Windows 7 “Folders Appear Empty” When Accessed Over Network (SMB)

When connecting to a Windows 7 PC over SMB file sharing, you may find that shared folders appear empty even though you know they contain files.

If you don't see any folders, check for the following problems.

• Folder Not Shared

You might not have shared a folder yet. There are instructions on how to do this at the link below.

• No Admin Shares

Admin Shares usually have a name with a $ at the end, but FileBrowser will show these as drive letters, such as C:, D: etc. You may need to enable Admin Share viewing in FileBrowser. Bring up FileBrowser's Config Page to see the 'Show Admin Shares' switch in the 'File Browsing Preferences' section. More information about Admin shares is available from the link below.

• No Rights to See Shares

The computer or network storage device you connected to may not allow you to see all the available shares. In this case you need to add a share name to the list manually:

1. Tap the machine entry to show the empty shares list.
2. Tap the '+' or 'Add Share' button (top-right of the screen).
3. Enter the name of the share.
4. You may append a path to the share name if you need to jump straight to a particular folder, for example:
MyShareName/Path1/Path2