How do I prevent system volume information files from showing up in my usb flash drive?

Question

I recently upgraded to Windows 8.1 once it was made available to me via the app store. I noticed the other day when I had transfered some music to my game console that I had a folder titled "System Volume Information" on the root of my flash drive. I didn't know what it was so I deleted it and went about my business. I did the same thing today and there it was. So I deleted it and plugged it back into my laptop this time only to remove it again and return to the game console to reproduce the issue. Same as before. So I'd like to know step by step how to prevent these folders from being stored in my flash drive. I know these are not harmful files but it is irritating to have them stored on the flash drive. I don't want to have to constantly delete it all the time either. Especially when I know this used to never be an issue before.

I saw this and was able to make the files visable but I was confused about what to do in the command prompt.

Answer 1

There is a group policy option to turn off this feature. Enable Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Search \ Do not allow locations on removable drives to be added to libraries.

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Answer 2

There is a group policy option to turn off this feature. Enable Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Search \ Do not allow locations on removable drives to be added to libraries.

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Thanks for taking the time to investigate this Eliyas. That fix has worked for me. Just a heads up to anyone else reading this post, AFAIK this will only work in Win 8.1 Pro or Enterprise as other Win 8.1 versions do not have GPEDIT

Answer 3

So, how do I stop the system from creating "System Volume information" folder on my USB sticks?

Answer 4

NO.  Like most of the half-baked "innovations" coming out of MSFT these days, it is a BUG!  If you were able to disable this "feature", then it would not be a bug, but being forced to accept this functionality without any option to disable it is indeed a serious defect.  Anything that causes interoperability problems with non-PC devices (ResMed S9, for example) is certainly not desirable behavior, and this unwanted folder is doing just that.  You should be able to simply view files on an SD card without the OS pooping useless garbage all over the file system or altering the contents in any way, and anything less is not acceptable. 

This problem is what we in the software world call a "specification error".  In other words, Microsoft's code performs correctly according to their specification, but unfortunately, the person who wrote the specification did so without regard to unintended consequences.  It seems that lately Microsoft is making a lot of ill-conceived "shoot from the hip" design and product decisions that are causing grief for their customers, or causing their customers to leave.  I sincerely hope that Microsoft regains the their former mindset of technical superiority and innovation before it is too late.  Lately it seems like the company is being run by a bunch of hormone-laden teenagers who make ill-informed decisions without regard for the consequences.

Answer 5

Hi,

System Volume Information folder is necessary for system restore to work and is not recommended to delete. You can ignore this folder. Just to make sure your computer is free from virus I would suggest you to run the Microsoft safety scanner. Also check if there are any virus on game console storage.

**http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx**

Note: The Microsoft Safety Scanner expires 10 days after being downloaded. To rerun a scan with the latest anti-malware definitions, download and run the Microsoft Safety Scanner again.

Disclaimer: Any data files that are infected may only be cleaned by deleting the file entirely, which means there is a potential for data loss.

Hope this helps. If you need further assistance with Windows, let us know and will be glad to help.