NTFS Root Volume Shares And SFM

Windows NT Server Services For Macintosh and Command-Click

We have had several reports that on Mac OS 8.5 clients, command-clicking on a title bar of an NT Server Services for Macintosh volume won't open the pop-up menu.

What's Happening

The problem appears related to the fact that NTFS volumes always have the FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN property on the root directory of the volume. I've heared this is because NTFS uses these bits on the root directory to indicate that the file system is NTFS and not FAT.

If you use the Win32 API GetFIleAttributes on the ROOT directory of an NTFS volume (for example, "e:\"), it always has the FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN bit. However, if you use his same API against a subdirectory (say,"e:\myshare"), it will only have this bit set if someone set it. Using Explorer, you can view the properties of a subdirectory by right clicking. However, if you select a root directory and do properties, you do not see the various file system attributes -- you only get the volume information (label, file system, capacity).

This FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN bit is translated by SFM into the AFP protocol as the folder being invisible. In the Finder, when it attempts to show the folder hierarchy, it gets confused because the root is "invisible" and consequently doesn't show the hierarchy.

Conclusion

If you share an ENTIRE VOLUME with SFM, you will experience the problem, because SFM translates the volume's root directory "hidden" flag as "invisible" to the Finder, and the Finder behaves as such. However, if you share a SUBFOLDER of an NTFS volume with SFM, you will be OK, unless you specifically set the "Hidden" attribute on the folder in Windows.

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Last modified: 04 June 2005