Microsoft KB Archive/272061

= Explorer.exe Still Shows Files on a Mounted Volume After Being Deleted =

Article ID: 272061

Article Last Modified on 3/1/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 1
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 1

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This article was previously published under Q272061



SYMPTOMS
If you are a member of the Administrators group, you can use Disk Management or the Mountvol.exe command, to connect, or mount a local drive on any empty folder on a local NTFS volume.

When you mount a local drive on an empty NTFS folder, Windows 2000 assigns a path to the drive rather than just a drive letter. Mounted drives are not subject to the 26-drive limit imposed by drive letters, so you can use mounted drives to access more than 26 drives on your computer. Windows 2000 ensures that drive paths retain their association to the drive, so you can add, or rearrange storage devices without the drive path failing.

If you delete a folder that also contains a mounted volume, the files on the mounted volume are still accessible, and you can see them in Windows Explorer if you view the mounted volume by using an optional drive letter. If you look in the C drive prior to emptying it, the size of the deleted volume mount point folder is equal to the underlying size of the files that are going to be deleted on the target volume. If you empty Recycle Bin, the files on the mounted volume are then permanently deleted.

Note: This behavior depends on the size of your recycle bin, and the amount of data under the volume mount point that was deleted. If you have disabled Recycle Bin, or it is not large enough to hold the contents of the deleted volume mount point, the deleted data bypasses Recycle Bin, and is deleted immediately.



CAUSE
Explorer.exe does not handle deleting files on mounted volumes correctly with regards to Recycle Bin. Because the files remain visible in Explorer after deleting the mounted volume directory, you may erroneously think that after deleting a mounted volume in Explorer.exe, it only deletes the volume mount point link to the volume, and not the actual data on the volume. This can lead to an unexpected loss of data after emptying Recycle Bin. Alternately, this could leave data accessible after being deleted, especially if you were expecting the data to be deleted and inaccessible, but had not yet emptied Recycle Bin.



RESOLUTION
To protect yourself against accidental data loss and file security issues, and to learn more about junction points and mounted volumes, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

205524 How to Create and Manipulate NTFS Junction Points



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.



MORE INFORMATION
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

243514 'Access Denied' When You Delete Folders from a Mounted Drive

Additional query words: junction mountvol

Keywords: kberrmsg kbenv kbprb KB272061

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