this Advanced, and we also have these compressed and encrypt options here. I'm not going to get in depth in this lesson on that, but just know that we have this compression and encryption attribute that we can turn on and off as well.

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