Unlocking Files. — Adobe Photoshop Elements
I’m trying to save some images after resizing and everytime I go to save them I get this encircled Red X that says: Could Not Save . JPG because the file is locked. Use the Properties command in the Windows Explorer to unlock file I’ve searched everywhere for this . where is it before I pull out what’s left of my hair? Pls give me step by step. Gracias Amigos Toby.
Thread Tools
Display
Unlocking Files.
I’m trying to save some images after resizing and everytime I go to save them I get this encircled Red X that says:
Could Not Save . JPG
because the file is locked.
Use the Properties command in the Windows Explorer to unlock file
I’ve searched everywhere for this . where is it before I pull out what’s left of my hair?
Pls give me step by step.
Re: Unlocking Files.
It sounds like the file properties are «read only»
Re: Unlocking Files.
Locate the file in Explorer. right click. choose properties. uncheck ‘read only’
Re: Unlocking Files.
Tony — just in case, these images aren’t on a CD are they? If so, they have to be copied to the hard drive before you can do any work on them and save the changes.
Nancy’s suggestion may have cured your problem, but I thought I’d add this in case anyone else does a search for «locked files».
Re: Unlocking Files.
Thankyou ALL so much. Nancy gets the big hug.
Re: Unlocking Files.
ah gee, shucks. it weren’t nothin’
Glad you found out before more frustration set in. maybe next time you should post a little sooner in your quandry. save the hair you know.
Re: Unlocking Files.
BETH,
Before I get all hot and sweaty over this. I don’t remember ever «locking» or making files «Read Only». I did back up stuff on CD-R/CD-RW under the heading that it could be read only on MY computer.
If I do any ‘clicking’ on those files I get tht message «locked or read only».
I even bought a new monitor for the old computer so that I could still recover all those files.
Warning. don’t ever back up with that stipulation thinking the present computer will be with you forever. dummie me.
Marty
Re: Unlocking Files.
Rewrittable CDs (CD-RW) are tempermental, often they will only work on computer which made them. MUCH better idea to use CD-Rs only. All files burned to a CD will show as ‘Read Only’. Just copy/paste the file from the CD to a folder on computer. Right click on file in Explorer, choose properties and UNcheck the box that says «Read Only», that’s all there is to it!
Re: Unlocking Files.
I see this thread petered out without confirmation that it worked. Unchecking the «Read-only» box in Properties may have worked for the original questioner, but not for me. I have bee having the same problem repeatedly, with many different files of both jpg and psd type, without finding a resolution. The «Read-only» box isn’t checked! Checking it and then unchecking it doesn’t work. Neither does exiting Elements and reloading the file; rebooting, etc. etc. My only recourse has been to save the file under a new name. Even then, I can’t delete the orginal file, because Windows says «the file may be in use» (even after closing Elements.) I end up with a string of large, redudant files cluttering my hard drive.
I know this sounds like a Windows problem (I have ME), but it only occurs after having modified the file in Elements. Anyone else experienced this phenomenon, and found a solution?
Re: Unlocking Files.
I have experienced a different problem, but same dilemma. When copying or moving files to a CDR/CDRW, the original folder on the hard drive cannot be deleted, because ‘some other programme is using it’.
I have never found what it was, but with yours it sounds like it is opened in two applications, i.e. altering one, you cant save as original because the file is still open. Try booting in save mode, then launching elements and making alterations, then saving. If it works, you may have to go through the log and drawn out path of running msconfig and building up the running applications until you find the culprit; that is, there is nothing associated with the open file except elements.
Long and tedious, not garuanteed to work, but it is a suggestion.
Re: Unlocking Files.
That’s a suggestion worth trying. Although it shouldn’t necessary to go through all that just to save a file in Elements.
I’ll experiement with your ideas and try to reprot back on the results. thanks.
Re: Unlocking Files.
As an afterthought, if you run elements from boot-up do you have any problems ?.
If you run elements after doing anything else, do you then have problems ?.
If so, then one of your other apps could be causing it (possibly Roxio)
Photo won’t save because file is locked
I have not had this problem before but its becoming very annoying to me. I use Adobe Photoshop 7.0 and when I want to go and save the file it tells me I cannot because the file is locked. The message states «Use the Properties command in the Windows Explorer to unlock the file» however when I do that there is nothing that tells me the file is locked, please help and advise.
Replies (8)
Lock files are called Encryption it means those are the protected data set by a user. To unlock those files, follow the suggestion of JimWynne on this thread for solution.
Once you’re done, update us with the result.
7 people were helped by this reply
Did this solve your problem?
Sorry this didn’t help.
Great! Thanks for marking this as the answer.
How satisfied are you with this reply?
Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.
How satisfied are you with this response?
Thanks for your feedback.
Power to the Developer!
MSI GV72 — 17.3″, i7-8750H (Hex Core), 32GB DDR4, 4GB GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 256GB NVMe M2, 2TB HDD
7 people were helped by this reply
Did this solve your problem?
