Certain Folders not Visible in Windows Explorer when sharing from Windows 7 to Windows XP
I need help with the following problem. I have a folder on a Windows 7 x64 computer that I am trying to share with a computer running Windows XP SP3. I am using advanced file sharing on the Windows 7 machine, and have shared the folder giving access to "Everyone". The Windows XP computer can see the folder over the network, and can read files from it as well as write files to it, but for some reason not all of the shared directory's contents are visible in Windows Explorer. On the XP client machine, certain folders/subdirectories are not visible in Windows Explorer (strangely enough, all folders whose names begin with the letters "U" through "Z" are missing/invisible, as well as some that begin with the letter "T"). However, I can navigate to any of the "missing" folders/subdirectories by typing the folder name in the address bar. Also On an XP client machine, if I display the shared directory's properties, it's size shows as 227GB; the actual size of the folder is 322 GB. If I access the same shared folder from one of my Windows 7 machines, all files display in Windows Explorer and the folder properties are correct (i.e. 322GB vs. 227GB). I have multiple machines on the network running Windows XP and they all exhibit the same behavior. Can anyone shed any light on this issue?
March 12th, 2011 3:22pm

Gozur, I can't shed any light, but I'm seeing the exact same problem, details below: I recently built a new PC with Windows7 Home Premium 64-bit. After doing so, I physically moved an internal 2TB NTFS drive of shared media files from an older Vista machine into this new machine. The problem is, other network devices now see some but not all of the folders/files on that drive. Everything shows up fine on both the host Win7-64 and old [now remote] Vista-32 machines, but two remote XP machines now fail to see ~10% of the folders. The missing folders seem to occur in groups within an alphabetical range (e.g. the F's thru G's, and P's-Rs for one subdir, but "Pi..."-"Th..." for another). Beyond than that I can't discern any distinct pattern or trigger in date, file attributes, etc. If I manually type known missing paths into Windows Explorer, the XP machines can access those files just fine, but upon restarting Windows Explorer they disappear by default again. Adding new folders outside the flawed ranges works fine, but if add them within the flawed ranges (e.g. starting with "Q..." in the examples above) they will "disappear". (This is clearly troublesome for Media Center usage, with 10% of files randomly "gone".) What's more, a SageTV HD-300 extender box detects even fewer folders/files, and those missing are a _different_ subset of the full set (some show that don't on XP, and vice versa). All PCs are set to show all hidden files, updated with latest OS patches, Virus SW up-to-date/no reported viruses. All paths to files are <50 characters total. The NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation register is set to the default of "2" (per volume) on the Win7 host and all volumes are set to "0" (enabled). I've tried rebooting all machines, unmapping/remapping shared drives, and even installing and formatting a second 2TB drive and copying all the contents over, and it behaves exactly the same as the first, with identical missing files on remote XP clients. Haven't found a solution on the Net after 6+ hours of looking, but glad to see at least I'm not the only one with this crazy issue.
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March 12th, 2011 5:57pm

xoringe - Sounds like we're dealing with the same issue. I also checked on the "NTFS Disable 8 dot 3 Name Creation" key in the registry, because I thought that might be the problem, but, as with you, it was already set to default "2" on the Windows 7 machine. It sounds like you and I have tried all the same things (including copying the problem folder to a new disk drive on the Windows 7 machine) with no success. The fact that the problem "travels" with copies of the folder suggests to me that it has something to do with permissions or ACL's, but I've also tried resetting all of the permissions on all files and subdirectories within the folder in question with no different result. I will keep plugging away and update here if I discover anything new.
March 12th, 2011 10:45pm

Two more data points, for what they're worth: If I physically move the disk drive containing the problematic folder to one of my XP machines, the XP system can see ALL of the files in the folder, and it doesn't exhibit any of the anomalous behavior described above. This problem, therefore, seems to have something to do with the sharing protocol or settings, the networking settings or some type of permission issue that only applies in a network context (if there is any such animal). The problem is not limited to XP clients. I tried this morning to access the folder in question from a Windows 7 machine I haven't used in several weeks, and it behaved the same way as the XP machines (same files missing in Windows Explorer, etc.). So... some network setting, maybe? I'm mystified.
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March 13th, 2011 12:14pm

I think I have a similar issue except the client is Linux. The issue suddenly started a few days ago. I thought it was SP1 but that doesn't seem to be it. I have not found a solution but here is what I have tried: I have a program in Linux that creates a set of files named ABC-001.com .... ABC-170.com onto a windows cifs/smb share. In all cases the files show up correctly on the server but the linux client only shows some files, with the missing files in one or two sequential sets (eg. ABC-030.com ... ABC-044.com and ABC-123.com ... ABC-145.com). If I kill the linux program, nothing happens. If I "rm *" the files, the visible files are deleted and the missing files appear. A second rm * removes the newly appeared files (sometimes several "rm *" are required, each time more missing files appearing). The missing files are always accessable if you provide the name but ls (dir) does not display the files. I have tried this on 2 linux clients (one a clean install) and 3 windows servers (2008 R2 SP1 (and SP1 uninstalled), Windows 7 64bit (clean install with updates and no SP1), and Vista 64bit). Issue always occurs with 2008 R2 and Windows 7 but does not occur on Vista 64bit. I have tried playing around with settings on the client side but have had no luck. My guess is the issue is 2008r2/W7 not playing nice with older versions of SMB.
March 13th, 2011 8:33pm

