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Vista File Attribute "N"
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Intuit View Drop Down
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Joined: 19 August 2006
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Posts: 83 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Intuit Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Vista File Attribute "N"
    Posted: 06 September 2008 at 5:49pm
Running Vista32 SP1 Ultimate under VPC. 
(for performance reasons had previously disabled the WSearch service by the way and incidently left the 'allow indexing' box for the C drive check-marked)
 
.
 
Did a few simple tests at the command console.
 
explorer c:\
 
cd /d c:\
 
type nul>test
md test2
 
<Explorer:  No 'N' attribute next to newly created file/folder>
<Attrib:  No 'I' attribute attached to newly created file/directory>
 
attrib +i test & attrib +i test2
 
<Explorer: little 'N' appears>
<Attrib: little 'I' attached>
 
attrib -i test & attrib -i test2
 
<Explorer: little 'N' attribute disappears>
<Attrib: little 'I' attribute disappears>
 
Conclusion ?  Seems that Vista Explorer labels the Non-Indexed attribute, "N" while the Vista command console Attrib utility labels the same Non-Indexed attribute, "I".
 
Confusing ?


Edited by Intuit - 06 September 2008 at 5:59pm
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Posts: 1 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Bo_Cato Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 December 2007 at 4:55pm
Perhaps my recent experience will add to this.

I have some configuration files that I use an application to open but I had forgotten where they were saved. So I opened the app and chose to open a configuration file through the app's open dialog. Used the drop down in the app's open dialog to see where the files were stored. The path showed as c:\program files (x86)\someapp\

I used windows explorer to navigate to that folder and to my surprise the files were not there.  I still had the application open so I right clicked on the files via the app's open dialog, selected properties and noticed in details the attribute field showed "AN". I'd never heard of N before.

What I discovered is that the files really really aren't in that directory. They were actually in "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\someapp\"

VirtualStore is a new directory to me. The AppData directory under c:\users\username\ is a hidden directory, but easily viewable if you choose to see hidden files and folders in the file explorer view menu.

Seems for some files, vista stores them in the virtualstore directory and presents a virtual copy to the application if it looks inside program files(x86). It had me very confused. So apparently in this context the 'N' means virtual.

Anyone else experience this?

-b
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Posts: 43 		Post Options Post Options   Quote paultait Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 April 2007 at 10:12pm
This article explains that the indexing service which runs at SYSTEM level locks un-indexed files for 1-5 minutes and gives err=5 access denied

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/329065
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Posts: 43 		Post Options Post Options   Quote paultait Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 April 2007 at 9:37pm
Just found this googling in groups for FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NOT_CONTENT_INDEXED
So it looks like my theory that the indexing service has the file locked may be right

I guess for testing purposes you were copying large amount of
files/directories to your temp directory. When files/directories are copied
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NOT_CONTENT_INDEXED attributes is set on them and then removed by the indexing service??(hope someone can explain the internals of this behavior). But it takes sometime till the attribute is removed from all the files/dirs
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Posts: 43 		Post Options Post Options   Quote paultait Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 April 2007 at 7:07pm
Maybe you only get it with Vista Business ????

I'm going to write a small C program to dump the file attributes and ses which flag the N attribute sets. I'll let you know the result

Paul Tait
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Posts: 17492 		Post Options Post Options   Quote molotov Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 April 2007 at 8:49am
Unfortunately, out of 55156 files on my system none have an 'N' attribute.Confused
Daily affirmation:
net helpmsg 4006
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Posts: 43 		Post Options Post Options   Quote paultait Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 April 2007 at 9:32pm
First I've tried the search attributes:an and it didn't work. But once you've found an N file just try changing perms or adding another user to the perms

Paul
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Posts: 17492 		Post Options Post Options   Quote molotov Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 April 2007 at 7:31am
So if I go into Vista, do a "Start > Search", and type "attributes:an" into the top right search box, what do I need to do to get the "error 5 access denied" error you are seeing?
Daily affirmation:
net helpmsg 4006
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Posts: 43 		Post Options Post Options   Quote paultait Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 April 2007 at 6:59am
I first noticed the attributes when I tried to merge some c++ source files across the the network. We looked at the files in the directory using file explorer with "attrib" column switched. ATTRIB at the dos prompt also showed the N attribute. Naturally I typed attrib /? but it only documents the I or indexed attribute. The only way we've found so far to removed the N attribute is to copy the files and then delete the originals. using fopen()/fclose we have been able to create files with the N attribute. All these files are in %LOCALAPPDATA% so I dont think its a vista file protection problem. I still dont see why a "not indexed" file should be protected ie error 5 access denied. I am wondering if it means not indexed YET if it is maybe the file indexing system exclusively locks the file till it has scanned it. Otherwise I'm stumped. It sure is exciting though finding a seemingly undocumented feature after using Vista for only 2 days
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Posts: 17492 		Post Options Post Options   Quote molotov Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 April 2007 at 8:22am
Saw your discussion @ "attrib AN"; '"N" attribute. What does it signify?' seems to indicate that the N is for "Not Content Indexed".  Do you find this to be inaccurate?
 
How did an error present itself to you, and what was the exact message?
 
Did you use FileMon / Process Monitor to determine what precisely the failure was?


Edited by molotov - 26 April 2007 at 7:28am
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