(N.B. This could be a Win8 beta bug)
In Adobe Illustrator CS5 version 15.0.2 on Windows 8 Consumer Preview 64bit I have several paths. When I set their stroke to almost any colour I can see them. For example here they are in black:
(Note that I have my artboards hidden using the 'View' -> 'Hide Artboards' menu, and I have the document set up simulating (green) coloured paper using the Document Setup Simulate Colored Paper checkbox.)
But if I change the stroke to white, I cannot see the paths:
Nor can I see the one with white fill.
They are still there, you can see the anchor points etc. when the paths are selected, but they are not visible. What's going on? Is this a bug (I'm using a beta OS) or am I missing some setting I need to make white strokes visible? They really are white, exporting to PNG looks fine, why can't I see them in Illustrator?
==== EDIT ====
Over on the Adobe forum someone's suggested that white (in the case of process white) is the color of the paper; and that in my case the paper simulation is green, so the strokes are as well. She suggests that if I want a green background, I should create a green rectangle and that if I want to print with white ink, I should create a spot color white.
But if I add a green rectangle so that the white stroke is visible, I'll need to remember to turn it off before exporting as I need a transparent background on the final PNG. Is there a way to set Illustrator so that I can see a white stroke and white fill on a green background without making the green part of the work itself?