Windows Explorer doesn't refresh when moving/deleting - Part 2
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Sunday, February 07, 2010 2:53 PMI'm reposting this topic under a new thread because Microsoft has erroneously marked the previous thread as "Answered" and is either not paying attention to subsequent posts, or is ignoring the issue. Previous thread can be found under: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproui/thread/8afb8b65-900c-4f42-b1df-3c2394417b6e/Restating the problem from joeboxer:_____________________________________________________This thread discusses the following glitches during file operations, in which file states are not properly updated until a manual refresh of the display (note from ppanish, in my case I don't believe a refresh resulted in an update of the displayed information):
- After moving files: A) moved files do not disappear, or B), all moved files disappear but pop-ups report "Could not find this item" for each file.
- After deleting files: deleted files do not disappear.
- After renaming files: renamed files continue to show former filenames.
- After creating a folder: created folder does not appear.
- After emptying the Recycle Bin: emptied bin is not shown as empty.
__________________________________________________________________The most successful resolution to this problem was presented by Deckard on 1/22/2010 as follows. Users please note, it is much faster to search for DontRefresh since these are the occurrences you're really interested in:________________________________________________1) I backed up the registry.
2) Searched for occurrences of the word refresh and found this key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{BDEADE7F-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}\Instance
which contains three subkeys. One of them, curiously enough, is DontRefresh and it has a value of 1 (turned ON)
3) I then changed the value to 0 (turned OFF) and hit F5 to refresh and save the now changed registry.________________________________________________________Most of us have found that the exact number of registry keys and their specific handles will vary with installation, and generally a reboot is required for the fix to be effective.This appears to be a widespread problem, and is extremely disruptive to use of the system with Windows 7. Hopefully this thread will result in Microsoft looking into this more seriously to define cause and solutions to the problem.- Edited by Ronnie VernonMVP, Moderator Thursday, February 11, 2010 3:19 PM Edit
All Replies
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Sunday, February 07, 2010 3:56 PMI agree. The problem is not properly solved. The registry fix seems to be ok for a few but not for everyone.
- Proposed As Answer by Angeloz7617 Tuesday, February 16, 2010 6:44 PM
- Unproposed As Answer by ppanish Wednesday, February 17, 2010 4:52 PM
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Sunday, February 07, 2010 10:04 PMWell, after running with DontRefresh set at 0 on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit for 14 days, and having absolutely no refresh problems during that time, I'm sad to report that the refresh problem has returned for me today. Two weeks ago, setting DontRefresh to 0 immediately solved the problem (without even a restart). No problem for two weeks. Today, the problem occurs 100% of the time (file moves, deletes, renames), just as it did before I modified the registry back on 1/23/2010.
I have confirmed that DontRefresh is still set to 0, so that didn't change itself back. I have installed some Windows Updates between 1/23 and now, but I made no intentional configuration changes between yesterday when it worked fine and this morning when it didn't work at all.
So, it looks like there must be some other factor innvolved in this problem. [sound of head scratching...] -
Monday, February 08, 2010 4:24 AMI had a image file that I wanted to delete, but I ended up with a "ghost" file. I tried everything to delete the file.
Solution:
In the command prompt, from the directory that the "undeleteable" file is stuck in; try this command:
del [insert start of filename here]* <---wildcard
The trick was to ad the * at the end of the file name. For example, del yellow.jpg*
I searched and came to this thread, and wanted to put this solution up.
Hope this works for others. -
Monday, February 08, 2010 3:58 PM
I had a image file that I wanted to delete, but I ended up with a "ghost" file. Solution:...............
Sud
The problem is seen in many ways
Such as a right click drag copy paste
So its far beyond deleting a file
We are looking for the actual total fix -
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 4:09 PMHi everyone
same problem here.... an fresh install of windows 7 pro 32bits, no third party software installed, just windows updates.
an example:
open notepad save an txt in the desktop, close notepad, the file doesn't appear on the desktop untill i press F5. -
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 6:36 PM
This problem, as it could become as familiar as bsod, should be given an acronym
Done
WEDR
Pronunciation?
http://acronyms.silmaril.ie/cgi-bin/uncgi/acronyms?terms=WEDR -
Thursday, February 11, 2010 12:01 AMHi all, i posted in the "old thread" and i'm reposting here the same message:
i'm experiencing this problem too. Windows 7 Professional 32bit. My registry has no "dontrefresh" entries at all, and i found this problem only when browsing subfolders of the Documents library and if files are sorted by last modified or by size . Maybe it would happen also within other libraries, but i use only documents.
