Unable to rename folder

[Bily]

Who shares computers these days?? Doesn't everyone have their own computer...even kids??
Like my husband says, "Sharing a computer is like sharing underwear."

P.S. I'm 67 and my husband is 72 and we must have about 7 working computers in the house and 3 or 4 in the attic. We even have an old laptop in the kitchen just for using Now You're Cooking for our recipes and searching myrecipes.com. Some of the computers I built myself. Of course, we have been using computers since their inception...me with a Commodore 64 and my husband with the very first Apple.

 

[BSkiLLs]

lol

 

[ralphjramirez]

Ralph:
Type cd C: and hit enter at that command prompt to get to a C:\ prompt.

Thanks for your response Bily. I tried the above command and it didn't work, nothing changed............Ralph

 

[ralphjramirez]

Ralph:
Type cd C: and hit enter at that command prompt to get to a C:\ prompt.

Thanks for your response Bily. I tried the above command and it didn't work, nothing changed............Ralph

Bily, I copied the folder to another location then deleted all the files in that original folder. I then was able to successfully rename the folder. Must have been a file being used by some software. Anyway, I am back in business.

One more question. Why is it a no-no to have your folders in the root drive? Is this something I need to change to avoid a disaster? Only my wife and I use this computer and she only uses Word and the Internet.

Thanks for all your help. Still don't know why your suggestion on changing disk didn't work.

Thanks again to all who took your valuable time to help..........Ralph

 

[ralphjramirez]

Saving image folder in root drive..........

Ralph:
Type cd C: and hit enter at that command prompt to get to a C:\ prompt.

Thanks for your response Bily. I tried the above command and it didn't work, nothing changed............Ralph

Bily, I copied the folder to another location then deleted all the files in that original folder. I then was able to successfully rename the folder. Must have been a file being used by some software. Anyway, I am back in business.

One more question. Why is it a no-no to have your folders in the root drive? Is this something I need to change to avoid a disaster? Only my wife and I use this computer and she only uses Word and the Internet.

Thanks for all your help. Still don't know why your suggestion on changing disk didn't work.

Thanks again to all who took your valuable time to help..........Ralph

Bily, my humble apologies. Your command does work but not when I forget to include the slash. Rereading your post and it popped right up. Thanks again.............Ralph
P.S. Any info you can give me relative to saving my image folder in the root drive being a no-no will be appreciated..........

 

[WindowsStar]

@ralphjramirez: I was looking for a several articles I read back when Windows NT was becoming a popular OS, but I could not find them. I will do my best to share what Microsoft had in mind when they created Windows NT and how the file system would work. Windows NT was the first OS that did not have DOS as the underlying OS for the GUI. Windows NT is an all-in-one OS no DOS.

DOS had a lot of limitations one of which was a limitation on how many files or folders you could have off the ROOT of C:/ This problem carried over in to Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and influenced the development of Windows 95. Microsoft created a C:/Program Files folder to install all programs into. This change was to stop people from installing software on the ROOT of C:/ and avoid the file and folder limitation of ROOT of C:/ They also created special folders for the OS and for system files etc. The other reason they did this was to provide some organization to the hierarchy of the file system. This also helped because Microsoft started the move from .CFG, .SYS and .INI files for keeping configuration settings and move them to the Registry. Windows 95 became a hybrid OS booting with DOS in 16bit and running Windows in a sort of 32bit mode. Since the underlying OS was DOS and DOS has a limitation on how many files can be on the ROOT of C:/ moving everything off the ROOT of C:/ helped people with the problem of filling up the ROOT of C:/ and then having some very strange problems. Plus with the Internet in its infancy many could not figure out why things were not working. (Sorry trying to keep it short). Now on to Windows NT the predecessor to Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Microsoft had already established the C:/Program Files and special folders for the OS and System files so they just kept up with the theme; however a new part of Windows NT was security. Now you could control what could be read or executed or saved etc. etc. Microsoft took a long time to work out how permission would be set and one of them was that a standard user would NOT have full access to the ROOT of C:/ and that software would be installed in C:/Program Files so standard users would get the correct permissions to use the software. (Note: This did not go as planned, so we have many other issues with this, because programmers did not and still DO NOT follow the Microsoft Programming rules. That is a whole other topic I will not get into here.). This brings us to why you don’t want to save files or make folders off the ROOT of C:/ If you want to install a program it goes into C:/Program Files, if you want to store data it goes into C:/Documents and Settings (before Windows 7) and C:/Users/<username>/Documents (Windows 7). If you want to store any data any way you want then you can use a D:/, USB drive etc. and save/create anything anyway you want.

