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Renaming any folder produces "Could not find this item". Clicking "Try Again" always works. Why?

Anonymous
2009-11-11T13:37:01+00:00

This is not the same issue as similar postings that have to do inability to delete folders that contain zero byte files. 

If I try to rename any folder in my system, I get "Could not find this item" with the choices "Try Again" and "Cancel". When I click "Try Again", it always succeeds. So - my system isn't crippled - but it is so totally annoying. I can even right-click on my desktop, and choose "New...  Folder" and type in a name, and I get "Could not find this item". The interesting thing is that the item's name does change even before I click "Try Again". 

If I have a folder named "Folder1" and I rename it to "Folder2", I get the error that "Folder1" Could not be found - which is actually true, as it is already renamed to "Folder2".

Why is Windows 7 looking for the old folder name after renaming? I've also disabled AVG's live scanner to no avail.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2010-04-29T20:39:55+00:00

I finally got it.

I used the same solution for the similar issue in Windows Vista. Once i got to my company laptop, i exported this 2 registry keys.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FolderDescriptions

Merged into my pc and voilà !!

The 'shell' command also works again (ex: shell:personal brings up the account folder)

I uploaded the reg file and you can get it here http://cid-fb5a28bc4a1cc9b6.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Folder%5E_fix%5E_win7%5E_x64/FolderDescriptions.rar

This is for Win7 x64. Use it at your own risk.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-05-15T20:20:52+00:00

    I've had this problem for a while and it finally got annoying enough for me to troubleshoot and fix it.  I'm very glad I found this thread as I was about to reinstall Windows.

    As with any registry modification, I was hesitant to simply install varredor's fix without checking it.  I compared his fixed version to my existing keys and the only difference was regarding the libraries folders.

    The underlying problem that I was having is due to removing all of the default libraries (Music, Pictures, Documents, etc).  I never used them and due to my profile configuration of storing "My" folders on a network share, it would constantly show a security warning message about accessing these locations over a network.  I ended up right clicking on each library entry and removing them.

    For some reason, there is some part of Windows Explorer that needs to check the library locations during a rename.  Since the libraries are no longer there, this is what is causing the "could not find the item" error message.

    The registry file that varredor has posted "fixes" this problem by restoring the configuration for all of the default folders, including the library folders.  But if you don't want the libraries, you will need to properly remove/disable it and not just by manually deleting the individual entries.  Unfortunately this is not a simple user preference you can just uncheck.  It requires a registry modification but just not one as extensive as varredor's .reg file.

    This zip file contains 2 registry files.  The "Disable" registry file will remove each of the library folders and hides the Libraries folder in the Explorer sidebar.  The "Enable" registry file will add the default keys back into the registry.

    Zip file: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=E7FD05F97019972%21107

    I hope this helps.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-05-01T04:25:49+00:00

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-03-07T06:06:47+00:00

    Assalam O Alaikom...

    Its Work for Me in Windows 7 32bit..

    Thanks Alot....

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-04-30T11:23:34+00:00

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