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File explorer does not display folders which are NOT set to be hidden

Anonymous
2023-03-31T15:17:53+00:00

My new Windows 11 system seems to have developed a strange behavior in File Explorer where subfolders are not displayed.  These subfolders are not set to be hidden and File Explorer is set to display hidden items, as well.

If I navigate to the top level folder such as J:\Top\ from the command prompt the DIR command also fails to show the afflicted subfolders.  If I invoke DIR /S the result is to list all the ‘invisible’ subfolders and contents as well the ones shown.  If I enter the address of one of the invisible subfolders, J:\Top\Sub for example, into the address bar of File Explorer the contents are listed.

The fault seems to be that the subfolders are just not shown but they do exist and all their content is available.

This occurred yesterday as I was about to take a snapshot of some of my development subfolders to a USB drive for extra backup.  I do this using a command script that uses the XCOPY command to move any files that have changed compared to those already on the J drive.  Before I executed the script there were 6 subfolders in the J:\Top folder but once the script stopped there was only one shown.

I have restarted the system, talked sweetly to it and then dirty to no avail.  Does anyone have any suggestions about how to correct or avoid this most strange behavior?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-11-17T19:16:00+00:00

    The OP stated that their files are NOT set to hidden.

    The solution provided by Olivia does NOT work.

    Doing a System Restore to a time before this issue occurred also does NOT work. Now, after restoring my system, I cannot even see the Options window to attempt to reset my folders!

    This is one of those "suddenly this problem" issues repeatedly occurs with Windows 11 that no one has a solution for and users are inconvenienced until someone finds the problem and pretends it didn't exist as you get the next Windows Update.

    I may have to roll my computer back to Windows 10 and hope for the best because every few days, I have another annoyance pop up with Windows 11.

    4 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2023-11-19T15:06:12+00:00

    Thanks for taking the time to do the replication.  The M drive is an attached drive via USB so your replication matches my configuration.  I did a test of the old command line and the folders created were not hidden so it seems there is not a problem.  I was getting a lot of hidden folders on the M drive I use for shadowing my key files and, finally, thought I had corrected it by adding the wildcards.

    The reason I THOUGHT this was the behavior was this post which described the behavior I described. 

    I know I was having hidden folders that were not able to be unhidden via the Explorer settings until I added the *.* to the source file specification.  I must assume there is some other factor in my usage or configuration that triggered this issue but my configuration is very much ‘normal.’  There is no security beyond Defender or anything else.

    Thanks again!

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  3. Les Ferch 10,326 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-11-18T19:08:08+00:00

    It turns out that the issue I was having was caused by a 'feature' of the XCOPY command. I use that to copy file structures of interest to backup drives for 'versioning.' It turns out that if the XCOPY command does not have a file specification on the source any directories copied will be hidden and not visible at any privilege level.

     

    Using this command will result in the directories created by the XCOPY command to be hidden (deeply):

     xcopy /s /d /y "C:\Users\lakeg" M:\DriveShadows\lakeg

    I cannot replicate the described behavior.

    I set up a test using exactly the same commands and tried with the target set to an NTFS USB drive and also to a network drive. In both cases, nothing became hidden. That makes sense to me. If this was easily replicated, it would be a well known issue.

    There must be some other variable involved. What is your target drive M:? Is it an external drive? Network drive? What is the target drive format (NTFS, ExFAT, FAT32)? Is it something special, like a NAS? Do you have any security software installed, other than Windows Defender?

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-11-18T13:59:21+00:00

    Thanks for the replies and ideas.

    It turns out that the issue I was having was caused by a 'feature' of the XCOPY command. I use that to copy file structures of interest to backup drives for 'versioning.' It turns out that if the XCOPY command does not have a file specification on the source any directories copied will be hidden and not visible at any privilege level.

    Using this command will result in the directories created by the XCOPY command to be hidden (deeply):

     xcopy /s /d /y "C:\Users\lakeg" M:\DriveShadows\lakeg

    Whereas adding the wildcard file specification will not hide the folders:

    xcopy /s /d /y "C:\Users\lakeg\*.*" M:\DriveShadows\lakeg

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-04-01T07:45:24+00:00

    Hey there, LakeGator,

    Welcome to Microsoft community.

    From your description it looks like you have set Show hidden items in File Explorer, but there is usually a place to set the unhidden folder setting in addition to the Explorer setting.

    Options> Change File and Search Options> View

    Unfortunately XCOPY is not supported on the Microsoft Answers forum. If you have already check the options and still doesn't work, it is more suitable for publishing on Microsoft Learn, you can click on "Ask a question", there are experts who can provide more professional solutions in that place.

    Here is a link: Windows 11 - Microsoft Q&A to the forum where you can raise specific scenarios and share your idea to help solve the problem. 

    I'll leave that question open in case one of our amazing volunteers has ideas for you. 

    Thanks for your great understanding and support!

    Have a nice day and stay safe!

    Best regards,

    Olivia | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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