Renamed Folder Disappears

For the second time now I renamed a folder and it vanished completely. To do the rename I clicked on the parent directory in the left pane of Windows Explorer then renamed the folder in the right pane.

After it vanished I did a refresh, ran CHKDSK (after reboot) etc. but it did not find it.

The strange thing is if I run a DOS command prompt and do a DIR it is still there (under the old name). I can read the contents and copy them elsewhere, but no matter what I do the folder does not show up in Windows Explorer, either under the new or the old name.

The old folder was called Public Building and I simply tried to rename it to Public Buildings.

I am running Vista Home Premium.

Did some more searching. This gets very murky!

As an experiment I tried creating a new folder via Windows Explorer called Public Buildings. It worked. I then tried to create a new folder called Public Building. It came up with an error saying a folder called Pictures already exists. Do you want to merge it or something.

I checked the directory listing again and sure enough, there is a folder sitting there called Pictures and it is my old "Public Building" folder.

That triggered the old brain cells. Some time ago I changed the default My Pictures folder via Regedit to be that Public Buildings folder above, using the registry hack documented at http://www.justanswer.com/computer/2shxw-prevent-save-dialog-box-reverting-default.html

ie. I changed the My Pictures value in HKeyCurrentUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
to that directory.

So there is obviously something that does not like that folder being renamed, or gets confused and makes the new name "Pictures" instead of what I tried to use. Is it a bug in Vista or a "design feature"?

That triggered the old brain cells. Some time ago I changed the default My Pictures folder via Regedit to be that Public Buildings folder above, using the registry hack documented at http://www.justanswer.com/computer/2...g-default.html

ie. I changed the My Pictures value in HKeyCurrentUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
to that directory.

So there is obviously something that does not like that folder being renamed, or gets confused and makes the new name "Pictures" instead of what I tried to use. Is it a bug in Vista or a "design feature"?

Click to expand...

You shouldn't change the registry unless you know what your doing.

Have you tried changing the reg back?

I knew exactly what I was doing when I changed the registry and the change did exactly what I expected it to. The change is documented on numerous web sites.

That did not cause the problem, trying to rename the folder was the problem. Obviously the web sites that document the registry change don't provide any warning about unexpected results in that area.

Well firstly, it's an invalid link, so i cant exactly see what it told you to do, i just have your explanation.
Secondly;

Have you tried changing the reg back?

Click to expand...

Or by the looks of things you want to rename a changed reg value, why not (as you've done before) just change the reg values again?

If you don't mind me asking ....
Why all that elaborate procedures just for renaming a folder ?
What's wrong with ... right click at the folder > click rename ?

Am I missing something ?

R16RACA, I just clicked on the registry hack link above and it works fine. (Just click the link, do not copy and paste it as you get those ....'s which make it invalid.)

t-4-2, The registry hack was nothing to do with the rename. I did it long ago so that when I right click a photo in IE and say SAVE AS it defaults to that folder, so I don't have to keep changing the path all the time.

The whole point is that having done that registry hack, when I tried to rename the folder to Public Buildings Windows instead renamed it to Pictures.

If Windows does not like the My Pictures folder being renamed then it should have put up an error message saying "Cannot rename My Pictures folder" or similar. It should not just have renamed it to something else.

pmolsen said:

R16RACA, I just clicked on the registry hack link above and it works fine. (Just click the link, do not copy and paste it as you get those ....'s which make it invalid.)

Click to expand...

404 - Oops! Seems you accessed an invalid link

Click to expand...

^thats what happens when i click the link.

pmolsen said:

The whole point is that having done that registry hack, when I tried to rename the folder to Public Buildings Windows instead renamed it to Pictures.

Click to expand...

Windows is just trying to change it back to the original name. I see no reason for you to complain as you hacked the reg in the first place.