Mount points disappear from network share directory listing

Question

When browsing a network share which contains volume mount points, said mount points disappear from the directory listing. The mount points are still accessible directly by path, just not present in the directory listing.

The machine is a Vista SP1 32 bit machine. It has a network share that contains volume mount points to the volumes of the Vista machine (created using the SetVolumeMountPoint API).

When browsing the network share from another computer (either Win7 64 bit, Win7 32 bit or Vista SP1 32 bit) using Windows Explorer the following problem occurs:

1. First, both volume mount points called C, D appear fine.
2. I browse into directory C and see all its contents properly.
3. I go back to the root of the shared folder and now I only see D. C has disappeared from the directory listing.
4. I enter D and see all its contents.
5. Go back to the root of the shared folder and now it's empty. D disappeared as well.
6. If I manually go to \\<path to shared folder>\C from the address bar - then all is fine and I can browse its contents (same with D).

The same issue does NOT occur when creating a similar share with volume mount points on Windows XP SP2 or SP3.

Has anyone came across this problem?
Any ideas how to work around it?

Answer 1

Have the same problem. Hit the Alt key go to Tools, Folder Options and the View Tab. Uncheck "Hide protected operating system files (recommended)" and the mount points will no longer disappear. Unfortunately you will have to view all files in other folders even if you prefer not to. At least until MS fixes the bug.

Answer 2

This is an issue that Microsoft has confirmed. Please take a look at KB 2461645 for the solution:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2461645

Answer 3

Never having worked with this technology, here are some suggestions I've been able to compile.

1. Use other Microsoft technology : Directory Junctions instead of Volume Mount Points
   This will mean using directories rather than volumes, but might work better (who knows).

2. Explore other Microsoft functions : CreateHardLink() and CreateSymbolicLink().

An interesting discussion I've found is here.
An interesting utility I've found is Link Shell Extension (LSE).