Problem: When I try to rename or move my folders, they don't keep their new names or move to their new locations. I do not receive an error message, they just don't do as I say.
Cause: A Windows Explorer User Shell Folder registry entry as been edited incorrectly.
How to Fix: Firstly, ask yourself if you have gone into the registry yourself and edited any entries that could have something to do with Windows Explorer's User Shell Folders. The path to a place where Windows Explorer registry entries are kept is "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/User Shell Folders". Even if you haven't, open up Windows RegEdit, which can be started by typing in "regedit" into Run, which is found on the start menu, or by going into your local disk, the C: drive, opening the WINDOWS folder and opening "regedit" or "regedit.exe", clicking "Show Hidden Files and Folder" should Windows tell you that they're hidden. All the keys' data should start with "%USERPROFILE%". It is possible they might say "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%", which can cause other problems, such as your Startup folder running twice. If you have edited an entry, you might have changed it to "%USERSPROFILE%" and forgotten to delete the S when you deleted ALL. This is the problem. Change it to "%USERPROFILE%", restart, and your problem should be solved!


Original Post

Hello Staff and Users of Vista Forums,

Recently, less than a week ago, I lost the control to rename or move my folders. As you can presume, this problem is very tedious. I have looked around the topics here on Vista Forums and have not been able to solve the problem. I have taken ownership of my folders and that hasn't changed the situation as suggested. When I do attempt to rename or move my folders, I receive no message, and the file stays where it was, how it was. This only happens with my folders, my files show no resistence to being moved or renamed as I see fit.

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack 1 and have owned the computer for around one and a half years. Vista was pre-installed. Thank you for your attention and thanks in advance for your help.

Originally Posted by Mush Man

Hello Staff and Users of Vista Forums,

Recently, less than a week ago, I lost the control to rename or move my folders. As you can presume, this problem is very tedious. I have looked around the topics here on Vista Forums and have not been able to solve the problem. I have taken ownership of my folders and that hasn't changed the situation as suggested. When I do attempt to rename or move my folders, I receive no message, and the file stays where it was, how it was. This only happens with my folders, my files show no resistence to being moved or renamed as I see fit.

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack 1 and have owned the computer for around one and a half years. Vista was pre-installed. Thank you for your attention and thanks in advance for your help.

Hello Mush Man, and welcome to Vista Forums.

This tutorial may be able to help.

Cannot Rename or Move a File or Folder in Vista Fix

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Originally Posted by Mush Man

Sorry, both methods did not solve my problem. I merged the registery key for the first one, shut down and there is no change. For the second solution, it does not apply to me, as I have Vista SP1. I must highlight the fact that when I do attempt to rename that I receive no message and the folder's name changes back to what it was. I have UAC off, but that wouldn't have anything to do with it?

Mush Man,

If this has just recently started to happen, then you might do a System Restore using a restore point dated before the problem started.

System Restore - How to


If not, then you may be able to do a Repair (Upgrade) install to repair the problem.

Repair Install For Vista

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Originally Posted by Mush Man

I seem to have fixed the problem myself! After reverting back to an old System Restore point, I was experiencing the problem of my Startup folder running twice. I had already looked up a solution on the internet about this problem, which told me to go into Windows RegEdit and check the keys in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/User Shell Folders" to see if any of those keys started with "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%" in the Data section. I'd edited the keys that did read "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%" to "%USERSPROFILE%", instead of "%USERPROFILE%" like the other keys' Data said and what I was actually told to do. I've fixed my problem now! I've edited the first post adding the solution to the problem, and added "SOVLED!" to the topic name in the hope to help other users.
Thank you for your help.

Mush Man,

I'm happy to hear that you got this sorted out. Thank you for posting your results and solution.

Shawn