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In Windows 11 File Explorer, we often use periods to prioritize the sort order of displayed folder names in the File Explorer window. For example, we often create a folder named "... Dump" (without the parentheses) for temporarily storing files to be deleted once it is shown they are no longer needed. The periods help always display the folder at the top of the File Explorer window listing.
Interestingly, we found an anomaly when using File Explorer to add this name to a folder on our Western Digital PR-4100 NAS drive. We added the folder (... Dump) to another subfolder on the NAS drive. Surprisingly, without any warning, it did NOT appear in the File Explorer window after being created. After some experimentation, we found it had been created but was created read-only and hidden. Any attempts to change the properties of the folder to unhide it were unsuccessful. Note that folders, without the preceding periods are created and display as would be expected.
Does anyone know if using the periods as a prefix to a folder name has any special significance for folders creating using File Explorer on a Western Digital NAS drive? Similarly, how can we change the properties of this folder so it will not be read-only or hidden? Thank you for any help.
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Hi Honest Abe,
Using periods as a prefix to a folder name has no special significance for folders on Windows, however, this can cause the folder to be hidden by default on certain systems like Linux. Since your NAS is a Western Digital PR-4100, it could be a Linux device, and you need to check with Western Digital on this.
Ian_Xue, thank you for taking the time to respond to our post. Your insights were very helpful. We suspect you are right in assuming there may be an issue when transitioning over to another operating system. Unfortunately, standards do differ between systems and don't always have 100% compatibility. We will check with Western Digital to confirm but are reasonably sure you have identified the problem. Thank you again.