Problem copying customized folders

[Mak007]

Hi everybody.
I have a problem copying customized folders.
Before Windows 10 correctly copied customized folders from a disc to another or inside the same disc. Now, when I copy a customized folder, the customized look goes lost.
I make a practical example below.

1. Open Local Disc (C) and I create two folders. Let's call them "Folder 1" and "Folder 2"

---


2. I right click on "Folder 1".
A menu appears. On this menu, I select "Properties".

On "Properties", I select "Customize". Here I have the chance to change the look of my "Folder 1".

I choose a look of my choice ( any is ok ).

---

3. Now my "Folder 1" looks different from "Folder 2"

---


4. I COPY the "Folder 1".

I open the "Folder 2" and I PASTE my "Folder 1".
What do I get?

"Folder 1" without the previous customization. Why??? It is wrong. I'm copying something. It must be copied as it is.


---


5. I delete the copy.
I exit "Folder 2" and go back to Local Disc (C).

I left click click on "Folder 1" and, keeping clicked, I move it inside "Folder 2".
I open "Folder 2" and I find my "Folder 1" with its customized look. ( !!!! )

---


6. Now I open Local Disc (D).
So I have opened : "Folder 2" ( that contains my customized "Folder1" and Local Disc (D).
I left click on "Folder 1" and, keeping clicked, I move it in Local Disc (D).
ATTENTION : this time "Folder 1" will not be really "moved" from "Folder 2" to Local Disc (D), but copied.
Well, the result is bad again : the "Folder 1" is copied in Local Disc (D) without the customization.

So, it is rather clear that something is wrong when the folders are copied.
How to solve?

 

[Norton]

I believe with Win 10 when creating custom folders on drive C, to move the customized folder to another drive (D) you have to right click on the folder to be moved, select properties, click on the location tab then select the target drive (D) and the folder path. The folder should retain its original properties?

 

[Trouble]

I believe what you are experiencing is the fundamental differences between copy and move.
When you "copy" a file or folder a "new" file or folder is created in the location where you copy it to and custom attributes are not transferred.... that's because it's a "new" file, the old file remains the same.
When you "move" a file or folder just the pointer is changed and no new file is created and the custom attributes are not impacted.

 

[Norton]

Trouble Thanks Your explanation is betta than mine.

 

[Trouble]

Not necessarily "betta" just different.
There are a host of file / folder attributes that can be impacted by how you relocate them and where you locate them to.....
same volume, different "ntfs" volume, different fat32 or other formatted volume.
Mainly it has to do with secrurity attributes like read, read write, read only, etc and effective permission that might be inherited from the new parent container, or not.

 

[Regedit32]

Based on the example given in the OP:

• Two New folders are created and individually named in the root directory
• The first folder then has its attributes changed to include an icon taken from the library file Shell32.dll
  
  When this is done a Hidden System file named Desktop.ini is created and hides inside Folder 1 which contains instructions pointing to the location of the icon resource - C:\Windows\System32\Shell32.dll, 42

• At this point both folders have a Registry pointer to the root directory, and the hidden System file, Desktop.ini inside Folder 1 is given its own Registry pointer Root Director\Folder 1.
• When Folder 1 is copied and pasted into Folder 2, the pointer for the folder will alter to Root Directory\Folder 2, however the attributes which include the Desktop.ini file will not be altered because the original Folder 1 still exists in the Root Directory, but is also now copied to the new location Root Directory\Folder 2\Folder 1. If this did change then the original Folder 1 at root directory would lose its attributes and this appear as a standard folder rather than the modified icon.
• If you are wanting to keep the modification there are two ways to achieve this:
  • Move original folder to Folder 2, which then allows the attributes to also move, or
  • When setting the attributes in original folder check the box at top, change the icon, then copy to new location, and then open the new location, right-click the folder, select properties, then simply click OK and finally click the refresh icon in Folder 2's address bar. this will create a second pointer in the Registry to the Desktop.ini file - the same way if you clicked the New folder button twice you would see two files; New Folder and New Folder(2)

Tried to make that as layman as possible. Sorry if its still confusing.

 

[Mak007]

Thanks to everybody. My question is, until few days ago Windows 10 was copying and moving the folders without losing the customization. Now it loses the customization when copying folders. That's why I say that something is wrong.
Then........ , for Regedit32 : when you move/copy a folder or a file containing an icon, the Desktop.ini and the related hidden .ico file are copied too, making possible to have the same customization.

 

[Mak007]

I contacted Microsoft. It seems to be a problem or error of Windows 10. They said they are going to solve it.

 

[Norton]

Did you try a restore to before the problem started.

 

[Regedit32]

I contacted Microsoft. It seems to be a problem or error of Windows 10. They said they are going to solve it.

My guess is if Microsoft are acknowledging there is a problem that they intend to resolve, then something is preventing a correct registry pointer being either created or read by the System.

It will be interesting to see what ultimately the 'problem' is when Microsoft release a cumulative update that actually resolves your issue without doing the work-around methods that seem to get it working as you expect it to.

