Kodi Not Scraping

If the System Attribute flag is set on a Windows folder containing a movie, TV shows or music, then Kodi (XBMC) and Mediaportal will fail to register that these folders even exist during a scrape. This means that media inside them will not show in the integrated file managers and will be missing from the relevant media libraries. These folders are simply ignored during scrapes.

This problem seems to be specific to the Windows operating system. Scraping the same media from a Linux-based Kodi installation will work perfectly.

My Specific Problem

I have three media centres around the house, all being fed by a Synology Network Attached Storage (NAS) that stores all my media files. Two machines have Kodi installations on Linux operating systems. The main machine has a Kodi and Mediaportal installation on Windows 7 64-bit. On this machine, access to the NAS media is obtained by a network mounted drive under a local drive letter, “Y:”. That drive source has been added to Kodi and Mediaportal.

Initially, the addition of new media to the NAS caused no problems until I began to use a computer running Ubuntu to rename media files before moving those files to the appropriate folders on the network attached drive.

FileBot, the file renaming tool for Linux-based operating systems, seemed to be causing the problem by generating the Windows System attribute on renamed folders.

Although the two Kodi installations on Linux were able to scrape this new media successfully, the Windows installations of Kodi and Mediaportal were unsuccessful. The video files were missing from media libraries and could not be seen in the file managers. Windows explorer however, showed the folders and their contained files. The folders were there in the directory listing but were being ignored during the scraping process.

Solution

1) Go through the steps outlined in  the Kodi wiki for Incorrect and Missing Videos.

2) Determine if the System Attribute flag is on for missing videos:

By default, folder and file attributes are not displayed in Windows Explorer, but they can be enabled quite easily. Navigate to your media library. Right click on the column header and select Attributes. If Attributes is not visible, click on More… and select it from the list.

File Attributes Enabled in Windows Explorer

Look down your list of folders while paying attention to the attributes column on the right. Identify the folders that have the System attribute switched on. This will be denoted with an “S”.

The basic attributes list:

• R – Read Only
• H – Hidden
• A – Archived
• S – System
• D – Directory

3) Deselect the System Attribute flag on folders:

There are two ways to remove the System Attribute flag on a folder.

i) The first way is to use the DOS command attrib in an elevated cmd window to change file and folder attributes. Due to the complexity and length of some of my file paths, I opted not to use this and use the next option instead.

ii) Download Attribute Changer, a very useful tool to do the work with just a few simple clicks.

Once installed, a simple right click on a folder or file displays the option to Change Attributes…

Selecting this option and then the Folder Properties tab shows the available attributes that can be removed or added.

Remove the folder’s System Attribute flag by unticking System in the Folder Properties tab. Click OK.

Refresh the directory listing to ensure that the flag has been removed.

Launch Kodi or Mediaportal to update your media library.

References:-

Tech Support Forum – Folders Stuck On Read Only