Vista - Invisible special XP folders like "My Music" and My Videos" in Vista.

Hi,

I have noticed that a back-up program I use and also a file search
keeps finding the old Windows XP special folders in Vista. It's
folders like "My Music", "My Documents" and "Nethood". There's
actually quite a few more in my user directory, but I'm not going to
list them all. However, I can not see this directories in Windows
Explorer and they cause error messages when I try to open them from
other programs. My back-up stops with an error also since it isn't
able to read inside these invisible directories. What are these, and
do I need them for anything? They must be some legacy thing from
Windows XP since I recognize the names of them, but why are they
present and invisible on Vista?

//C

There are there because some programs expect them to be there. The are
junctions, only there for application compatibility. They are hidden for a
reason, leave them alone and all will be well

Robert Firth
http://www.winvistainfo.org

"ceed" <ceed.spameater@dysthe.net> wrote in message
news:1187063262.338885.94180@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I have noticed that a back-up program I use and also a file search
> keeps finding the old Windows XP special folders in Vista. It's
> folders like "My Music", "My Documents" and "Nethood". There's
> actually quite a few more in my user directory, but I'm not going to
> list them all. However, I can not see this directories in Windows
> Explorer and they cause error messages when I try to open them from
> other programs. My back-up stops with an error also since it isn't
> able to read inside these invisible directories. What are these, and
> do I need them for anything? They must be some legacy thing from
> Windows XP since I recognize the names of them, but why are they
> present and invisible on Vista?
>
> //C
>

On Aug 13, 10:55 pm, "Robert Firth" <webmas...@winvistainfo.org>
wrote:
> There are there because some programs expect them to be there. The are
> junctions, only there for application compatibility. They are hidden for a
> reason, leave them alone and all will be well
>
> Robert Firthhttp://www.winvistainfo.org
>
> "ceed" <ceed.spamea...@dysthe.net> wrote in message
>
> news:1187063262.338885.94180@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > Hi,
>
> > I have noticed that a back-up program I use and also a file search
> > keeps finding the old Windows XP special folders in Vista. It's
> > folders like "My Music", "My Documents" and "Nethood". There's
> > actually quite a few more in my user directory, but I'm not going to
> > list them all. However, I can not see this directories in Windows
> > Explorer and they cause error messages when I try to open them from
> > other programs. My back-up stops with an error also since it isn't
> > able to read inside these invisible directories. What are these, and
> > do I need them for anything? They must be some legacy thing from
> > Windows XP since I recognize the names of them, but why are they
> > present and invisible on Vista?
>
> > //C- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

No, all is not well. My back-up program which I have been using for
years doesn't work because of all the errors caused by these
directories which can not be read. I wish I could at least see them.
So I guess it's backwards compatibility for some programs, and
problems for others. I hate it when the OS hides stuff from me. I paid
for it! I want to see and mess and break it. It's mine!

And I was so happy because I had just gotten rid of UAC.......sigh...

//C

On Aug 13, 11:08 pm, "Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote:
> Yup ceed--
>
> You are getting frustrated over junction or reparse points:
>
> See:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point
>
> http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Window...ovingMyDocumen...
>
> http://www.hanselman.com/blog/MoreOn...rsePoints.aspx
>
> http://windowsconnected.com/blogs/jo...06/09/28/Windo...
>
> http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/jpoints.htm
>
> CH
>
Ah! Thanks! So now I have to worry about junctions breaking my back-
up. Oh joy....and it's for back-up compatibility? Doesn't work in this
case.

//C

On Aug 13, 11:27 pm, "Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote:
> Ceed--
>
> How are you backing up? What backup program are you using and what happens?
> Junctions should not be breaking your backup whether you use the Backup and
> Restore center on the control panel or some app like Acronis.
>
> CH
>
> "ceed" <ceed.spamea...@dysthe.net> wrote in message
>
> news:1187064930.131428.154840@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > On Aug 13, 11:08 pm, "Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote:
> >> Yup ceed--
>
> >> You are getting frustrated over junction or reparse points:
>
> >> See:
>
> >>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point
>
> >>http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Window...ovingMyDocumen...
>
> >>http://www.hanselman.com/blog/MoreOn...rsePoints.aspx
>
> >>http://windowsconnected.com/blogs/jo...06/09/28/Windo...
>
> >>http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/jpoints.htm
>
> >> CH
>
> > Ah! Thanks! So now I have to worry about junctions breaking my back-
> > up. Oh joy....and it's for back-up compatibility? Doesn't work in this
> > case.
>
> > //C- Hide quoted text -
>
I'm doing what I have always done: Using WinRAR to back up all my data
and then sync the back-up sets weekly. It has worked flawlessly for
years. Now I get all these messages from WinRAR about folders that
can't be read and the back-up set creation quits. This is a simple but
effective back-up. I would really like to be able to continue doing
it. I will also ask RARLab to included an option to ignore junctions
in their settings. That would solve the problem.

//ceed

On Aug 13, 11:31 pm, "Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote:
> Ceed--
>
> By any chance are you trying to use the ImageX tool? If so see:
>
> You cannot use the ImageX.exe tool as a backup tool on a Windows Vista-based
> computerhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/935467/en-us
>
No, thank you for the link. I am simply using WinRAR. Have done so for
years without problems. I am hoping they, RarLab, will fix it in
WinRAR so that junctions can be ignored when adding files to back-up
sets.

//ceed

On Aug 13, 11:27 pm, "Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote:
> Ceed--
>
> How are you backing up? What backup program are you using and what happens?
> Junctions should not be breaking your backup whether you use the Backup and
> Restore center on the control panel or some app like Acronis.
>
> CH
>
> "ceed" <ceed.spamea...@dysthe.net> wrote in message
>
> news:1187064930.131428.154840@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > On Aug 13, 11:08 pm, "Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote:
> >> Yupceed--
>
> >> You are getting frustrated over junction or reparse points:
>
> >> See:
>
> >>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point
>
> >>http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Window...ovingMyDocumen...
>
> >>http://www.hanselman.com/blog/MoreOn...rsePoints.aspx
>
> >>http://windowsconnected.com/blogs/jo...06/09/28/Windo...
>
> >>http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/jpoints.htm
>
> >> CH
>
> > Ah! Thanks! So now I have to worry about junctions breaking my back-
> > up. Oh joy....and it's for back-up compatibility? Doesn't work in this
> > case.
>
> > //C- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Update: RarLab has already fixed this in a test build they sent me
which ignores the junctions. Problem solved! What a great piece of
software WinRAR is..

//ceed