Vista - First File Copy or Move Does Not Work

Hello All,

I have a strange error with my copy of Vista. Whenever I reboot or log into
another user (after logging out), the first time I try to copy or move files,
it doesn't work. No response from the system, no error messages, no UAC
prompt, etc. - the system acts like it never happened (except that you can
see my HD led light thinking for a moment or two).

If I try to copy or move the file a second time, everything works fine and
continues to work fine until I reboot or log out. I've tried this multiple
ways, dragging and dropping, right-click drag and drop, and copy and paste -
all produce the same result.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to solve this problem? Thanks a bunch!

Hi Jon,

You might check to see if the hard drive is set to turn itself off in the account this problem is happening in. This could cause it to take a moment to respond like that while the drive spins back up. You can set it to never turn off, or at least one minute before the computer is set to enter sleep mode. See OPTION TWO in this tutorial for how.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/63...-problems.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hi Shawn,

Thanks for your reply. Oddly, I originally posted this in the Microsoft discussion section and didn't see any replies there. I've been a fan of Vistax64's tutorial section for a few weeks now, and was just about to post here to ask the same question!

Granted the odd behavior I'm seeing doesn't cause any critical problems, I just find it very strange (and, honestly, a bit annoying). I turned off both sleep and HD shut-off features in the advanced power settings, rebooted, and got the same result.

I did try a few different things, just to see if I could narrow down what might be causing the issue. Here are things that I've done that still produce the error after I try to move or copy files, and also all the ways I've see the error manifest.

- The error happens when I first try to to move, copy or extract files (from zips). I figured out that it occurs with extractions after I made my original post.

- I can cause it by trying to copy/cut and paste. Interestingly, after I copy/cut the paste option becomes available, but the first paste doesn't register (even on a cut). I just have to hit ctrl-v a second time. So I figure the file is at least moved as far as the clipboard.

- I can do with either a mouse or a keyboard. When I first noticed it with the mouse, I thought I had just not dragged and dropped properly. With the mouse the first drag and drop does not do anything, by either right or left click techniques. When using a right-click technique, it does not bring up the menu.

- The error happens in different user accounts, including new accounts I've made and the bona fide Administrator account. Interestingly, when I "switch users" (instead of logging out) into an account that is not logged on, the error happens in the newly logged in user. When I switch back to the previous user that is already logged in, the error is not recreated. So I figure it must be something that has to do with initializing either user settings or explorer.

- I can open Explorer windows, open files, look at file properties prior.

- I can create new folders and text documents using the context menu prior (I have not tried with a template, that say would be stored in ShellNew, since I removed those from the registry).

- I can open a document in MS-Word and SaveAs to a new location prior.

Once I do the copy or move a second time, everything works fine until I log off or restart the system. Its funny because it seems like when explorer tries move/copy files, it says "Oh, you want to do that!? Alright, try it again now."

On a long shot, I tried to see if services weren't starting, but task manager wasn't very helpful in telling me how many services were initially running or if one was recently turn on. No new processes were started. The process DLLHOST.EXE, Description: "COM Surrogate," started up for about 2 seconds after I successfully copied a file, but did not during the first try when I get the error.

Thanks again,
Jon

Hi Jon,

Welcome to the Vista Forums.

Well, this is definitely a system wide problem. I would try running a sfc /scannow command to see if that can find and fix the problem for you.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66...tem-files.html


If it does not, then you might consider doing a Repair install if you have a Vista Express or Retail installation DVD. This will allow you to repair your Vista installation without losing your files, settings, and programs.

Repair Install For Vista

Shawn

Seems like that might be it. The scan said that it found corrupted files that it could not repair, and recorded the information in the CBS.log. Do you know of a way to extract the names of the corrupted files? My CBS.log seems a bit unwieldy at over 12,000 pages.

Luckily, this was a clean install off my retail copy, so I'll do a repair install in the next few days. I also did some scans this week and neither Avast, Defender, AdAware, or Spybot found any problems, so hopefully it's not a infection problem that made it past all of them. CheckDisk was clear as well.

Thanks again,

Your welcome Jon,

The Repair install will fix the problem for you, and is a lot easier than digging through the CBS.log and manually extracting the files you need off the Vista DVD or CAB files.

Shawn