Steps to reproduce:
Start Menu
Documents
Enter a subfolder of the documents library (on the documents "root" folder it doesn's seem to happen)
Create a new text document (right click -> new -> text document)
Right mouse button -> delete (don't know if this is the correct english translation, anyway, delete it :) )
The icon is still there even if the file no longer exists.
If files are sorted by name , it doesn't happen... ..........
Can someone please try this procedure and comment?
I think it's a very annoying issue that should be resolved as soon as possible.
Really.
Regards,
Francesco- Edited by kRs__ Thursday, February 11, 2010 1:23 PM
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Thursday, February 11, 2010 12:44 AMYes, I observe the same. However, the problem exists in other ways too. In the same subfolder I tried your experiment in, if I try to create a new folder, Explorer opens and just hangs and hangs and hangs. If I open a new explorer window and navigate to that same subdir, the "new folder" is there. If I right click it and rename, as soon as I click "return" to accept the new name... explorer hangs and hangs and hangs (because it cannot refresh to the new name I imagine). So, I now open a 3rd Explorer window, navigate to the same subdir again, and voila, the new folder is there and renamed as I intended it to. In the meantime, the original two explorer windows are totally hung. Anywhere from 1-5 minutes, though at this point I just kill them out of frustration with the process.
A reboot appears to clear up the problem for some amount of time, but it always comes back. This is SO annoying! -
Thursday, February 11, 2010 3:37 PMModeratorHi ppanish
Thank you for starting a new thread with this ongoing problem. That first thread was getting hard to navigate and slow loading. I locked the first thread and posted a link to this new thread.
Please don't be concerned about a post being marked as an answer. This does not close the thread and the post was marked because this makes that post stand out and it is one solution that has been proven to work on some systems.
You can be assured that this issue has been escalated, Microsoft is well aware of the problem and it is actively being investigated.
Thanks for understanding.
Ronnie Vernon MVP
Forum Moderator -
Thursday, February 11, 2010 3:48 PMI'm wondering, after having the same problem on my Win7Ult-64 machine (temporarily fixed weeks ago by setting DontRefresh to 0, but now returned with a vengeance) and searching other forums, whether this may be a problem only for those who use NAS drives?
I reboot, and no problem. My NAS (4 drives in a RAID10 config) starts up, and I have the problem.
Elsewhere, some have suggested disabling Windows Search service (using msconfig), which makes sense if it is a NAS problem. (Spending lots of time to search terabytes of data.) I'm testing it now. I'll let you know what I find. -
Thursday, February 11, 2010 3:57 PM This was not changed in my case, but those who disabled UAC may want to rethink that decision:
Article ID: 2018895 - Last Review: February 11, 2010 - Revision: 1.0
Desktop items disappear after renaming them on Windows 7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2018895
Symptoms: When renaming a file, folder, or shortcut on the desktop, it will disappear until you refresh the desktop.
Cause: This can occur if "User Account Control" (UAC) under "Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\User Accounts" is set to "Never Notify" for the logged on user.
Resolution: Set the UAC to the Default setting of "Default - Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer".- Proposed As Answer by George_Jungle Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:50 PM
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Thursday, February 11, 2010 4:03 PM
I had a image file that I wanted to delete, but I ended up with a "ghost" file. Solution:...............
Sud
The problem is seen in many ways
Such as a right click drag copy paste
So its far beyond deleting a file
We are looking for the actual total fix
I'd like a total fix too; however, I wanted to put this solution in a thread. I was trying to be helpful and productive. -
Friday, February 12, 2010 2:36 AMHi there,
I've run into this as well, and have polled others on the issue. It's quite a common issue, despite what you may hear from Microsoft. Question: Does launching Internet Explorer (and closing it completely) several times reproduce the issue? This was the repro. case for a previous bug in ExplorerFrame.dll. -
Friday, February 12, 2010 2:48 AMI would also advise against implementing the change above. It's not used by Explorer, from what I can see.
