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
    2010-08-21T19:21:47+00:00

    I found this fix in two separate forums - same file. I backed up my registry and held my breath and - lo and behold! - yup, it worked.

    So I'm thanking both contributors (worth a double post I think). Now my backup application will work . It quit when I couldn't make folders.

    So thanks and have a virtual Molson's on me!

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-10-03T23:08:40+00:00

    Sadly not an answer for me as I use Windows 7 32 bit, so presumably this will not work? Anybody have a 32 bit answer?

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-10-31T20:23:01+00:00

    The only trick that worked for me is this:

    http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en/vistawu/thread/6bd2e205-7c48-4273-bcde-85f213083001

    So I believe the real cause for this issue is the update KB2286198.

    I was actually forced to disable automatic updates on my system and to filter the list of available updates for this KB2286198 thing every time I install updates manually. Darn thing, really

    HTH

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-11-06T15:04:54+00:00

    i tried it on windows 7 32bit and it worked...

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