Why is File Explorer not showing all my folders?

[sandy stone]

TL;DR Summary

File folder appears following specific search but not in normal File Explorer display

We bought a Win 10 computer last year after Microsoft's planned obsolescence program finally caught up with us, ending support for Vista. I held out as long as I could, since we had a computer that worked fine for our purposes, and Win 10 horror stories abounded, but finally had to give in. I transferred our important files over to the new machine using a portable hard drive.
Yesterday I had occasion to look for some old family photos, so I opened File Explorer and drilled down to where the pertinent folder should have appeared. It didn't, although all other folders (I think) containing family photos did. I wasn't quite ready to panic, since we had kept the old machine "just in case". I then went to the Search bar and entered the name of the folder, and Explorer immediately found it, and its contents.
So, what on Earth causes this behavior? I am tempted to blame OneDrive, AKA the Devil's File System. For crying out loud, the new machine has a 1TB hard drive, which we will never fill before planned obsolescence overtakes us once again. I want all my files stored locally, not transmitted across the internet, and I want them available even when I don't have an internet connection. I have no desire to sync files with other machines, despite Microsoft's continuing efforts to tell me what I really need (might I say, force me in that direction).
Question one: Why does File Explorer behave as I have experienced?
Question two: How can I get OneDrive out of my life permanently?

 

[anorlunda]

Yesterday I had occasion to look for some old family photos, so I opened File Explorer and drilled down to where the pertinent folder should have appeared. It didn't, although all other folders (I think) containing family photos did. I wasn't quite ready to panic, since we had kept the old machine "just in case". I then went to the Search bar and entered the name of the folder, and Explorer immediately found it, and its contents.

In other words, the photos were stored someplace different than where you expected them to be. Is that your fault or Window's fault?

 

[PeroK]

Question two: How can I get OneDrive out of my life permanently?

I'd look on line for ways to disable it. It's simple enough.

 

[sandy stone]

In other words, the photos were stored someplace different than where you expected them to be. Is that your fault or Window's fault?

My bad, you are correct - I didn't look closely enough at the path where Explorer found the pics. I stand by my comments about OneDrive, though.

 

[sandy stone]

I'd look on line for ways to disable it. It's simple enough.

Will do.

 

[Mark44]

We bought a Win 10 computer last year after Microsoft's planned obsolescence program finally caught up with us, ending support for Vista.

Wow, you really hung onto Vista for a long time! Vista was released at the beginning of 2007 and has been followed by Windows 7, Windows 8 (and 8.1), and Windows 10 in the meantime.

It's surprising to me that you hung onto Vista for so long, as it was one of the more criticized OS releases, in part because of its slowness. As far as planned obsolescence is concerned, it's not realistic IMO for a software company to support its products forever, endlessly patching them in efforts to thwart viruses, malware, and to fix the inevitable bugs that crop up.

Disclaimer: I worked for MSFT for 15 years and still own stock in the company, so my opinions might not be completely free of bias.

 

[anorlunda]

My choice for the Windows sweet spot was Windows 98. I'm using Windows 10 now, but I miss the simplicity of the 98 version. If I still had a copy to run, I wager that very few hackers today would target Win98.

 

[sandy stone]

Wow, you really hung onto Vista for a long time! Vista was released at the beginning of 2007 and has been followed by Windows 7, Windows 8 (and 8.1), and Windows 10 in the meantime.

It's surprising to me that you hung onto Vista for so long, as it was one of the more criticized OS releases, in part because of its slowness. As far as planned obsolescence is concerned, it's not realistic IMO for a software company to support its products forever, endlessly patching them in efforts to thwart viruses, malware, and to fix the inevitable bugs that crop up.

Disclaimer: I worked for MSFT for 15 years and still own stock in the company, so my opinions might not be completely free of bias.

You're absolutely right I held on a long time. I was familiar with Vista, it worked fine for me, and I kept hearing unpleasant things about Win 8 and 10. Plus, why spend another $500 - 1000 for a new machine just to run the latest and greatest. My old machine certainly wouldn't handle 10.
Now that I was forced into migrating, I have to say that I'm pretty unimpressed with Win 10, especially the built-in mail server and the way OneDrive is shoved down your throat.

 

[hutchphd]

My choice for the Windows sweet spot was Windows 98. I'm using Windows 10 now, but I miss the simplicity of the 98 version. If I still had a copy to run, I wager that very few hackers today would target Win98.

I still have a machine on the optics bench in my dungeon with WIN 98 on it. I keep it because I have several fiber optic spectrometers that are on EISA cards. It is always a joy to fire it up.
I think I would choose XP for my favorite feature/annoyance ratio. WIN 10 isn't too bad.