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Friday, February 12, 2010 2:39 PMHere's an update on my experience with this problem:After patching the registry a bit over one week ago the "No Refresh" problem periodically recurs. "Reset" and "Restore Defaults" to folders has no beneficial effect, however rebooting my system does currently resolve the issue for an indefinite period of time. I can't correlate the recurrence to any particular action.I'm not using Internet Explorer, nor do I have a NAS system.The moderator has assured us that Microsoft recognizes the problem and is working on resolving it. Hopefully this thread will be informed of progress on the issue.Paul Panish
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Friday, February 12, 2010 3:48 PMThat DontRefresh key disappeared from the registry when I uninstalled Office 2007, so I don't think it has anything to do with this problem.
However, this only seems to happen to me when I'm in a Library. If I access Documents through the full path, it seems ok. -
Friday, February 12, 2010 11:54 PMUpdate: The problem continues to occur for me 100% of the time. I have no NAS, no RAID, no external drives, no mapped network drives, and rebooting the system has no effect on the problem in my case. It happens whether I'm working in a Library or the actual directory itself.
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Saturday, February 13, 2010 4:56 PMHere is a suggestion for each of you experiencing these problems, which may help us all to diagnose and correct this issue:
Please list the non-Microsoft Shell Extensions you have on your system. You can use the excellent freeware Shell Extension View program that can be found here to do this: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html
Look for the items highlighted in pink. Sort by Company to get the non-Microsoft extensions all listed together at the top and bottom of the list (Microsoft will be in the middle).
Also please list the way you have Explorer configured (e.g., what view are you seeing this happen in - icon, list, details, whatever).
Please take the time to do this, keeping in mind that the problem simply does not show itself for some folks, so there is hope.
-Noel -
Saturday, February 13, 2010 7:55 PMNon-Microsoft Extensions:
Adobe PDF Link Helper 9.3.0.148 (Adobe PDF Helper for Internet Explorer)
Bluewire General Property Sheet 1.0.0.1 (ContextH Application)
DesktopContext Class 7.15.11.7967 (Nvidia Display Properies Extension)
Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper 6.0.170.4 (Java(TM) Platform SE binary)
NVIDIA CPL Extension 7.15.11.7967
nView Desktop Context Menu 6.14.10.12091
PDF Shell Extension 9.3.0.148
I noticed another strange behavior - when saving files in Firefox, the browser would lock up for about 2-3 seconds after the save was complete. Started happening at the exact same time I began having folder issues. Windows 7 worked perfectly on my laptop for quite awhile before "poof" - started having issues. One thing I noticed is that my laptop seemed to work perfectly when mobile - folders were created immediately. Docked the laptop without rebooting and the refresh issue showed up.
The only thing I can figure is that I have a USB drive attached to the docking station - perhaps it's related to crappy no-name controller hardware in the USB->SATA bridge?
Someone else mentioned that deleting all the hidden desktop.ini files on the desktop would help. I did so - creating the next folder crashed Explorer. Behavior seems normal now - at least so far. :)
I have a Dell D820 laptop - a coworker of mine running Windows 7 on a Dell D830 has the same issue. Probably a coincidence, but it's worth pointing out we're both software developers - perhaps we have similar software installed. -
Saturday, February 13, 2010 8:14 PMModerator
Update: The problem continues to occur for me 100% of the time. I have no NAS, no RAID, no external drives, no mapped network drives, and rebooting the system has no effect on the problem in my case. It happens whether I'm working in a Library or the actual directory itself.
Hi kengr
Please see the post by rseiler above that documents a similar refresh issue when working on the Desktop.
Do you have UAC set to 'Never Notify'?
If so, please set it to the default setting, reboot and check this issue again.
Let us know the results.
Thank You for using Windows 7
Ronnie Vernon MVP
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Saturday, February 13, 2010 8:24 PMModerator
Non-Microsoft Extensions:
Hi SC
Adobe PDF Link Helper 9.3.0.148 (Adobe PDF Helper for Internet Explorer)
Bluewire General Property Sheet 1.0.0.1 (ContextH Application)
DesktopContext Class 7.15.11.7967 (Nvidia Display Properies Extension)
Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper 6.0.170.4 (Java(TM) Platform SE binary)
NVIDIA CPL Extension 7.15.11.7967
nView Desktop Context Menu 6.14.10.12091
PDF Shell Extension 9.3.0.148
I noticed another strange behavior - when saving files in Firefox, the browser would lock up for about 2-3 seconds after the save was complete. Started happening at the exact same time I began having folder issues. Windows 7 worked perfectly on my laptop for quite awhile before "poof" - started having issues. One thing I noticed is that my laptop seemed to work perfectly when mobile - folders were created immediately. Docked the laptop without rebooting and the refresh issue showed up.
