How do I prevent system volume information files from showing up in my usb flash drive?

Anonymous
2013-10-28T16:13:30+00:00

I recently upgraded to Windows 8.1 once it was made available to me via the app store. I noticed the other day when I had transfered some music to my game console that I had a folder titled "System Volume Information" on the root of my flash drive. I didn't know what it was so I deleted it and went about my business. I did the same thing today and there it was. So I deleted it and plugged it back into my laptop this time only to remove it again and return to the game console to reproduce the issue. Same as before. So I'd like to know step by step how to prevent these folders from being stored in my flash drive. I know these are not harmful files but it is irritating to have them stored on the flash drive. I don't want to have to constantly delete it all the time either. Especially when I know this used to never be an issue before.

I saw this and was able to make the files visable but I was confused about what to do in the command prompt.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2014-01-08T02:25:00+00:00

There is a group policy option to turn off this feature. Enable Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Search \ Do not allow locations on removable drives to be added to libraries.

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2014-01-08T11:18:49+00:00

There is a group policy option to turn off this feature. Enable Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Search \ Do not allow locations on removable drives to be added to libraries.

Thanks for taking the time to investigate this Eliyas. That fix has worked for me. Just a heads up to anyone else reading this post, AFAIK this will only work in Win 8.1 Pro or Enterprise as other Win 8.1 versions do not have GPEDIT

Was this answer helpful?

10 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

65 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Deleted

    This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.

    Comments have been turned off. Learn more

  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-29T14:27:01+00:00

    I am getting this on network drives! This is a fairly serious issue that needs to be elevated. The network drives don't even appear in the protection settings to disable system restore.

    Using a 3rd party program to map Amazon S3 storage to my Windows 8.1 PC as a network drive. When I reboot my machine each of these mapped network drive has a System Volume Information folder created with a IndexerVolumeGuid file.

    This issue was not a problem with Windows 8, is not a problem on Windows 7 - only since updating to Windows 8.1

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-29T10:10:27+00:00

     

    System Volume Information folder is necessary for system restore to work

    But not on a removable flash drive used to move files from one machine to another!!!!!!! (Which is what the OP is talking about....)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments