Two folders with identical (i.e., duplicate) names

Anonymous
2010-05-14T20:19:28+00:00

When I look at my drive E in the Windows Explorer, I have two folders named \Users in the root (using Vista with the lastest updates). When I look from a cmd box, I only see one.

I think the second one was created when I used Vista's robocopy to backup my C files onto E (e.g. "robocopy c:\Users\Steve e:\Users\Steve"), but (1) I didn't think you could end up with duplicate names in the same folder and (2) how can I specify which of the two files I want to copy files to?

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

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Anonymous
2010-05-14T20:50:22+00:00

You can't have two folders with the same name in the same directory - something must be different (maybe an underscore at the end of one or something else).  I have no idea how or why this happened.  When you scroll through each of the folders are they identical in terms of contents (same folders, same files, you can open files from both folders,...)?  I'm not familiar with robocopy so I'm not sure if that was responsible (though it seems likely).  If  they are identical in all respects, just delete one and use the other one (or better, remame one to something else and save it elsewhere "just in case" - at least until you're sure the folder  you selected is working properly and there are no problems.  I'd give a month and then delete the other folder.

If you see only one in cmd then move some file to a different directory and then ccheck on Windows Explorer to see in which folder the change occurred (and verify it didn't occur in both).  Then you'll know which folder to use  and which to rename are indicated above.

I hope this helps.

Good luck.

Lorien - MCSE/MCSA/Network+/A+ --- If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-07-06T00:30:05+00:00

    Get a copy of Hirems Boot CD. Look for a program called Acronis Partition Manager and install it. 

    You need to search for the filenames in the directory structure and this requires knowing the structure in detail. You then examine the duplicates to see which one to keep and change a byte in the filename in the sector in the directory ... (etc) to make it different. Acronis on HCD is a demo and may not have write ability. If not then note the exact byte location track/cluster/sector/offset and use one of the Linux partition tools to change the byte  in the file name and write the directory sector back after changing it. 

    This is such  deep dive into the OS that only partitioning software is capable of it and not many bother to solve these problems anymore. Its hackng into the file system and you can totally write off the entire drive if you are reckless, but don't let that scare you. It's worth the trouble understanding the file system but it does mean you need to bone up on it and that can take quite a while. 

    Good luck.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-16T15:53:48+00:00

    I work directly from my file explorer 99% of the time so I wanted to fix this problem...This is what I have done to resolve... I backed up all the files I wanted to keep to my external hard drive and then performed a hard reset... Next I disabled one drive.. I then reinstalled the programs I use and put my folders back into file explorer... So far its happy days for me...

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-23T00:55:31+00:00

    I have windows 10 and today I noticed 2 "pictures" folders in the side menu of the File Explorer.  They are identical. How do I remove one?  Never mind, it is now gone. I am not sure how, it has to have occurred while having more than one picture open at the same time.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-28T03:27:43+00:00

    On one occasion when duplicate directories occurred I also had 3 shortcut icons appear on my screen... they were all named desktop.ini.... this was on a brand new laptop with win10... in file explorer i could see 3 different users.. they were my user dir from previous computers I have owned... I concluded this could only unwillingly be caused by onedrive.. it was such a mess that I performed a hard reset and disabled onedrive before I re-connected to the net.. . I was far from impressed because it was a brand new out of the box laptop.. I should add that with onedrive disabled i have not had any further problems.

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