In Windows Explorer list, file modified date not showing but exists

A

alharris

I use the detailed listing of files. For some reason, the "date modified" field is blank for many files. However, it exists, since it can be seen when clicking on "properties", and also explorer can order the files by "date modified" even though the date is not visible. This occurs for some files not all. Is there a way to somehow restore the field information?
Thanks
 
update on lost modified date

Found that on the missing files the "modified date" was 12/31/1969. I suspect that for some reason during one session XP lost the correct date and put in that one, and that during that session it changed the "date modified" flag to 1969 for every file in every folder I accessed (the folder itself retained the correct date, for some reason).

So I guess the fix is to copy those files over from a backup, since that should restore the correct modified date.

I gather that Windows Explorer does not want to display dates that old. Do not know why XP chose 1969 at its default year....
 
The appearance and behavior of folder in Windows XP is controlled by the (normally hidden) desktop.ini file.

In Windows Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options and select the View tab
Select the radio button to show hidden files, etc.
UNcheck the box to hide protected operating system files
OK your way out, including any "do you really want to do this" questions

Now that you can see desktop.ini, if you want to make the folder look and act like a normal folder, just delete desktop.ini and then reset the changes you made to hide system and hidden files.

For more details, see these articles:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/cc144102(v=vs.85).aspx
http://hwiegman.home.xs4all.nl/desktopini.html
Click to expand...

above from here

==========

if some modification has been done without your input, then it might be malware:

do the following:

Download, install, update and do full scan with these free malware detection programs:

Malwarebytes Free (MBAM): http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/

SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

Remove all found, reboot, and run again until scans run clean, these can be removed afterwards if you so choose. Run scans one at a time, please.

what is your current antivirus??
 
Thanks - no malware. Since the "date modified" field for the affected files has the 1969 date, changing the desktop.ini will not get me what I want, which to change that date.

I suspect the only thing I can do is change that date - but there are too many to change using a "change attribute" tool, so I am planning on copying them over from a backup, using SynchToy, which will replace the "1969" dated files with ones with the accurate "date modified" field.

To do this, I tried searching for the files that had the 1969 date, but XP "search for files and folders" does not allow that year! Would be great if I could change something that would allow me to see all the affected files - any ideas?

Thanks,
 
I use search companion and there is a section to search for when modified, and if you put in **1969 you should find only those affected.
 
Yep, tried that, but the search companion in XP does not accept 1969 as a valid year - it automatically changes it to 2015.

However, I found SearchMyFiles, a freeware program that does what I want.

Thanks again.
 
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