Why am I asked "Are you sure you want to copy this file without its properties?" when copying files from NTFS to a FAT drive?

Standard properties, that are not supported on all systems the same: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Add-tags-or-other-properties-to-a-file

• Tags and ratings, "that might want to be removed before sharing with others" (because they couldn't put that stuff in the comments they already didn't use :-)

• NTFS files can hold ADS (alternate data streams) would be transferred to other NTFS file systems storages, but will be dumped when you go to Fat32 with it.
  http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/are-you-sure-you-want-to-copy-this-file-without/fa810b7e-f228-4661-9789-2090175dd7de

• EFS (encrypted file system) Keys are kept in ADS. Some backup or copy methods could ignore that, and move data that can no longer be decypted. The windows system would generally decrypt prior to moving to a file system that does not (directally) support encryption.
  Decrypt EFS files

For ADS, get some kind of ADS viewing capability and seeing if it was used for good or evil purposes. Even if it was for evil purposes, it is like other "data" in that an actual executable (of some sort) would be needed to make use of the data for evil purposes.

For tags and ratings, look in the properties of the files, or sort the "details" columns to show more items, use the Hover tooltips, etc.

Robocopy and other copy methods exist that would drop that data without popping up the requester.

My normal system had very limited use of the ADS on some files (being used for good). some of the system files had tags on them, other than that, the scans I did, did not show it on "every file" and on "downloaded files" and stuff like that. Hijackthis has an ADS scanner. I know very little about this, so I would be interested in anything you find out.

My crude but effective solution is a 7-line script. Whenever the dreaded dialog appears, the script presses Alt-A for "do this for all", and Alt-Y for "yes, lose the properties."

Compile it yourself. It's free and not terribly hard:

1. Download and install AutoITScript (It's free and widely trusted alternative to VBScript. I used it because I've found VBScript unreliable in detecting Windows dialogs that are rapidly appearing/disappearing and modal, inactive, minimized, or otherwise odd. And, AutoIT is absurdly easy to compile to a standalone .exe, which I like.)

2. From the Github repository (https://github.com/joshwhitk/suppress-property-loss-dialog-during-copy-in-Windows-Explorer), save only the script file "stop-copy-dialog.au3" to your desktop. Open it in any text editor and read it carefully. When you're convinced it's harmless, rename it if you like and continue.

3. On your desktop, right-click this .au3 file. and choose "compile script (x86)" from the context menu (AutoIT added these). An .exe file (e.g "stop-copy-dialog.exe") will be created on your desktop. (You can uninstall AutoIT and delete the .au3 file now.)

4. Move this .exe file to your Startup folder (where? press Win-R to run shell:startup)

Run it, or reboot, and you're done! It runs in the background forever. When this (or any AutoITS script) is running, you'll see a new icon in your tray. It's a small white tab with a green square on the left.

Obviously, this script is a crude workaround. I would LOVE IT if someone figured out how to suppress those dialogs in the first place!

Please update Github with a text note if you do know of a better way (ie a registry setting).

cheers-

-Josh

Josh Whitkin Oakland, California 94611 whitkin.com