I have installed GeoServer 2.16 on a brand new Windows 10 laptop at C:\Program Files\geoserver-2.16.0. I can open the interface on http://localhost:8080/geoserver and am logged in as admin. I am working through the Getting Started section of the user manual, and have reached 3.2 Publishing a shapefile.
I have unzipped a folder of shapefiles into the data directory at C:\Program Files\geoserver-2.16.0\data_dir\data\MyShapefiles. I have created a workspace. When I try to create a Store, I choose Shapefile, get the New Vector Data Source page, select the workspace I created, and enter a name.
When I try to choose the Shapefile location, I click Browse but I don't see my directory of shapefiles. I am in the Data directory, and it displays gwc/, logs/, security/, styles/, and workspaces/. I can't find my directory nor any of the sample data that comes with GeoServer installation.