It is just the beta.. ? or all version ? all folder location ?
It's just the beta. I always do this when I install a new program or a update. Do you never use protected folders? Do you start your MC as Admin? My Windows account is an admin account. Maybe that's the difference.
I know what network shares are.. you talked about checking symbols and stuff..
I have not seen any issues with accessing a network shares, uses it daily my self without any issue
Method A and Method B works not for me, maybe you have different settings.
Not sure I understand what you issue is.. something with network connection ?
So you only got the problem in beta. strange. absolutely nothing is changed about browsing file shares.
There is a difference in User mode and elevated to admin mode, By default they do not share mapped network drives. but that is a registry settings for windows. But I guess that is not the issue.
Browse network method is depending on how you network setup looks like. Windows got 3 different ways to do it. and they all do different things.. Looking in the log (ctrl+L) and it will output everything it finds
But you can "pin" server in the network (NET:) and they will always be shown there, It will cache it.. and you can often just access directly without scanning again