 

[symbolipoint]

sandy stone
I still have my Windows Vista laptop from, now almost twelve years ago, and it still works excellently. I use it regularly (along with newer Windows 10 machine). No trouble here with the Vista machine.

 

[DavidSnider]

To uninstall One Drive: Add Remove programs -> Apps & Features -> One Drive -> Uninstall.

Running unsupported operating systems (Win98, Vista, Windows 7) means you aren't getting any security patches because the vendor has decided to not patch them anymore.

It's true hackers probably aren't writing new exploits for them because there isn't much of a payoff for doing it, but they will still target that operating system because they know there are hundreds of existing vulnerabilities that will never get patched and they can just use automated exploits on those.

"planned obsolescence" is an unfair label to use here. The obsolescence isn't by design in most cases, it's because PCs double in power every few years and the world is taking advantage of that. When windows vista was released the average website was 600KB. Now it's almost 4MB.

It's like saying your dishwasher has planned obsolescence because your family is 6 times larger.

 

[anorlunda]

It's like saying your dishwasher has planned obsolescence because your family is 6 times larger.

Good analogy.

 

[sandy stone]

"planned obsolescence" is an unfair label to use here. The obsolescence isn't by design in most cases, it's because PCs double in power every few years and the world is taking advantage of that. When windows vista was released the average website was 600KB. Now it's almost 4MB.

All right, I will concede that point. I can't blame it all on the Evil Empire.

 

[davenn]

"planned obsolescence" is an unfair label to use here. The obsolescence isn't by design in most cases,

Rubbish, planned obsolescence is in almost all electronics.
I have had to deal with it in my electronics servicing work for the last 40 years
radio, TV, VCR's, computers, and GPS equip that I currently work on to name a few

These manufacturers blatantly state that they are not expecting more than 5 years
of support for a given make and model
Spare parts come off the shelf after 5-8 years time. The companies want you to upgrade to the latest and greatest. It's just unfortunate that the latest isn't always the greatest

Now that I was forced into migrating, I have to say that I'm pretty unimpressed with Win 10, especially the built-in mail server and the way OneDrive is shoved down your throat

I run Win10 on a number of devices... work PC and all the tablets we sell.
Home main PC a couple of laptops and a tablet. Win 10 has not major issues.
I don't use one drive or the built in mail server. You are not forced to use them
I'm still using the same email prog that I used on Win98, XP, 7, and now 10Dave

 

[DavidSnider]

Rubbish, planned obsolescence is in almost all electronics.
I have had to deal with it in my electronics servicing work for the last 40 years
radio, TV, VCR's, computers, and GPS equip that I currently work on to name a few

In the context of PCs why is this a bad thing though? Why would you spend extra money for long-lived parts or warehouses full of spares for something you know will not be able to keep up with the workload that will be asked of it 5 years down the road?

In the case of PCs, the latest is often not just better, but literally twice as good in a short period of time.

 

[davenn]

In the context of PCs why is this a bad thing though?

I never said it was

 

[BvU]

Someone close this thread !

 

[OCR]

Someone close this thread !

Lol. . . .

"planned obsolescence" is an unfair label to use here.

And remember. . . .

Windows 10 is often described by Microsoft as being a "service", as it receives regular feature updates that contain new features and other updates and fixes.

Windows 10 version history

Windows 10

.

 

[MikeeMiracle]

I am guessing you got logged into OneDrive because you signed in with a Microsoft account to Windows? You don't have to do this, you can setup as a regular local user like all other previous version of Windows. That way you don't have to worry about all this online synchronisation stuff.

I use local logins for all my Windows 10 installations.

When you are asked to create an account select the option to say your are a business and not a private individual. You will then see a new screen and get asked to join a domain, on that screen there is an option to configure a local account, that's the option you want.

 

[sandy stone]

I am guessing you got logged into OneDrive because you signed in with a Microsoft account to Windows? You don't have to do this, you can setup as a regular local user like all other previous version of Windows. That way you don't have to worry about all this online synchronisation stuff.

I use local logins for all my Windows 10 installations.

When you are asked to create an account select the option to say your are a business and not a private individual. You will then see a new screen and get asked to join a domain, on that screen there is an option to configure a local account, that's the option you want.

Good information, thanks!

 

[davenn]

OK, so WIN10 is playing up for me at the moment ... last 2 days

It won't open pdf files. When a pdf file is dbl clicked on, nothing happens
I have to shut down and restart the computer, then accessing pdf files work for some time
and then just stops working again

This has never happened before

 

[Tom.G]

Sounds like the PDF reader is running in the background in a confused state.

Bring up the Process List (I use a 3rd party one, so don't know how to access it; others here probably do) and kill the PDF reader if it's running. Then try opening the file again.

If it works, either uninstall/reinstall, update it, or get a different one.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[DrClaude]

This thread is unfortunately going into too many directions. Time to close.