Shared folders not showing up on network devices

This is strange. I have shared a folder on an external drive with "Everyone". In this folder are several other folders, and photos in each of those. When I go to my TV and open the folder, only ONE of the folders inside shows up. I have tried sharing each folder individually, and also tried selecting all of them and sharing, but nothing has worked so far. The puzzling thing is that the one folder that does show up has the same properties, sharing etc. as all the others, as well as the containing folder does show up, as I said. What might be causing this?

Is it possible TV can't see multiple folders? Does it work if you share them at C (just create a folder with few folders inside and put 2 pictures in each)?

It's not the TV because other folders on other drives show up OK, and even ONE folder in the top folder shows up OK. I have tried all settings, advanced sharing etc. and they all show as shared. Even the green "progress bar" shows all the names of the subfolders and each photo while it's sharing. But no matter what, only that ONE folder (with its photos) shows up on the TV. And it's not just the TV, it's all my network devices (phones, tablets and laptop).

The TV sees other drives and folders fine. The TV is not the problem I'm sure. And it's not the external drive or path, because in the SAME folder, ONE subfolder is fine. But none of the others show up. I have tried all advanced settings, etc. all shared, and when I share, the notification window opens and I can see it displaying the name of every subfolder and every photo in every one of those while the "green progress bar" moves along. I can't understand why ONE folder is fine, and the others (which ALL have the same share settings) are not visible. And it's not just on the TV, but on all my other network devices (phones, tablets and laptop)

Hmmm, you say that these folders do not show up on the TV nor do they show up on a Windows laptop either? I was guessing the TV runs Linux and sharing is done by samba, not netbios like Windows. So stuff not showing up is common in this arrangement. You can find them by typing in the computer name like: \\BILL-PC or \\BILL-PC\Photos,
...but you have eliminated this possibility by confirming it with a windows laptop that cannot "see" the folders either. It is a Windows share issue.

I have an idea that very well may help you my friend. You DID say these folders are on an external drive, yes? Like a USB external hard drive, Western Digital or something, yes? These drives come formatted with a "universal" file system that almost any operating system can read and write to such as FAT32, ExFAT, etc. Check for me. Go into "Computer", then the external drive such as F: or whatever it is, then right click and choose Properties and see what the File System is. Windows does not "play nice" with these file systems because they cannot enforce the file and folder permissions like a more advanced file system such as NTFS which is what Windows uses for it's own file system. Check properties on drive C: you will see it is NTFS. Your external drive is likely NOT NTFS if you have not formatted it as such.

If you try to use that drive for Window Backup, it will work but you will not be able to create system image files unless you format the external drive with NTFS. Anytime I use an external drive strictly for Windows, I format it NTFS to avoid these problems.

If the external drive really is formatted with NTFS, skip this post, it will not help.

Backup your external drive before proceeding, ALL files and folders will be deleted!
To fix this or at least find out, you have to save all the stuff on your external drive to another drive, your C: drive if you have enough room or another drive. Then RIGHT click on the external drive and choose Format... Uncheck Quick Format and choose from File System NTFS. Proceed with formatting and allow it to finish. Copy all of your files and folders back again and re-share them all. Now go check again to see if all of the folders show up.

I cannot promise this will work as you have not supplied enough information, but at this point, it is the most likely suspect of the issue. Windows has to employ all of it's security to the drive and file systems such as FAT do not support this level of security. For Windows, it is NTFS. For Android or Linux, it is something else like ext3 or ext4. Use NTFS and see if that helps. It is your best shot with what information is available right now. Windows will always play nice with NTFS that is has formatted itself or is properly formatted as NTFS. But without it, you lose many features of the Windows file system. Come back and mark this thread "Solved" if this works, okay? Good luck Bill.

If it is indeed like that great.

You can change filesystem without formatting
Run cmd: - change H: to your external drive letter: convert H: /FS:NTFS

Still you should backup just in case.

Thank you both, but both my external drives ARE NTFS. And like I mentioned, other folders on the same drive and are OK. They show up on the TV and I can see the photos they contain on my TV no problem.

Here is more info. I have several cameras, so I named a folder for each camera model. Then in each of those folders, I create a folder for each photoshoot (location and date). The drive letter is "L". So the path would be something like this:

L>X-S1>Royal Park_24FEB15 -or another maybe- L>X-S1>Air Show>10APR15

So this folder for Park_24FEB15 works OK, but the one for the Air Show doesn't show up, and any others don't show up either. Only one of the folders shows up on TV, phone, etc (in my example, the one for Royal Park is OK, and all others are not OK).

Maybe this will explain a little better.

Ok, sorry if I missed it above, what about security options? Can you check the working folder and a non-working one? Select folder - right click - properties - security - see if users/groups are same in both. Also check Advanced settings down below.

Try adding Everyone to root of external drive (L) and add Everyone - full control.

I have already checked all that and they are the same, and I did share the root L: too. Now when I move one of the folders that does NOT show up on TV, if I put it into another folder on the other external drive (just copy it), then it shows up fine! It is really weird.

Another diagnostic test: Move the USB drive to your laptop and share there. Check contents on TV and PC.