So the biggest problems you will have saving off the ROOT of C:/ is permissions. You may also have problems because of sloppy programming expecting software to be in C:/Program Files. Your folder renaming issue may have been part of this as well.

Please Note: That is just the basics of how all this works it is written here to be extremely brief.

I hope that helps.

 

[WindowsStar]

@Bily: I have 1 Server and 6 workstations in my house all on a Domain. All workstations are universal (meaning anyone can use any computer all data and settings are stored on the server). We use Windows 7 on the workstations and share all the computers. This way you can be in the Office working on something, or you can be in the living room working on something, or any of the bedrooms working on something. Many times there are assignments from school to watch the News for current events and write something about what is going on so my kids will use the machine in the living room to type in topics while watching the news. I maybe using the same computer to edit video or DVR something or setting up videos to watch from the workstation to the HD TV or maybe I am working on something for work that requires audio so I am not in the Office because my wife doesn’t want the noise. And the list goes on and on and on.

As you can see we share computers a lot. If one is busy you can always go to another room and use another.

 

[Bily]

@ralphjramirez
Despite having used computers for many years, I have never understood how to solve permission, networking, and email problems.
I have my latest pictures in a folder on my C Drive root and have created many folders on the C Drive root. I even installed Opera browser in the root of C on the advice of the Opera forum, because installing it in the Program Files folder causes problems (Microsoft HATES Opera for some reason and likes to make life difficult for them). To "share" folders in the Program Files folder is very difficult (for security reasons??) so that is another reason I often install programs to the root in Windows 7 so I can sync the data in the program's folder over my network to another computer.
I just don't think the way Microsoft "thinks"...never have. The most intuitive OS for me was OS 2 - the old IBM OS. That was so easy and understandable to use. Everything was done from the desktop, creating work folders, grouping tasks together. It was great. There was little or no contact with an "explorer" type structure. I just don't understand the "Documents and Settings" setup of Microsoft - it's just not intuitive to me at all. Libraries are a little better but still too complicated.
@WindowsStar
I am jealous of your very sharing and open family. My husband won't even let me touch his computer.

 

[ralphjramirez]

@ralphjramirez
Despite having used computers for many years, I have never understood how to solve permission, networking, and email problems.
I have my latest pictures in a folder on my C Drive root and have created many folders on the C Drive root. I even installed Opera browser in the root of C on the advice of the Opera forum, because installing it in the Program Files folder causes problems (Microsoft HATES Opera for some reason and likes to make life difficult for them). To "share" folders in the Program Files folder is very difficult (for security reasons??) so that is another reason I often install programs to the root in Windows 7 so I can sync the data in the program's folder over my network to another computer.
I just don't think the way Microsoft "thinks"...never have. The most intuitive OS for me was OS 2 - the old IBM OS. That was so easy and understandable to use. Everything was done from the desktop, creating work folders, grouping tasks together. It was great. There was little or no contact with an "explorer" type structure. I just don't understand the "Documents and Settings" setup of Microsoft - it's just not intuitive to me at all. Libraries are a little better but still too complicated.
@WindowsStar
I am jealous of your very sharing and open family. My husband won't even let me touch his computer.

Thank you Bily, I appreciate your comments. I am easily confused on why Microsoft does what it does because I don't really understand the technology very well. I had never heard of permissions until WindowStar mentioned it. Today I received a very detailed reply from WindowStar as to why the C:/ root drive shouldn't be used the way I have done and why Microsoft does what it does. I haven't replied to WindowStar yet but will do so later on today. I want to really study his comments and see how to make necessary corrections. You will find his reply very enlightening, at least to me.

Again thanks for your comments and I am going to make sure my wife reads your comments about the sharing. She hates computers but can't live without one, if that makes sense.

Best regards..................Ralph

 

[seekermeister]

Bily,

I even installed Opera browser in the root of C on the advice of the Opera forum, because installing it in the Program Files folder causes problems

This makes me very curious, because I have used Opera for years, and have always installed it in a nested folder in Program Files (86). It works very well for me, but that doesn't mean that there are never any problems. What kind of problems are you referring to?

