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I have a directory tree with nothing special (no network, no symlinks, no weird permissions...) except that certain folders are Subversion working copies managed with TortoiseSVN. I've been using it several years without any issue.

Right after physically moving the disk to a new computer (no idea if just a coincidence) I've discovered that I cannot rename those folders using the GUI (hit F2, type new name, enter). Windows Explorer doesn't complaint and reports the new name, but folder actually keeps the original name (which shows up when I click on location bar, in window title and in command-prompt).

It must be an Explorer glitch because I can finally make the rename from command line (rename foo bar) but I don't know what the root problem can be.

Any idea?

Álvaro González
  • 1,573

1 Answers1

29

I eventually searched for all desktop.ini files in my directory tree and removed them all. The issue got fixed instantly:

  • Folders finally showed their actual name
  • New renames actually happened at file system level

Such files contained entries like this:

[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=This is the new name

... that seems to be a feature rather than a bug:

LocalizedResourceName

Specifies a resource module and the string ID to use as the name of the folder to display when viewed using the File Explorer or the Shell.

I don't have the faintest idea of how Windows ever came to the conclusion that I wanted to translate the folder rather than renaming it.

Álvaro González
  • 1,573