OH mgb is definitely read only! shit brb lol jk

Same as above, make sure no files in that folder are read.only. However, you can do this more easily throught the file explorer, by selecting all, right clicking and viewing properties. (As opposed to with the system files n c:\ which are hidden.)

I think you need a space between the parameters:

attrib -h -s -r *.*
attrib +h +s io.sys
attrib +h +s msdos.sys

haha okay, i finally found a version that both lets me open files +  read carts. but now, it can't read any folder that i put mgb in. does it freak out if a .gb file isn't a specific size? (mgb is 64k)

installed a newer version of the software. opening files works, but now it wont read any of my carts (that can be read with older versions)

it wouldn't let me do attrib -h-s-r*.*, so i had to do attrib -h*.*, attrib -s*.*, etc. still no change. even defragged the harddrive just to be safe, nothin doin.

I think this happens because the software tries to list all files in c:\ and want write access. Openiong ze DOS prompt and doing something like
cd \
attrib -h-s-r *.*
This will make io.sys, msdos.sys etc visible and writable, but that's generally no problem as long as you don't delete or modify them. You can also restore their hidden-ness by doing something like:

attrib +h+s io.sys
attrib +h+s msdos.sys

and the same for other files if you need.

no idea how to do that. i'm running win98 on that machine, none of that comes up in properties.

Make sure the software isn't write protected and has been given permissions to access your hard disk etc.

so basically, any time i click the Add File(s) button, i get the "File access denied." error. no matter what. whether there's a cart loaded (shows up in the program) or not. i just can't get a damn ROM on this smart cart. once i get the error, i can't do anything in the software except end task.