@stc2008969 wrote: Thanks for your response. I think the OS permissions will likely be the best option long term but it's not something that can be done in the short term due to limited resources.   The business requirement is to protect four datasets in a single folder/file path and keep users from being able to inadvertently edit or delete data (read-only permissions) when running queries in SAS. However, two users (one of those being myself) will need to still be able to modify the datasets on a monthly/quarterly basis. I'm familiar with OS permissions but only when an entire folder is protected. I don't remember a scenario I've encountered where I've needed to hit a dataset that had OS permissions so I'm not sure how it would look or work.    If OS permissions for those four datasets were set to read-only to "everyone", would users just run their queries like usual without needing a password? And what would it look like if they tried to run a proc append, for example, to modify one of the datasets? Would it error out in SAS?  Setting OS permissions to read-only for everyone would prevent everyone modifying the datasets by any means at all, both in SAS or by any other means (OS delete for example). One approach would be to have a special user account (we call them service accounts) which has modify permissions. Anyone who wants to modify these datasets can use this account. This is a convenient solution if you are OK with doing all modifies using a batch job as this job can be run under the service account. BTW using SAS passwords only works in SAS. It doesn't prevent OS deletes or tampering using other software. ... View more