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

Anonymous

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.

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Anonymous

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.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

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

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65 additional answers

Anonymous

2014-01-07T08:04:09+00:00

I'm sharing what I found out from my interaction with MS engineers.

This is not a bug. It's a new Windows 8.1 feature. This folder is added so that Search Indexer can determine whether it has seen the removable media before or not. This is required for enabling fast search on SD cards, thumb drives, etc. so they can be used for expanded Library storage on devices with small internal memory like the Surface RT, Dell Venue 8 Pro, etc.

-Eliyas

Thanks for reply Eliyas. At least we now know what the issue is. Do you think the aforementioned MS engineers will make it possible to turn off this "feature" in a future patch?
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Anonymous

2014-01-07T00:50:07+00:00

I'm sharing what I found out from my interaction with MS engineers.

This is not a bug. It's a new Windows 8.1 feature. This folder is added so that Search Indexer can determine whether it has seen the removable media before or not. This is required for enabling fast search on SD cards, thumb drives, etc. so they can be used for expanded Library storage on devices with small internal memory like the Surface RT, Dell Venue 8 Pro, etc.

-Eliyas
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Anonymous

2014-01-03T04:29:15+00:00
Hi

I have exactly the same problem here. Windows 8.1 creates this folder on any USB/Flash drive I plug in. It has only started happening since I upgraded to 8.1. Things I do know
1. It has nothing to do with system restore
2. It is not a virus
3. So far, all MS support staff seem to do is post generic half baked replies that do not address the issue
4. It is a BUG in Win 8.1
5. People have posted re this issue on other support forums.
6. It would be nice if MS could fix the BUG
Thank You
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