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
    2013-03-01T06:41:12+00:00

    That action broke language specific naming of folders in Windows Explorer.

    What will happen now is that people will delete windows system files. Change their language later. And start whinging "my folders are in English when they should be in Chinese."

    Bad advice.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-03-01T03:35:34+00:00

    I don't know if this specifically applies to your problem, but I found it on a thread elsewhere.  I had the same duplication problem on a 2003 Server which had two folders with the same name.  Doing a "dir" from a command prompt revealed the proper names.  The solution was to go into the duplicate folder and delete the desktop.ini file.  You have to show hidden files and system files in order to see it to delete it.  The problem immediately went away.  It was solved for me.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-06-15T01:28:41+00:00

    This problem involves messing with the directory FCBs by reading/writing to it in sector mode. 

    In the msdos days this was done using the BIOS Int 10Hand BDOS Int 21H interrupt calls. Since Windows NT, XP, 2K, 2K3, 7 etc, these Interrupt vectors are all intercepted by the OS first and may or may not work as desired depending on what else is running. So you have to boot to 8086 mode using DOS or similar to get these low level calls back - hence Hirems Boot CD.

    Hirems Boot CD should have a utility that will correct duplicate file name errors in the directory ... I'll let you know when I find one.

    BTW, you'd better know what you're doing before playing with these utilities as they seriously mess with your machine.

    Wikiwebs.com.au

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-06-04T12:32:41+00:00

    Thanks for the informative post and "I want it fixed real bad"!!

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