Cannot see a folder

[drhxplorer]

Running 2.1.0.2 [Ansi] LITE 5/23/2012 on Windows 7.

I can see this folder
C:\Windows\System32\drivers


But I cannot see this folder
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

This folder is visible in Windows Explorer.

What gives?

[Kilmatead]

I'll assume your Windows 7 is actually x64, whereas x2 lite is 32-bit only.  The 'etc' folder exists only in x64 System32 folder and doesn't exist in SysWOW64 which is what you are actually browsing when using a 32-bit programme  - regardless of what the display actually tells you (WOW64 stands for "Windows [x86] on Windows64").  The built-in Windows Explorer is itself x64, thus it goes to the appropriate folder.

x2 does have an x64 version, but it is not free, except as a trial.

[drhxplorer]

Thank you for your help.  However, I would understand your comments except for one little detail.

The folder x2 doesn't 'see' is actually there.  xplorer2 lite just doesn't show it to me.

I open Windows Explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

I open xplorer2 and go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers and there is no \etc subfolder showing.

[Kilmatead]

This "one little detail" is a rather difficult one to explain.  (I shall try again - take a deep breath.)

The folder x2 doesn't 'see' is actually there.  xplorer2 lite just doesn't show it to me.

That's because (as I said) when you browse to what you believe to be "C:\Windows\System32\drivers" using a 32-bit explorer programme (such as x2 Lite), you are not actually going to that location.  What you are actually looking at are the contents of "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\drivers" - and you will notice (if you explicitly go to that location) there is no "etc" folder in existence.

I realise this may not make sense to you, but it's how Microsoft has designed its x64 implementations to work.  And Microsoft never intended anyone to use an x86 file explorer on an x64 system, particularly when snooping around within the C:\Windows folder itself .  (This is also why many shell-extensions won't work properly for you, the Shell itself is structured differently.)

Essentially SysWOW64 contains x86 duplicates of "almost" everything in the System32 folder which holds the actual 64-bit components.  If you ever wondered why an x64 installation of Windows takes up more space than an x86 one, there's your reason: Windows requires two sets of everything in order to accommodate whatever is needed.  However, a few things are not duplicated (such as this "etc" folder) - usually things which are reserved runtime system resources for x64 (it would not make sense to have x86 copies of such things as they would never be used).

This is not actually a problem with x2 Lite specifically (all 32-bit file managers will behave the same way).  The only way around it is to use an x64 file manager when using x64 Windows.

[nikos]

what you need is the 64 bit xplorer2 (free trial)

www.zabkat.com/x2-64bit.htm