Hi, Every time I reboot, and I think also at some random time ( not sure though), my shared folders are removed from windows ( compmgmt > shared folders) I think, maybe, its because I have a small drive that is encrypted, and the folders that disappear are the ones on that drive, so when PC is restarted and the drive is not available until I decrypt it. maybe that's why the shared folders aren't loading at startup? Is there anyway to prevent windows from removing them, and if not, is there a simple way that I can re-import the whole list without having to create the shared folders one by one....as I have already exported the list in txt and csv. Thanks.

Anyone have any idea? must be simple solutions :) thanks

Hi, In this situation, you could share a file on another drive which is not encrypted to test the result. If the real cause is your encrypted drive, I suggest share your folder on other drive, and I’m sorry that Windows 7 can’t support your expectation natively. And you can refer to this thread: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itpronetworking/thread/27a7aebf-0669-42d4-8772-23eace0fadf8 Hope it helps. Regards, Alex ZhaoPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi Alex, yes it is the cause. I already have a shared folder on another drive, and it doesnt disappear, I cant move the shared folders to another drive, because the amount of data they have in them rules that option out. Basically, what's happening is, when windows restarts, the hard drive with the shared folders isn't mounting (because of the encryption), so windows decides to remove all the shared folders in the list because it cant find the Hard drive that they're pointing to at startup. OK, so this is fine, but is there no way at all to a:) Disable windows from automatically removing shared folders from the list if the hard drive is not found at startup, or, if this is not possible at all b) somehow import the shared folders list which I have exported to cvs and txt files? And, about the link you posted, not sure which part I need to look for, is it the reg edit at the end? Thanks again.

This just wont work if your drive is encrypted using your credentials/certificate etc... Because the windows SMB service starts with the computer, but your drive is not available until you login. Now if you are using a TPM chip and handling encryption based on a PIN or something at startup, you should be fine - as the disk is available as the computer starts up. This is how windows bitlocker full disk encryption is able to work with file shares. We would need more information on your setup. -Dan

Hi Dan, sorry, the actual entire drive is not encrypted, I was just being general, as the end product is the same. Its a TC encrypted folder, and in it I have many folders, some of which I have shared. Now when windows starts, the TC is not loaded, thus the shared folders inside it are not also. Once I'm logged into windows, and the folder is loaded, windows sees it as the same drive path, so nothing has changed, and anything relying on that folder to be loaded (like shortcuts, links etc) are then automatically refreshed once accessed. Ofcourse, except the shared folders list. So am I out of luck, there's no way to force windows to keep the list of shared folders? Why is there an option to export the shared folders list if it can't be imported, is it just to check through manually? Thanks again.

I think you may be able to get this to work. Do this: After you login go to your services, and restart the "Server" service, and see if your shares come back, I have a feeling they will. If that is the case, then you could create a login (run) script that restarts the server service after you login. -Dan

Yes, thank you Dan, all the shared folders are back, no need to manually add them back one by one after each restart! At first it wouldn't let me restart, it came up with some error that a service that it tried to stop came back with a stop request, well something along those line, I didn't write it down. So I just ended up restarting the comp browser service, and closed all open folders, and then stopped the "server" service and started it again, and it worked. But just to follow up on your answer, would I really be able to run some logon script, as I'm assuming that I must first load up the TC folder, which I do manually after I'm logged into windows, before the shared list is successfully refreshed by restarting the server service? Anyway, I'm not too fussed, just as long as I know how to get the list back automatically, restarting the service manually is good enough! Thank you once more.