Windows 7: Have to manually refresh after renaming/moving/creating new folder etc

I'm running the 32 bit version of Windows 7 and it's fully up to date in terms of patches. This issue only affects libraries. The issue started out of the blue a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't installed any new software or changed any settings and I also tried using System Restore to go back to a couple of days before this issue started, but it didn't resolve the problem.

This is an example of what happens: -

1. I go into my library called "Videos" and right-click and choose New - Folder. The new folder does not appear.

2. I either press F5 or right-click - refresh and then I can see the new folder I created.

3. I give the new folder a name, for example "test". The folder shows the name "test".

4. I rename the folder to something else, for example "renamedtest". The folder still shows the name as "test".



5. I either press F5 or right-click - refresh and then the folder name changes to "renamedtest".

Basically, any time I create a folder, rename a file or folder, delete a file/folder, move a file/folder etc. I do not see the effects of my actions until after I've manually refreshed. This only affects libraries.

Googling for this issue reveals dozens and dozens of threads and posts with people having the same issue going back quite a way, but I'm yet to find a solution for the problem. Does anyone have any ideas? One option is to just not use libraries, but I would rather not have to resort to that.

Thanks!

Does this behavior also occur in Safe Mode ?

Regardless of the answer to that question.
Please run this scan as well.
SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

It still occurs in Safe Mode.

I ran the system file checker and it got to 100% and said "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations", so I presume all is good there.

I believe that this is a bug as it's so widely talked about on the web. Why it affects some and not others though, I don't know.

Hello Sigma,

If you like as a test, this has been reported to help others with this not refreshing issue sometimes.


Use step 4 in OPTION ONE of the tutorial below to show hidden protected OS files.

Hidden Files and Folders - Show or Hide

In all of the affected folder locations that do not refresh, delete any faded desktop.ini file(s) in those locations.

Restart the computer to apply and to have new default desktop.ini files created for those locations.

Use step 5 in OPTION ONE of the tutorial above to hide the hidden protected OS files again.


Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hey Shawn,

Thanks for the response, but I've already tried that with no joy I'm afraid. Here's what else I've tried: -

1. Running chkdsk on all drives/partitions (no errors were found).

2. Removing all libraries, rebooting, and creating new libraries from scratch.

3. Deleting and rebuilding the indexing database.

4. Deleting and rebuilding the icon cache.

I have 5 libraries: -

Documents
Incoming
Music
Pictures
Videos

Strangely, this issue does not affect the Music library. The only difference with that particularly library is that the sole contents of the library are an entirely separate hard drive that I use only for music, and in the library properties it's set to be optimised for music.

Well, it was worth a try.

As another test, create a new administrator account, and see if it refreshes properly while logged on to it. If it does, then you could just copy what you want from the old account to the new one, then delete the old one after waiting a day to make sure that the new one is still working properly.

After trying pretty much every suggestion I could find, lol, I couldn't find a solution to this. I've ended up disabling libraries and going back to using good old shortcuts to folders instead.

Thank you for posting back with your results. I'm sorry that you couldn't get it sorted.

A bit of necroposting to say thanks, and I've ALSO gone back to shortcuts instead of "libraries" after finding this thread

This works! - Reset the folder views!
How? Go to Explorer -> Organize -> Folder and search options -> View, then click 'Reset Folders'

Hope this helps