Win7 computer occasionally can't see folders on a shared Win10 drive

[wysocki]

I have a P2P network with several Win 7/64 Pro computers and a new Win 10/64 Pro computer with an SSD (C and a 1tb data drive (D. That C: drive is shared (no comment please) as well as the D: drive and even a couple folders on the D: drive. All shares have full rights for all users.

Quite a bit of the time, when browsing the network from ONE of the Win 7 computers, the Win 10 D: drive appears as a shared resource, but opening it only shows System Volume Information and two other folders as empty. The actual shared folders on the D: drive don't appear under it, but they do appear as separate folders when addressed. The C: drive fully shows all the files/folders on it. Both are set up identically as far as I can tell. The drive works great locally and when viewed from all the other computers on the network.

BUT sometimes, even without a restart, that D: drive will reveal everything in it!!! I can't find a pattern as to why sometimes it works and others it fails. What could be the cause of ONE Win7 computer not seeing folders in that shared D: drive?

 

[samuria]

How have you shared c and d as by default they are shared so if you created another share it has two shares confusing the issue

 

[wysocki]

Yes,I've gone into Advanced Sharing and actually created share names for the two drives with full permissions. I'm aware of the C$ and D$ shares, but they don't appear in Windows Explorer. I can't access them now since evidently Windows won't allow D$ access (ie. multiple shares). In any case, the other Win7 computers can access the share with no problem.

 

[iko22]

You can analyse the all the share folders and their permissions together with a suitable permissions tool, for example File, Folder and Share Permissions Utility Tool | Major Geeks . You might find you have got a permissions conflict somewhere on the one machine.

 

[wysocki]

I ran the utility and looked at the reports it generated. But it didn't really tell me anything I didn't already have access to see. The shares on the Win10 machine are all defined pretty much identically but I don't think the issue is with the Win10 machine since all my other Win7 machines can see all the shares there with no problem. And the shares and permissions aren't defined on the client machine accessing them (like the ONE Win7 machine that can't always see the contents of one of those Win10 shares.

 

[samuria]

Have you checked the shares as often a update will set them back as it's such a security risk and ms is trying to stop ransomeware which effected thousands of PC's world wide

 

[wysocki]

Yes, I have double checked. But if the shares were messed up, NO ONE would be able to see them. Everyone can, except ME. And actually, I can SEE the share, but when I open it there is no files in it (from my computer anyway). But I found a crude workaround... if I click on another share there and open it first, then I have access to the files in the problem share!! Go figure!

 

[iko22]

I have ... a 1tb data drive (D. ... All shares have full rights for all users.
...
BUT sometimes, even without a restart, that D: drive will reveal everything in it!!! I can't find a pattern as to why sometimes it works and others it fails. What could be the cause of ONE Win7 computer not seeing folders in that shared D: drive?

This might be related to your problem, it might not.

What is drive D:? Is it the root of a physical drive, or is it a mount point folder assigned to a drive? If it is the latter, then there could be a problem with symptoms similar to those you describe. Microsoft have posted a KB article about this issue on Windows 7, together with a registry fix.

The article is located at Mounted folders disappear in shared folders after navigating to them in Windows 7 | Microsoft support, together with a description of the symptoms and a registry fix. I would only apply the registry fix if you are using D: as a "mount point folder assigned to a drive".