Dual Windows-boot system: Folders and files created in one OS not visible in the other

[Delicieuxz]

I have Windows 10 installed on two drives, and a couple of storage drives that are used with both Windows 10 drives.

 

After I first created the new Windows 10 installation a couple of weeks ago, I could view and access all files on the storage drives while booted into either Windows 10 drive. And I can still view and access all the files that were on the storage drives at the time I created the second Windows 10 installation. But any folders, files, program installations I now make on either drive are invisible and inaccessible, and the drive space they take-up unaccounted-for when I boot into the other Windows 10 installation.

 

There are some arbitrary exceptions to folders being invisible when viewed from the Windows installation that isn't the one they were created from. For example, I installed a game through Steam. The game's base folder appears in the other Windows installation, but none of files in the folder are visible, and the folder size is reported as 0 bytes. Steam also doesn't detect the game as installed. But when I go back to the other Windows installation, from which the game was installed, the game's folder and files are visible and accounted-for in drive space, and the game is accessible and detected by Steam as installed.

 

This is also happening with folders I manually create on the storage drives and drag files into. When I boot into the other Windows, the folder and its contents are not visible.

 

Does anyone know what the issue is?

[mariushm]

It's most likely a NTFS permissions thing .. go to folder, properties, security, and there only the user of that windows will be listed and have access. Try adding Guest or any user and give it full access rights.  ( It may be called Everyone and may be already listed, but without any rights checked, so check those rights and hit apply)

Repeat in the other Windows installation ... 

 

[Biomecanoid]

1 hour ago, Delicieuxz said:

I have Windows 10 installed on two drives, and a couple of storage drives that are used with both Windows 10 drives.

 

After I first created the new Windows 10 installation a couple of weeks ago, I could view and access all files on the storage drives while booted into either Windows 10 drive. And I can still view and access all the files that were on the storage drives at the time I created the second Windows 10 installation. But any folders, files, program installations I now make on either drive are invisible and inaccessible, and the drive space they take-up unaccounted-for when I boot into the other Windows 10 installation.

 

There are some arbitrary exceptions to folders being invisible when viewed from the Windows installation that isn't the one they were created from. For example, I installed a game through Steam. The game's base folder appears in the other Windows installation, but none of files in the folder are visible, and the folder size is reported as 0 bytes. Steam also doesn't detect the game as installed. But when I go back to the other Windows installation, from which the game was installed, the game's folder and files are visible and accounted-for in drive space, and the game is accessible and detected by Steam as installed.

 

This is also happening with folders I manually create on the storage drives and drag files into. When I boot into the other Windows, the folder and its contents are not visible.

 

Does anyone know what the issue is?

Simple files will work between different windows but not all programs or games will. Same applications require registry entries or prerequisites, little addons like DX,VB .net etc that may not be present on other windows in order for them to run.

 

In your case it maybe permission but before changing them you should make sure you can revert them back to the previous state if something goes wrong.

 

To verify that is a permission issue you can boot from a Linux live usb and normally you should be able to see all files as Linux does not care about window's permissions

[Delicieuxz]

It does seem to involve folder permissions, but why the folder permissions are screwed-up is a question. And the issue seems to be bigger than regular folder permissions.

 

 

After I downloaded a game from Steam onto the fresh installation of Windows 10, I could play the game from that Win 10 boot. I then booted into the other Win 10 installation, the game folder appeared in the drive, where Steam also showed the game as not being installed and not playable. I checked the folder on the drive, and it appeared. But I couldn't access the folder, its size was reported to be 0 bytes, and I also couldn't access the Security permissions for the folder.

 

Instead of seeing the groups and permissions in the Security tab, I saw a message saying, "You must have read permissions to view the properties of this object. Click Advanced to continue."

 

When I click Advanced, the Advanced Security Settings window would pop up and instead of showing the settings, it would say, "you must have read permissions to view the properties of this object. Click Continue to attempt the operation with administrative permissions".

 

And when I click Continue, it shows me the permissions for the folder. The permissions include SYSTEM and Administrators, and both groups have full read and write access. So, I don't know why there was an issue.

 

 

I booted back into the fresh Win 10 installation, and it showed the same thing in the folder's properties, even though that's the drive I downloaded and installed the game from. I also couldn't access the game's folder. But Steam showed the game as being installed and I could run it.

 

After a bunch of trouble-shooting, I set the network sharing of the folder to full access for Everyone, and after that I was able to modify the access / read / write permissions for the folder. And then I removed the network sharing for the folder, and I was able to fully access and modify the folder after that, from both Win 10 installations.

 

 

I then tested downloading a couple of more games, and they didn't have the same access restrictions to the game folders in the drive I installed them from. But they don't appear in while booted into the other Win 10 installation - not even as a folder that I simply can't access.

 

I found that the newly-created folders were only given permissions for the current logged-in user - but all folder which already existed on the drive before I accessed it from a fresh installation of Win 10 were given full permissions to SYSTEM, Administrators, and user account groups.

 

So, I added full permissions for the SYSTEM and Administrators groups. But they still don't appear when I boot into the other Win 10 installation.

 

 

I tried manually creating some folders in that Win 10 installation, and when I did, it would create 4 new folders at a time instead of just 1, and each of them would be access-restricted, despite having permissions for the currently logged-in account (but were assigned no other permission groups). But I could get permission to access them from that Win 10 installation. And after I did that, I booted back into the other Win 10 installation, and those folders actually show up in the other Win 10 installation.

 

But the folders automatically created by downloading games through Steam still don't appear when looking for them while in the other Win 10 OS.

 

 

BTW, while creating a new folder in the one Win 10 OS now causes 4 new folders to be created at once, creating a new folder while in the other Win 10 OS causes only 1 new folder to be created. Also, the matter of 4 new folders being created when I try to create a single new folder only happens on one storage drive while booted into that particular Win 10 OS.

 

 

 

So, the folder permissions are completely screwed-up and erratic and acting inconsistently. And the only thing I did after which all of this started happening is that I fresh-installed Win 10 on another drive, and then connected that drive to the system while disconnecting the original Win 10 drive from the system, and booted into the fresh-installation of Win 10 while having the storage drives connected.

 

 

Here's a video showing what happens when I manually create a new folder on a storage drive while booted into the original Win 10 OS, and what permissions are available for newly-created folders following attaching a fresh Win 10 installation to the system.

 

 

[Delicieuxz]

After booting into the fresh Win 10 installation again and back into the original Win 10 installation, the folder permission over the newly-downloaded game which was giving the message of "You must have read permissions to view the properties of this object. Click Advanced to continue." ... has reverted to being messed-up, and I can't access the folder again.