My husband won't even let me touch his computer.

Sounds as though you have a very wise husband.

 

[Bily]

My husband won't even let me touch his computer.

Sounds as though you have a very wise husband.

Heh, you got that right.

 

[Muad Dib]

Separate computers are like separate toothbrushes. You could get by with just one, but who the hell would want to given the price of a toothbrush?

 

[ralphjramirez]

@ralphjramirez: I was looking for a several articles I read back when Windows NT was becoming a popular OS, but I could not find them. I will do my best to share what Microsoft had in mind when they created Windows NT and how the file system would work. Windows NT was the first OS that did not have DOS as the underlying OS for the GUI. Windows NT is an all-in-one OS no DOS.

DOS had a lot of limitations one of which was a limitation on how many files or folders you could have off the ROOT of C:/ This problem carried over in to Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and influenced the development of Windows 95. Microsoft created a C:/Program Files folder to install all programs into. This change was to stop people from installing software on the ROOT of C:/ and avoid the file and folder limitation of ROOT of C:/ They also created special folders for the OS and for system files etc. The other reason they did this was to provide some organization to the hierarchy of the file system. This also helped because Microsoft started the move from .CFG, .SYS and .INI files for keeping configuration settings and move them to the Registry. Windows 95 became a hybrid OS booting with DOS in 16bit and running Windows in a sort of 32bit mode. Since the underlying OS was DOS and DOS has a limitation on how many files can be on the ROOT of C:/ moving everything off the ROOT of C:/ helped people with the problem of filling up the ROOT of C:/ and then having some very strange problems. Plus with the Internet in its infancy many could not figure out why things were not working. (Sorry trying to keep it short). Now on to Windows NT the predecessor to Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Microsoft had already established the C:/Program Files and special folders for the OS and System files so they just kept up with the theme; however a new part of Windows NT was security. Now you could control what could be read or executed or saved etc. etc. Microsoft took a long time to work out how permission would be set and one of them was that a standard user would NOT have full access to the ROOT of C:/ and that software would be installed in C:/Program Files so standard users would get the correct permissions to use the software. (Note: This did not go as planned, so we have many other issues with this, because programmers did not and still DO NOT follow the Microsoft Programming rules. That is a whole other topic I will not get into here.). This brings us to why you don’t want to save files or make folders off the ROOT of C:/ If you want to install a program it goes into C:/Program Files, if you want to store data it goes into C:/Documents and Settings (before Windows 7) and C:/Users/<username>/Documents (Windows 7). If you want to store any data any way you want then you can use a D:/, USB drive etc. and save/create anything anyway you want.

So the biggest problems you will have saving off the ROOT of C:/ is permissions. You may also have problems because of sloppy programming expecting software to be in C:/Program Files. Your folder renaming issue may have been part of this as well.

Please Note: That is just the basics of how all this works it is written here to be extremely brief.

I hope that helps.

Hi WindowStar,

Wow, that is some real detail that I find very interesting, thank you so much. I can probably make changes fairly easily. All programs are in the programs folder so that much is OK. Now I will begin to better organize and place my other folders appropriately. I am going to have to read up on Permissions before I make changes to make sure this doesn't bite me later on.

I have copied your information and created a word document so I can easily/quickly refer to your excellent detailed information.

Thanks again for all your time you spent helping me out.

Best Regards..................Ralph

 

[WindowsStar]

@ralphjramirez
Yes please be very careful with permissions and especially taking ownership. I see many people here playing with that and they get into a lot of trouble quickly.

I am glad I can help, and I can learn while I am here too, that is what it is all about.

 

[bluscarab]

any fix yet?

I know old post but does anyone have a fix yet? I have 434 computers here of which only the Windows 7 stations randomly exhibits this problem. XP, 2003 server, 2000 server and even an old NT4 server do not exhibit this behavior. I have tried disabling Win7 search and index, thumbnail generator and checked all permissions. It happens whether folder is on a network server or local hard drive or separate partition on the local hard drive. It is VERY RANDOM. Can go for months without a problem and then suddenly it occurs for no reason whatsoever. Sometimes it happens for the entire week. Its driving me nuts. I have also noticed this on my mom's computer at home with no domain or server system. I have also found this bug on display laptops at Best Buy and Costco.

Why did they have to reinvent the wheel?

 

[UsernameIssues]

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