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Unable to Rename or Move Folders in Windows Vista

© Ramesh Srinivasan | Windows Vista | 10th March 2008

When you use Windows Explorer to rename folders on a Windows Vista-based computer, nothing may happen, or the following error is shown:

The file or folder does not exist

In addition, the following symptoms may be observed:

  • Unable to move folders to a different location, nor be able to restore deleted items from the Recycle Bin.
  • Unable to launch special folders using the Shell: command. For example, when you run the command shell:My Music, you may receive the following error:
Windows cannot find ’shell:My Music’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

Resolution

The problems 1 & 2 mentioned in the Symptoms section above, were first reported on MSFN forums and a registry fix was posted in that page. These problems occur if the following registry branch is completely missing:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ explorer \ FolderDescriptions

To resolve the problem, use these steps:

  1. Download folder_desc.zip and save it to Desktop
  2. Unzip and extract the archive to a folder of your choice
  3. Then right-click folder_desc.reg and choose Merge
  4. Logoff and login back for the change to take effect.

See Also

Error message when you use Windows Explorer to rename folders on a Windows Vista-based computer

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8 Responses to “Unable to Rename or Move Folders in Windows Vista” Subscribe to comments!

  1. Melody
    said this on Wednesday, October 21st 2009 1:14 pm

    Sadly, this solution did not help in anyway at all on my notebook apparently… HELP ME!!! i cant imagine having a notebook full of ” New Folder” folders as a name!! (pardon me, im a neatfreak) Im only 13+, but i seriously would want a solution to this problem… I cant stand it anymore!!

    pls. help. me. someone.

  2. smithee
    said this on Friday, October 16th 2009 10:18 am

    This was perfect for me! Thanks a bunch!!

  3. Ram
    said this on Tuesday, September 15th 2009 2:46 pm

    It worked,
    thanks a lot man. i tried so many KB’s of microsoft, ppl over the phone from microsoft couldnt help me! anyway thanks a million

  4. Mary
    said this on Monday, August 24th 2009 8:07 am

    Didn’t work for me… HELP — not being able to name new folders is driving me nuts!!!!

  5. Prasad
    said this on Sunday, July 26th 2009 11:23 am

    thanks sir
    because of u i can again rename folders again
    i love u

  6. hadi
    said this on Tuesday, July 7th 2009 2:44 pm

    thanks alot for your solution, i was try with takeownership.reg but can’t solve the problem, but with your solution is right now. thanks

  7. WEnk
    said this on Saturday, May 23rd 2009 9:33 pm

    Thanks a Lot… It removethe goddamn shit on my PC…THis site ROCKS!!!

  8. Kaimera
    said this on Monday, April 6th 2009 4:40 pm

    Excellent. It did the magic.

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