topic Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions in ONTAP Discussions

unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

haven2008 — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 15:13:35 GMT

Hi all,

We`ve migrated our CIFS Environment from 7-Mode to cDOT.

Now we have the Problem that Snapshots are not visible in Windows Explorer / Proberties / Previous Versions.

I can see all Snapshot when open Drive or UNC Path \~snapshot, but in Explorer i get the Message : there are no previous versions available.

Snapshot Directory is always set to visivle in Volume /Snapshot Configuration.

our System:

Ontap 9.1

CIFS

Windows 7/10

Maybe someone has an Idea what cause this Issue.

Regards,

Mario

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

mbeattie — Tue, 11 Apr 2017 23:27:02 GMT

Hi Mario,

Have you checked the storage configuration in comparison to the details of the following KB

https://kb.netapp.com/support/s/article/ka71A00000002k2QAA/how-to-control-access-to-a-snapshot-directory-in-clustered-data-ontap

Does the issue exist for all users and CIFS shares? Have you checked the CIFS Share ACL's and NTFS permissions?

If the CIFS share is created on a qtree or folder within the volume have you tried browing snapshots from the root of the volume?

/Matt

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

haven2008 — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 07:44:26 GMT

Hi Matt,

Thank you for replay.

I guess that Snapshot Proberites for Volumes and Share are correct .

Running a Console Command shows me for Shares: showsnapshot and for Volumes: Snapshot Dir Aceesss-enabled = true

All CIFS Volunes/Folders are transitioned from 7-Mode and just located directly on Volumes,so Permissions does not changed.

I am as a member of the Builtin\Administrators and Domain Admin should have all necessary rights, but still see Snapshots only when type a Path followedby \~snapshot.

ex. \\VSM\volume\~snashot or \\VSM\share\~snapshot.

Regards,

Mario

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

STEVEWILLSQ — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 09:25:54 GMT

Does this article line up with your scenario at all?

https://kb.netapp.com/support/s/article/ka61A0000004LlqQAE/Windows-Previous-Versions-tab-may-fail-to-enumerate-some-snapshots-for-SMB-CIFS-shares-in-clustered-Data-ONTAP-and-ONTAP-9?t=1491988834214

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

haven2008 — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 10:23:53 GMT

well, seems to be i`ve to upgrade my Ontap to 9.1P1

many Thanks for the Link -was very helpfull

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

BRIAN_BERKLEY — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 20:43:00 GMT

We're running Ontap 9.1P1 and are experiencing the same issues.

CIFS volumes/shares in qtree's migrated from a 7-Mode HA Pair running 8.2.4P4 using the 7-MTT.

I can list the snapshots via cmd prompt, then type in .snapshot\snapshot_dir_name in Windows Explorer to list the snapshots in that directory.

The snapshot directory visible setting is enabled on each share, and snapdir-access is true at the volume.

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

BRIAN_BERKLEY — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 20:56:11 GMT

I created a volume on a CIFS SVM, created a share on it, enabled show snapshot directory, and when I browse that share, I see the snapshot directory. I snapped the volume, and renamed a test directory in the share, and still do not see anything on the previous versions tab, but the original directory name is visible in the ~snapshot\snapshot_datestamp_timestamp directory.

My end users rely on this functionality. I checked the show symlinks options on the shares, and everything appears correct.

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

BRIAN_BERKLEY — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 22:40:28 GMT

The test share I created now shows previous versions when the hourly.XX snapshots took place.

None of the migrated shares show them.

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

BRIAN_BERKLEY — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 13:43:25 GMT

I started removing snapshots created on the 7-Mode system that were migrated with the volumes/qtrees/shares, and the ~snapshot directory is visible now with folder options tweaked to show all files. Still not showing up in Previous Versions tab.

I tried restarting CIFS on that SVM, no change in the Previous Versions tab.

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

Kosta93 — Tue, 23 May 2017 11:48:10 GMT

Hello,

we've had the same problem after migrating from 7-Mode to cDOT using the 7-MTT.

Are the share-properties "showsnapshot" and "show-previous-versions" set on your shares?

It seems that these attributes are not migrated by the 7-MTT.

You can check this like this:

share properties show -vserver <vserver-name> -share-name <share-name>

If the options are not set, you can set them using the following commands:

share properties add -vserver <vserver-name> -share-name <share-name> -share-properties showsnapshot

share properties add -vserver <vserver-name> -share-name <share-name> -share-properties show-previous-versions

Afterwards the explorer.exe has to be restarted.

We had to add "showsnapshot" AND "show-previous-versions", one of them was not enough.

This was the solution in our case, hope that it'll help you too.

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

BRIAN_BERKLEY — Tue, 23 May 2017 13:27:51 GMT

The show-previous-versions was the issue. It doesn't transition with volumes migrated with the 7-MTT.

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

mhpremier — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 00:36:18 GMT

Kosta93's solution worked for us follwing migration to ONTAP 9. You can run the command in one line, though I couldn't find a way to change multiplie shares with a one-liner.

share properties add -vserver <vserver-name> -share-name <share-name> -share-properties showsnapshot, show-previous-versions

Re: unable to see snapshots in Windows Explorer - Previous Versions

Stefan_Gutlederer — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 12:16:13 GMT

If you simply want to set it on all shares you can use * for the share name or a partial name with a * to act as a wildcard. Even though the filer will likely give some errors for the admin and ipc shares it works fine for the others

yourvservername::*> vserver cifs share properties add -vserver yourvservername -share-name * -share-properties show-previous-versions

Error: command failed on vserver "yourvservername" share-name "admin$": Failed to modify CIFS share "admin$". Reason: Cannot modify the share-properties of the standard share "admin$".

Warning: Do you want to continue running this command? {y|n}: y

Error: command failed on vserver "yourvservername" share-name "ipc$": Failed to modify CIFS share "ipc$". Reason: Cannot modify the share-properties of the standard share "ipc$".

Warning: Do you want to continue running this command? {y|n}: y

259 entries were acted on.

yourvservername::*>