Removing desktop.ini from the default exclusion list doesn't work - desktop.ini still doesn't get uploaded

[Eldaw]

MEGAsync on Windows 10 refuses to upload hidden desktop.ini files in my folder syncs. Even after removing desktop.ini from the default list of excluded files, it still doesn't upload the desktop.ini files in my folders.

I know what desktop.ini files are for, and I know why they're excluded by default. But if I choose to sync them (by removing desktop.ini from the exclusion list), then they should get uploaded when syncing.

[vtmateos]

Hi, Did you restart the client once you remove that exclusion? It is mandatory to do it in orde to work. Thanks.

[Eldaw]

@vtmateos Hi, yes I've restarted the client many times since removing that exclusion.

[vtmateos]

Thanks for the feedback. Please contact our support team so you can provide us some log files and extra information to check what can be hapenning.

[Eldaw]

@vtmateos I did already contact support via the app, and several days later I received an email from the support team telling me about there being a good reason for the exclusion list, what desktop.ini files are, etc., and a lot of other information that wasn't really relevant. So I'm not so keen to continue trying to go down that route.

I also have a separate, paid account on a different computer that experiences the same problem. So I'm 100% confident it's a bug in the client. If you're so inclined, it would take 1 minute to test this and confirm this yourself. All of your sync folders in Windows 10 will already have a desktop.ini file inside them if you have MEGA overlays enabled (because MEGAsync will customize the folder icon and add a folder tooltip). Remember that desktop.ini files will always have the HIDDEN and SYSTEM attributes set. So all you need to do is remove the desktop.ini exclusion in your client, do a restart/full scan, and then check for yourself whether syncing results in desktop.ini being uploaded or not. I think your findings will match mine.

[vtmateos]

Thanks for the information. We will investigate the issue and get back to you with a resolution.

[mattw-mega]

Hi Eldaw, thanks for noting that the desktop.ini files are HIDDEN and SYSTEM. Historically, MEGAsync has always ignored files and folders that have both of those attributes set (with hard-coded logic), possibly for exactly this reason (to not sync desktop.ini), but also because there are some very important windows OS files that should not be synced that have that combination. So, that explains the behaviour you see. Can you provide any reason why desktop.ini should be synced though? The data in it is specific to the machine and filesystem that it was generated on, and won't do you any good in the cloud or synced to another machine, and I think would be more likely to cause you problems. Or could even lead to cyclical syncing if you have the same folder synced to two machines, and each one keeps overwriting the desktop.ini because it's not right for that machine, then that gets synced to the other machine, that machine "fixes" it, that gets synced back, etc, and on the cycle would go. thanks

[Eldaw]

@mattw-mega My reason for wanting to sync desktop.ini is because I periodically check that my synced folders in the cloud contain exactly the same number of files and folders as those that are stored locally. I right-click the folders that are in the cloud, choose 'Info' and look at the file and folder counts. I then right-click and choose 'Properties' on my local folders, and then compare the numbers. For each separate sync folder, the count of the files in the cloud is off by 1, because each one contains a desktop.ini locally but not in the cloud. I thought that if I just force the MEGAsync client to sync those desktop.ini files, then I won't need to take into account any differences when comparing counts of files.

I see what you're saying about the syncing of desktop.ini potentially being problematic if you have the same folder syncing to multiple machines.

I think that at the very least, that hidden rule that MEGAsync uses, i.e. that files that are both HIDDEN and SYSTEM are excluded, should be visible in the UI to avoid confusion.

[mattw-mega]

I see, thanks for explaining. I think in that case, it would be more useful generally to add a feature that performs that comparison for you, with a report that shows files/folder counts locally and remotely for the sync (which you can check), but also with a list of the discrepancies and why those exist, showing that the direct counts plus the discrepancies all add up and make the numbers match between local/remote. That would cover your case, and also others where it's files/folders other than desktop.ini (eg, there is a similar file .DS_store generated by Mac machines). I'll open a ticket for that. thanks