SOLVED: How to display HIDDEN SYSTEM files

[aml]

Hidden files are displayed. (as wanted by me)
System files are displayed. (ditto)
Hidden system files are NOT displayed.

So I checked "Advanced Settings" and "Layout Settings" there, and under "Miscellaneous" there, it says "Show all hidden files, including protected OS", and CHECKED that box, i.e. turned it ON, but to no avail: Hidden system files remain to be NOT displayed.

In "Options" (not: "Advanced Options"), there is the tab "General" with "Show Hidden files and folders" which is ON of course.
Also, there is the tab "Advanced", with a button "folder options" which leads to the WINDOWS folder options.

In that WINDOWS folder options, there is the tab "Display", and there, in the "Advanced Settings" list, the entry "Hidden files and folders": The default there is "HIDE hidden files and folders", so I switched that to "DISPLAY ALL files and folders", but to no avail.

In the same list (i.e. in the WINDOWS folder), there is also the setting "Hide protected system files", which is ON by default.

When I set that setting to OFF, even the "hidden-system" combi is displayed in x2 (while it is displayed without all that fuss in other file managers).

So my problem is resolved, and this will help others, but of course some questions remain:

Why the settings (see above) in x2 when in fact their scope is much less broad than these settings imply?
Why the button leading to the WINDOWS settings on ANOTHER tab in the x2 settings than the (not sufficient) one mentioned above? That redirect-to-Windows-settings button should be placed immediately under the x2 option, not far away onto another tab. (And perhaps a footnote: "X2 setting will only show hidden OR system files, displaying hidden system files possible by the Windows settings:", then the button

And rant in the direction of Windows: Why have a prominent folder symbol for "Hidden files and folders" and treat "hidden system fildes" in another entry far away from that? Well, that's Windows style anyway, isn't it.

[nikos]

xplorer2 and windows settings are largely separate. Only this "super hidden" files setting shared, because there is no documented way to do it in windows XP except for system folder options. For all other options you need to find them inside xplorer2

[Kilmatead]

Why the settings (see above) in x2 when in fact their scope is much less broad than these settings imply?

As well as what Nikos said, this is also kind of a fubar legacy thing. x2 used to handle hidden objects in an "all or nothing" fashion, where Nikos maintained that all objects hidden were hidden "for a reason", system, or otherwise. What he neglected to take into account was that that's not how users actually think of it in the real world.

And so, in the time-honoured tradition of developers messing with things claiming to fix them, he attempted to appease the howling masses by providing more options as well as obeying the directives found in the Windows Explorer settings.

Inevitably, this led to civil war, resurrection of the auto-da-fé, a ruined economy, and general mayhem.

So... yeah. Now I just back away slowly from such questions and congratulate you on getting out alive by the strengths of your own guile and cunning.

[aml]

Kilmatead, thank you for your explanations; I hadn't been aware that MS thinks the combi between hidden and system gains some completely new quality; in other file managers, I hadn't had a special problem with those.

BUT would it be possible to get rid of those awful confirmation dialogs that pop up in x2 every time I move or rename system files?

In other file managers, I can do such moves and especially renames without such confirmation, and I do lots of these!

Of course, not with real system files in real system folders, but with files I just declare to be system files. Those dialogs in x2 are not x2 dialogs either, but Windows dialogs obviously (different languages), but x2 forces them upon me, it seems (or did I overlook the respective option setting?), while other file managers do not.

I put the question here because it's obviously in rapport with what you say above... ;-(

[Kilmatead]

Such warnings, including the commonly annoying one when changing a file's extension, are provided by the Windows Shell itself (as a reasonable safety mechanism that Windows Explorer uses).

That said, to bypass that message as well as the irksome "System file" warning, use <Ctrl+F2> to rename items.

Regrettably, I do not know of a way to suppress the system-file modals on "Move" operations.

If you (for some nefarious reason of your own) are utilising the "System" attribute merely as a means to differentiate some files from others, you could trying experimenting with other (less volatile) attributes such as "Temporary", etc to accomplish a similar task. Unfortunately using such attributes in practice within x2 is impractical as they cannot be targeted for searches or even displayed as part of the normal attribute scheme, but perhaps with enough public support and lobbying from the Irish Mafia, Nikos could be persuaded... one never knows...

Though, at a guess, he would probably just tell me to get off my lazy arse and write a TC Plugin for that kind of thing. Hmm... <strokes beard in menacingly-contemplative fashion>...