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
    2012-10-09T20:23:43+00:00

    This is not the reason. It even occurs on new user accounts. I have 355 workstations that exhibited this problem from the day they were rolled out.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-07-17T16:58:50+00:00

    Just to let people know about how I got this fixed in my case.

    The same problem appeared to me starting last week with my Windows 7 Professional (x64, English) laptop, i.e. everytime I would rename a folder, including when creating one, I would get the "Could not find this item" dialog, although pressing the Enter key (equiv. to clicking "Retry") would dismiss it.

    So, I found this thread and the post by varredor (dated April 29, 2010), and compared the registry entries of his reg file with mine. Since we had the same platform & language (Windows 7, x64, English), those registry entries were identical to mine *except* for a few entries I had missing on *my* computer. This meant I could use his reg file to fix my system.

    So, this is what I did to fix the issue on my computer:

    • Exited Explorer, the clean way just to be sure: CTRL+ALT+ SHIFT+Right-click on the Start Menu, and then "Exit Explorer";
    • Launched an instance of the Windows Task Manager by doing CTRL+SHIFT+Escape;
    • Killed any remaining instances of "explorer.exe";
    • On the Task Manager menu: "File" > "New Task (Run...)";
    • Browsed to the registry file (you have to change the extension to "All files" to have it showing);
    • Clicked on "OK" to shell-execute the registry file, and clicked on "OK" for the 2 Regedit-related dialogs (i.e. "Are you sure..." & "Changes have been applied...");
    • Still with the task manager, restarted Explorer (i.e. "File" > "New Task (Run...)", enter "explorer" then click "OK")

    IMPORTANT: Using the file provided by varredor will only work (and not mess your system further) if you have the same platform, i.e. Windows 7 x64, and same OS language, i.e. English.

    If your system is different: You have to find another system (one that does not exhibit the issue) with the same platform (32-bit or x64) and same OS language as yours so you can use its registry entries to fix the registry of your system.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-05-25T13:53:18+00:00

    !_FIX_!

    (Win x64)

    This is by far the most annoying little bug Microsoft has ever let through the cracks of their "windows", and there are oh so many cracks in that lil old window... :-P

    Here is the fix:

    http://www.techjawa.com/2010/05/01/guide-fix-windows-folder-renaming-could-not-find-this-item/

    Take it easy,

    -=s7=-

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-04-24T13:00:37+00:00

    Yeah I have this on 2 different Win 7 x64 computers. REALLY irritating.  Fixes here are no good.

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