Sorry this didn’t help.
Great! Thanks for marking this as the answer.
How satisfied are you with this reply?
Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.
How satisfied are you with this response?
Thanks for your feedback.
Did this solve your problem?
Sorry this didn’t help.
Great! Thanks for marking this as the answer.
How satisfied are you with this reply?
Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.
How satisfied are you with this response?
Thanks for your feedback.
Did this solve your problem?
Sorry this didn’t help.
Great! Thanks for marking this as the answer.
How satisfied are you with this reply?
Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.
How satisfied are you with this response?
Thanks for your feedback.
I have used Photoshop for 18+ years and have never had this issue, though it is a Photoshop issue, not a Windows issue as it happens on MAC systems also
OK, I have researched this, it is all over the Adobe Forums. Lots of users are reporting this error with different versions of Photoshop. Adobe say they cannot recreate the issue.
Users report that changing the location of the Scratch Disk can sometimes solve this issue. However to do this you must first reset Photoshop’s preference file — Double click the Photoshop Icon and immediately press Atl + Ctrl + Shift, you will be asked if you want to reset, select yes. Note: to get this key sequence you may have to try a couple of times as you have to be quick!
Power to the Developer!
MSI GV72 — 17.3″, i7-8750H (Hex Core), 32GB DDR4, 4GB GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 256GB NVMe M2, 2TB HDD
5 people were helped by this reply
Did this solve your problem?
Sorry this didn’t help.
Great! Thanks for marking this as the answer.
How satisfied are you with this reply?
Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.
Could not open the document because the file is locked. Use the ‘Properties’ command in the Windows Explorer to unlock the file.
I am a member of the administrators group on my computer. I have a folder full of files and other folders that I have denied access to non-administrator users. Not sure when it occurred as I was gone for the holidays, but now I am unable to open any files located within this folder. I can delete, move and rename at will, but cannot open. I have attempted all permissions resets I can think of as well as read through all the knowledge base articles I can find but still cannot get these files to open.
I recently updated MS Security Essentials, not sure if this has any correlation.
At one point I viewed the certificate and it listed it as not trusted. How would this change? Would this impact my ability to open the files yet still let me move, delete and rename them? If so, how can I resolve?
I did restore to a previous restore point and still not open — also rcvd an error telling me MS Security Essentials would not work properly. So I undid the restore.
Thank you in advance for any input. PatrixUSA
Actually, this is beginning to make a lot of sense now. The files you are having problems with have been encrypted with EFS. EFS is closely tied to the NTFS file system. As long as you move encrypted files around in the same Volume, this is not a problem because a move is a directory operation and directories themselves are not encrypted (only the files within them are). Any time you move an encrypted file from one volume to another, the file must be decrypted, transferred to the other volume, then re-encrypted at the destination. Thus, the destination volume must also be a NTFS file system to keep the files encrypted. If the destination is not a NTFS volume, then the copy would result in an unencrypted file existing at the destination and you should be prompted as to whether to allow the operation or not. In any case, a volume-to-volume copy requires decryption of the file and any operation that requires decryption is generating an access error to you — that plus your inability to normally open a file indicates that you no longer control the certificate to decrypt the file.
Backups are another matter. If you use Microsoft’s Backup utility (NTbackup), then it recognizes the encrypted file attribute and backs it up as-is without decrypting it. Other 3rd party backup programs may not recognize encrypted files and simply read them and write them to the backup medium. When this happens, the files are automatically decrypted upon reading (assuming archiving user has needed certificates) and written to backup as an unencrypted file. This would explain why you can retrieve an archive and it doesn’t appear encrypted. DVD and optical tape do not use NTFS so a decryption of original file is required to back up to these media.
The private part of your EFS encryption certificate (needed to decrypt files) is stored itself encrypted on your computer. To decrypt it, Windows uses your SecureID, your password, and other things of which I’m unaware. If your password is not reset the normal way (ie by entering your current password and your new password) such as by an administrator, then your certificate is not re-encrypted to your new password and your lose access to it and with it, access to your EFS files. Other forms of corruption can cause you to lose your certificate but it appears as though at some point you have lost access to your certificate and thus cannot access files that were encrypted under that certificate.
New files that you write to a directory that has been enabled with EFS will notice that you don’t have a valid certificate and then automatically generate a new certificate that will be used to encrypt files from that point forward. That is why new files that you add to this directory seem to work well. The only real mystery that I can’t explain is why a system restore to a time when this wasn’t a problem didn’t allow you to regain access.
If you want some heavy reading, try this:
«Encrypting file System in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003»
Personally, I’m not a fan of EFS because of issues just like this. I prefer the freewareTruecrypt which is just as secure but I myself manage the keys (in form of passphrase) instead of Windows. It also hides filenames and can be used securely over a networked connection and backups from the Windows volume are encrypted no matter how they’re done. I haven’t lost any encrypted data in over ten years.