How to search for all locked files in a folder with subfolders

As an experiment, try this

Basically, I'm having the output from the 'find' command redirected into a tmp file

Then I'm using the 'open' command to launch TextEdit (the default app for .txt files).

If this does not work, you can actually look at /tmp/tmp.txt to see if there are any errors inside of it.

If it still complains about TextEdit, then try opening in a different app. For example Safari. You can do this by adding -a Safari to the 'open' command as below.

Bottom line is that what you are doing should work. Why it doesn't work, I do not know, but I suspect it is something about your system, I just don't have a clue about what it could be.

OK, I repeated my experiment as a Service, hopefully following your instructions correctly

I then went to the Finder, and did a Control-Click (Right-Click) on a folder where I had Locked files, and selected Find_locked_Files_experiment (what I named my Automator Service)

And this is the TextEdit document that popped up on my screen (I did edit my real username to 'me', but otherwise this is exactly what was displayed)

So I do not know what errors you are seeing, but it does not happen on my system.

Assuming your Automator Service workflow looks identical to my screen shots, then you could try

1)

Create a new account. Does the Automator Service workflow behave correctly, or give you the same results?

System Preferences -> Users & Groups

2)

Try booting into Safe mode

<http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564>

This will not load any 3rd party additions, it will load some more conservative Apple drivers (may cause screen flicker), and it will clear some kernel caches (a cache is saved data in a form that can speed up a program, but is totally redundant to the original source, and thus can be safely cleared). Booting into Safe mode is just an experiment, but can frequently eliminate any 3rd party interference, or a cached item out-of-sync with the world. (Verify Safe mode via Applications -> Utilities -> System Information -> Software -> Boot Mode -> Safe vs Normal)

How/where are you dragging the folder with the locked files?

I saved my Automator workflow as an application (not a service).

Using the Finder, I did a Click-and-Drag on a folder of interest, dragged it to my saved Automator workflow as an application, and released it.

If you used this a lot, you could put the Automator workflow application on your Dock, or your Desktop, or as a Finder Side-bar item, or Finder -> View -> Customize Toolbar.

I created an Automator Applications, and it worked for me:

I created a few files, used Get Info... and checked the [X] Locked box

Then I dragged and dropped the folder with the Locked files on top of my app, created via Automator, and got:

No errors. Is this the kind of output you expected?