This appears to be an HxD bug because Windows Explorer lists the files correctly, as does "Everything" from voidtools.com. Also, I can switch hard drives on my computer and boot to a different hard drive. Then I can see the formerly inaccessible files because Windows has now reassigned the drive letter, in my case it becomes U:\Windows\System32\drivers\ . When I use this second hard drive as a boot drive, the files on it in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\drivers\ are incorrectly listed under C:\Windows\System32\drivers\, repeating the same type of error made when the first hard drive was the boot drive.
My operating system is Windows 7 Professional, 64 bit. The version of HxD I have is 1.7.7.0.
Here is a possible cause. Quoting from http://www.samlogic.net/articles/32-64- ... swow64.htm :
But what about 32-bit applications that have the system path hard coded and is running in a 64-bit Windows? How can they find the new SysWOW64 folder without changes in the program code, you might think. The answer is that the emulator redirects calls to System32 folder to the SysWOW64 folder transparently so even if the folder is hard coded to the System32 folder (like C:\Windows\System32), the emulator will make sure that the SysWOW64 folder is used instead. So same source code, that contains a path with the System32 folder included, can be compiled to both 32-bit and 64-bit program code without any changes.