I can certainly replicate your issue on my own installation, so it is most likely an issue anyone using Windows 10 will experience, but at least its not insurmountable per se.

 

[517492]

Wow, I'm really glad I found this forum thread... I noticed the same issue (possibly starting after the new Win Anniversary Update). I have lots of customized folders, have been using them for years now (probably since Win XP or Vista, but I always added new ones on each Win version as well) and it always worked fine. They are set to be system folders with a batch file (attrib +S), have a desktop.ini and an icon inside of them. Beforehand this way I was always able to copy those folders to an external disk for instance and it's customization was read on each computer (seeing as it was embedded in the file). The reading part still works but copying folders is buggy since this last update.

I checked the folder attributes in cmd with the attrib command and the folders actually lose their attributes upon copying! I wonder what else is being lost... I think this actually is a very severe bug... (Especially if it also happens with files & permissions etc.) Do you have any idea how long it might take them to fix this?

However: In case it is important for you to be able to do this right now the workaround I found is zipping the folders and extracting them in the new directory. This way the folder attributes are preserved.

 

[517492]

Okay, I just received the Anniversary Update on my other PC. It didn't have this problem before but has it now. So the issue definitely comes with the Anniversary Update.
I'd love to make a bug report as well, but that seems to be rather difficult with Microsoft?

 

[Old Guy Geek]

Okay, I just received the Anniversary Update on my other PC. It didn't have this problem before but has it now. So the issue definitely comes with the Anniversary Update.
I'd love to make a bug report as well, but that seems to be rather difficult with Microsoft?

It's not a bug report, but use the Feedback App in Windows 10. Search for your issue and if someone has sufficiently explained it, just upvote it. If the explanation is not to your liking, create a new entry with your description of the problem.

 

[517492]

I disabled some features for privacy reasons and now I can't use that app easily. But I will have a closer look on the weekend and create a new entry if I don't find an adequate one has been created yet. Thank you for your reply!

 

[Aesir]

Wow, I'm really glad I found this forum thread... I noticed the same issue (possibly starting after the new Win Anniversary Update). I have lots of customized folders, have been using them for years now (probably since Win XP or Vista, but I always added new ones on each Win version as well) and it always worked fine. They are set to be system folders with a batch file (attrib +S), have a desktop.ini and an icon inside of them. Beforehand this way I was always able to copy those folders to an external disk for instance and it's customization was read on each computer (seeing as it was embedded in the file). The reading part still works but copying folders is buggy since this last update.

I checked the folder attributes in cmd with the attrib command and the folders actually lose their attributes upon copying! I wonder what else is being lost... I think this actually is a very severe bug... (Especially if it also happens with files & permissions etc.) Do you have any idea how long it might take them to fix this?

However: In case it is important for you to be able to do this right now the workaround I found is zipping the folders and extracting them in the new directory. This way the folder attributes are preserved.

517492,
Exact same issue with me. Very, very aggravating.
However, I was wondering if I could trouble you to provide a more detailed explanation of the steps you used to result in your customized folders to read as "system folders" (if I am interpreting your explanation correctly). I have been doing things the old fashion way which only afford customization on your own computer/system/CPU.
Thanks,

 

[517492]

Hi Aesir,

sorry to reply this late, I don't regularely check this forum.

What I do is:
1) Create a folder.
2) Add the icon you want it to have inside the directory and call it "icon.ico".
3) Inside of your folder create a desktop.ini file and write

[.ShellClassInfo]
IconFile=icon.ico
IconIndex=0​

inside the file.
4) Inside of your folder create a batch-file name.bat and write

@Echo OFF
attrib +S "%CD%"​

inside that file.
5) Execute the batch-file. Your directory will be set as a system folder and the "icon.ico" will be its icon on all Windows systems as long as the desktop.ini and the icon.ico file are inside of the folder. (They can be hidden of course.)

You usually didn't have to do this each time, you could set a directory as system folder once and then just copy&paste that empty directory and only change the "icon.ico" inside of the folder for it to display a different icon. But as said in the current version of Win 10 that doesn't do much good anymore because the folders/files loose their attributes when copying them. But seeing as they didn't loose them since Win XP (to Win 10 prev. to the anniversary edition) I am still convinced that this is a bug.

 

[Tadeusz]

In my Windows 7 computer, when I copy a folder with a customized icon on it, let's say, to the desktop, the folder retains its icon. When I try to perform the same kind of function in either of my two Windows 10 computers, the icon is lost in the copy. This, of course, is the "new and improved" windows that we have learned to hate in so many little ways. Why can't MS build on things that work instead of creating little annoying anomalies? Has anyone yet discovered a simple solution to this problem? Or is it yet another annoyance we have to live with? I don't want to go through some contorted process to make it happen. I didn't find any simple solution in this thread. Please correct me if I missed it.

 

[JMFJMF]

I contacted Microsoft. It seems to be a problem or error of Windows 10. They said they are going to solve it.

Do you think this will ever happen?

 

[JMFJMF]

Do you think this will ever happen?

Or are they still laughing at us and cannot stop any more?