How to Remove the Lock Symbol from Files and Directories in Linux

The lock symbol primarily indicates restricted or limited access to the file or directory. Files with a lock symbol cannot be accessed without permission. While removing it allows users to access the files and/or directories, such as reading, editing/writing, and executing. 

The primary objective of this post is to explore methods to remove the lock symbol from the files and directories in the Linux system.

How to Remove the Lock Symbol from Files and Directories in Linux?

You can easily remove the lock symbol from the files and folders in Ubuntu Linux by following the instructions given below.

Directory With Lock Symbol 

In your computer system, you see some files and folders with a small lock symbol. The below example is for your reference:

How to Remove the Lock Symbol from a Directory?

The lock symbol is primarily related to permissions, allowing access to the directory or file. The Linux-based terminal enables you to change the permissions to access and modify the directory. Here is the one-liner command:

sudo chmod 777 -v my-directory

Alternatively, you can utilize the setfacl command to grant permissions:

setfacl -m u:$user:rwx my-directory -v

Both the commands mentioned above grant the permissions to read, write, and execute. Once these commands execute, you will find that the lock symbol will be removed from the directory: 

How to Remove Lock Symbols from Multiple Files and Folders?

For example, we have these three lock files containing files and folders, located in /Documents/my-directory/:

Now, let’s remove the lock symbol from these files. Simply run the following command from your terminal. When executing this command, don’t forget to add an asterisk (*) at the end:

sudo chmod -vR 777 my-directory/*

After executing the command, you will notice that all files within the my-directory folder have been granted full permissions (read, write, execute). 

As a result, the lock symbol has been removed from all files:

Numeric Representation of Permissions

The following table provides a simple breakdown of the values assigned to read, write, and execute permissions. You can manage permissions for the owner, group, and others based on your requirements:

Permissions Code: rwx
r (read) =	4
w (write) =	2
x (execute) =	1
none =	0
rwx =	7

Mode of 777 means that you have granted read, write, and execute permission to the owner, group, and others. 

Conclusion

You can remove the lock symbol from the file and directory using the Linux terminal. You can either use the chmod or setfacl command to grant permissions to the locked files, resulting in the removal of the lock symbol. 

This guide demonstrated the methods of removing lock symbols from the files and directories in Linux-based systems.

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