A weird case of missing system files/folders

Weird case.

I have 2 identical laptops, running Windows 10 1511 Pro and identical
software. I keep all data always in sync via OneDrive -- use one in the
office and one out.

The only difference between them is that one runs 10586.679, which was
freshly installed by me; the other 10586.494 upgraded in place from
Windows 7 by previous owner.

When I compare the contents of drive C:, both have the following:

Perflogs
Program Files
Program Files (x86)
ProgramData
temp
Users
Windows
AMTAG.BIN

but the 679 also has the following:

swapfile.sys
pagefile.sys
hiberfile.sys
BOOTNXT
bootmgr
System Volume Information
Recovery
Output
$recycle.bin
drvtmp
Documents and Settings
boot

It seems to me that these are required files and should be on both systems.
Yet one laptop seems to run without them.

Does anybody have any idea what's going on? Should I worry? Anything I
need to do to fix?

I imagine that in the second one (679) you have "hide protected operating system files" unticked in options.

Show Hidden Files, Folders, and Drives in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

The swapfile.sys etc are there in both you just aren't seeing it in the first as it is a system file and it defaults to hiding it.

Thanks.

Nope -- the "Show system files" is checked.

Perhaps try to open an elevated command prompt on the .494 one and try dir c:\ and then dir /a c:\

The /a switch means "show all" so you should (hopefully) see the "missing" files/directories.

You should see a difference like this:

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>dir c:\
 Volume in drive C is Windows
 Volume Serial Number is 96FA-E594

 Directory of c:\

06/06/2018  00:06    <DIR>          boot
12/04/2018  01:38    <DIR>          PerfLogs
23/07/2018  22:46    <DIR>          Program Files
18/06/2018  13:07    <DIR>          Program Files (x86)
02/05/2018  11:45    <DIR>          Users
19/07/2018  18:31    <DIR>          Windows
               1 File(s)         78,394 bytes
               6 Dir(s)  20,714,823,680 bytes free

C:\Windows\system32>dir /a c:\
 Volume in drive C is Windows
 Volume Serial Number is 96FA-E594

 Directory of c:\

02/05/2018  12:23    <DIR>          $Recycle.Bin
06/06/2018  00:06    <DIR>          boot
02/05/2018  09:55    <JUNCTION>     Documents and Settings [C:\Users]
23/07/2018  21:25    <DIR>          OneDriveTemp
24/07/2018  14:02     2,323,394,560 pagefile.sys
12/04/2018  01:38    <DIR>          PerfLogs
23/07/2018  22:46    <DIR>          Program Files
18/06/2018  13:07    <DIR>          Program Files (x86)
22/07/2018  04:41    <DIR>          ProgramData
02/05/2018  09:55    <DIR>          Recovery
19/07/2018  19:36        16,777,216 swapfile.sys
19/07/2018  18:32    <DIR>          System Volume Information
02/05/2018  11:45    <DIR>          Users
19/07/2018  18:31    <DIR>          Windows
               3 File(s)  2,340,250,170 bytes
              12 Dir(s)  20,714,823,680 bytes free

C:\Windows\system32>

Thanks.

Yup, they did appear.

So the question is what is the setting that makes them appear on one and not the other?
So that I can hide them on both.

There are two settings - turn off "Show Hidden Files" and turn on "Hide Operating System Files". Both are explained in the Tutorial above.

Like this:

Ah, I should have figured it out. Thanks.

Just did that, but there are still several that stay visible that are not in the other:

Output
drvtmp
temp
boot

Any idea what they are and whether they are required?

OK, three were empty and I just deleted them.
One is for an application.
So everything is clear. Thanks for all the help.