Yes, I have permission to that folder. I can access using command prompt - cd \Folders\1Folder\1aFolder.
As I mentioned above... it recognizes "." as the root but doesn't like when I look for a specific folder like- "\\Folders\\1Folder\\1aFolder". My understanding is it has to do with windows vs Linux pattern-
Linux: /folders/.... etc
Windows: \\Folders... etc.