Windows folder not visible in explorer bu all appears to work OK

[Guest]

Hi,
I am running Windows XP with the latest updates and have a strange problem
that I noticed only a couple of days.

When I open C: drive in Windows Explorer I can't see the "windows" folder.
The system boots up OK however, when I try to run Event Viewer in
Administrative Tools nothing happens. Similarly, when I go to Accessories and
select Command Prompt (or some other item) nothing happens.

If I run 'cmd' from Start->Run window a DOS window appears with
"C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe" in the Caption. If I create a shortcut pointing
at the same command and double click on it, nothing happens. If I leave the
mouse over that icon I get popup help with the following
"C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-...\system32", suggesting that windows folder in
recycle bin.

Yesterday when I opened C: drive using windows explorer I saw the recycle
bin in icon in place of the WINDOWS folder but when I clicked on that icon it
showed some of my deleted files but not the actual windows folder.

Can you offer any assistance?

/Michael

 

[Daniel Dravot]

Hi,
I am running Windows XP with the latest updates and have a strange problem
that I noticed only a couple of days.

When I open C: drive in Windows Explorer I can't see the "windows" folder.

The system boots up OK however, when I try to run Event Viewer in
Administrative Tools nothing happens. Similarly, when I go to Accessories
and
select Command Prompt (or some other item) nothing happens.

If I run 'cmd' from Start->Run window a DOS window appears with
"C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe" in the Caption. If I create a shortcut
pointing
at the same command and double click on it, nothing happens. If I leave
the
mouse over that icon I get popup help with the following
"C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-...\system32", suggesting that windows folder in
recycle bin.

Yesterday when I opened C: drive using windows explorer I saw the recycle
bin in icon in place of the WINDOWS folder but when I clicked on that icon
it
showed some of my deleted files but not the actual windows folder.

Can you offer any assistance?

/Michael

You probably have "folder options" set to hide system folders/files. Change
that and you'll probably see it (Explorer-- Tools-- Folder Options).

Dan'l

 

[Guest]

Hi Dan,
Thanks for your response. I am aware of that option and made sure it was set
as per your suggestion but it's still the same. I've done more testing and
found more strange things.

As I said in my initial post, when I tried openning Event Viewer through
'Start->Administrative Tools' nothing happening. However when I selected
Event Viewer Properties (the same way) followed by 'Find Target' an explorer
window opened showing 'c:\windows\system32' directory. I was then able to
double click on 'eventvw' and open up the Event Viewer. If I open another
instance of windows explorer I don't see the 'windows' directory.

With the 'c:\windows\system32' folder shown in the windows explorer I
selected 'cmd' application and created a shortcut on the Desktop. When I
opened up Properties of that shortcut the 'Target:' field was empty but
'Start in:' had c:\windows\system32'.

Any more thoughts?

/Michael

 

[Guest]

Hi Dan,
Just one further point. I can make the windows folder appear/disappear
(consistently) by changing the 'Hide protected operating system files'
setting in Folder Options. However when the windows folder appears is has a
recycle bin icon rather than a normal folder icon.

Also, opening that icon shows some of the previously deleted items and not
the usual windows folder items.

/Michael