Here's some potentially useful data from my setup in case it sheds any light on the debug: - If I create an array of 384 test folders under ..\Test named Test 001, Test 002, … Test 078, my remote XP-Pro client doesn't see Test 145-178, 325-357 - If I create an array of 768 empty .txt files under ..\TestTxt named Test 0001.txt ... Test 0768.txt, the XP-Pro client doesn't see 0145-0178, 0325-0357, 0504-0536, 0683-0717. Groups of 32-34, spaced 179 apart. - If I create an array of 1536 empty .txt files under ..\TestTxt named Test 00001.txt …Test 01536.txt: Only shows 1271 of 1536, missing 00145-00178, 00325-00357, 00504-00536, 00683-00715, 00862-00894, 01041-01073, 01220-01252, 01399-01431. Groups of 34 or [mostly] 33, all spaced 179 apart. - - If I delete 00001-00010 from the previous set, the missing files also shift +10, i.e. now missing 00155-00188, 00335-00367, etc. Or as MikeEdm noted, deleting all the visible files will cause the previously missing files to show up (until you hit the 145th one or so in the new list). - If I create an array of 1536 empty .txt files under ..\TestTxtAlpha named AAA 00001.txt - CHB 01536.txt: Only shows 1303 of 1536, missing AFE 00135.txt - AGG 00163.txt, 300-328, 465-493, 630-658, etc. Groups of 29 files, all spaced 165 apart.
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March 14th, 2011 12:42am

Good News! Anyone else have the latest version of Avast installed on their computer? Remove it! http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=72798.0 I think I tried every other possible cause before realizing Avast was a recent update on my server. It appears the latest version of Avast causes issues with SMB shares. I uninstalled it and the issue was resolved! According to the link the previous version of Avast should work. Hope its the solution everyone else is looking for. Mike
March 14th, 2011 1:23am

MikeEdm - Great work finding the possible cause. Unfortunately for me, I uninstalled Avast Free 6.0 and installed v5.1.889, but the share behavior remains exactly the same - no fix. Something else must be going on. Maybe Avast 6 did some deeper damage on my system?
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March 14th, 2011 8:24am

All - Good news after all. I forgot that Avast Free 6.0 was also installed on the SERVER as well as the client. After I downgraded both server and client to 5.1.889, all is well. Here's a final interesting data point: the problem seems to stem from Avast 6.0 on the server. With Avast 5 installed on the server, and Avast 6 installed on the client, the sharing anomalies don't present themselves. Thanks to all for their input/assistance.
March 14th, 2011 8:57am

Glad to hear it worked. I did a little more research and I think I found a temporary way to fix it in Avast 6. Apparently this issues has appeared before and relates to Avast's virtualization feature which I believe is the AutoSandbox feature. I tried disabling the feature in Avast but the problem continued. I then disabled the Avast virtualization service, rebooted and it seems to be working (3000 sequential files all visible). The Avast virtualization service seems "hidden" and I used Autoruns to disable it (regedit and other methods may work as well). Also it is probably a good idea to turn off Avast's self defense module (Settings->Troubleshooting). Mike
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March 14th, 2011 3:23pm

Mike - Thanks again. Hopefully the Alwil people will get their act together and fix the root cause in Avast 6.
March 14th, 2011 5:00pm

Ditto: Downgrading Avast Free from v6.0.1000 to v5.1.899 on the server fixed my setup as well. Many thanks for the tip, Mike.
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March 15th, 2011 12:46am

This worked for me, thanks, I have been hitting my head against the wall trying to figure this one out. It was not just the XP machines but also my networked video/audio streamer that randomly displayed varying nubers of files on the Windows 7 machine usually about 60% of them only. Great work! Carl.
April 1st, 2011 12:37pm

Hi, I experienced the same problem - only realised because I backup all my key folders to tape every week and keep a note of the statistics - including numbers of files. I discovered that my backups had suddenly dropped from around 55,000 files to less than 40,000. Checking from the tape drive host PC (running XP Pro) onto a laptop running W7, I discovered that around 10% of folders (usually a block in the centre of the alphabet) appeared to be missing (but were present when checked on the laptop). I uninstalled AVAST (v6), then checked from XP Pro and all the missing folders had returned to view. I then located and installed AVAST v5 and checked again - all folders still visible - great. I then ran another backup. Good improvement - up to about 48,000 files, but a lot still unaccounted for; but that could have been due to a number of valid reasons, so continued working. A couple of days later, having just saved a document onto the W7 system from the XP system, I then went into that folder to check another file - and realised that my newly saved file was not visible. I checked on the laptop - and the file was there. I uninstalled AVAST completely and checked again from XP. All files present, correct and visible. So, even AVAST v5 still causes the problem, albeit reduced. And it's not just inconvenient - it means that backups are virtually useless. So, now looking for another AV program. AVG is no good, because I can only get hold of AVG 2011 - and that's seriously flakey on W7. Any suggestions anyone?
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April 11th, 2011 1:44pm

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