The only thing I can figure is that I have a USB drive attached to the docking station - perhaps it's related to crappy no-name controller hardware in the USB->SATA bridge?
Noel may be onto something here.
Please use Shellex View to temporarily disable all of the non-Microsoft extensions, reboot the computer and check the refresh issue again.
Let us know the results.
Ronnie Vernon MVP
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Saturday, February 13, 2010 8:43 PMFor what it's worth, here are the shell extensions on a system on which this problem doesn't appear:
Bluewire General Property Sheet ContextH Application (I don't know who this is from)
SimpleShlExt Class AMD Desktop Control Panel (supports ATI video card)
DisplayCplExt Class AMD Desktop Control Panel (supports ATI video card)
avast avast! Shell Extension (Avast antivirus 5)
snxPluginsShell Class DLL registration plugins extension (Avast antivirus 5)
(multiple) TortoiseSVN TortoiseSVN shell extension client (Subversion)
(multiple) TortoiseSVN TortoiseSVN overlay handler shim (Subversion)
Might be an interesting exercise to temporarily disable those you might have that are not in this list and see if the problem remains.
-Noel -
Saturday, February 13, 2010 8:58 PMWhile I do think that some users may be affected by misbehaving shell extensions, I want to reiterate that refresh glitches can occur on the very first boot of a clean Windows 7 install, before changing any settings or installing any third-party software. I've verified this on three different clean installs, using my steps to reproduce from the older thread. As kengr says, this can occur for people with no NAS, no RAID, no external drives, and no mapped network drives.
Please take the time to do this, keeping in mind that the problem simply does not show itself for some folks, so there is hope.
Noel, do you use your libraries much? I haven't seen any glitches either since I gave up using libraries.
BTW, can someone tell me why my earlier post was deleted? I thought it was polite and on-topic. -
Saturday, February 13, 2010 9:15 PM
For what it's worth, here are the shell extensions on a system on which this problem doesn't appear:
Might be an interesting exercise to temporarily disable those you might have that are not in this list and see if the problem remains.
-Noel
Hi,
have you tried the steps i described some posts above to reproduce the problem? (subfolder of library, files sorted by last modified)
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Saturday, February 13, 2010 9:27 PMNo, I don't use Libraries at all. I've removed the Libraries root from Explorer.
If Microsoft is working on an Explorer revamp they ought to say something. I suppose they think that acknowledging that Explorer is flawed and is being fixed would stop people from buying right now... All the while they leave existing customers in the cold. Twisted logic to be sure. Do they think that no one talks to others?
-Noel- Edited by Noel CarboniMicrosoft Community Contributor Saturday, February 13, 2010 11:00 PM
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Saturday, February 13, 2010 10:25 PM
If Microsoft is working on an Explorer revamp they ought to say something.
Agreed. Actually, I agree with your entire post, but I'm afraid that if i quote it, Ronnie will delete this post of mine too. -
Saturday, February 13, 2010 10:26 PM
have you tried the steps i described some posts above to reproduce the problem?
Hi Francesco, I tried your steps but couldn't consistently trigger the problem. When sorting by date modified or size, I saw the problem only once out of about thirty tries.If files are sorted by name , it doesn't happen...
But I pretty much stick to sort by name, and the problem still occurs. -
Saturday, February 13, 2010 10:30 PMModerator
BTW, can someone tell me why my earlier post was deleted? I thought it was polite and on-topic.
Hi JB
I removed several posts in this thread.
Your post was removed because, although it was on topic and polite, it was just a non-productive comment. These types of posts do nothing to help with the problem, they make the thread difficult to navigate and distracting when trying to track down the problem.
I hope everyone can avoid playing the 'blame game' here. It doesn't really matter who or what is at fault, the only thing that matters is that we find a solution so that everyone can get the problem fixed.
If anyone want's to post a comment, we have another thread specifically for that purpose.
Have Comments about Windows 7? (Part 4 - Do not post questions in this thread)
Or, you can use the following link.
Windows 7 feedback - Speak to us at Microsoft
PS I'm in the process of escalating this thread to Microsoft.
Thanks for understanding.Ronnie Vernon MVP
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Sunday, February 14, 2010 5:52 PM
... the only thing that matters is that we find a solution so that everyone can get the problem fixed. ... I'm in the process of escalating this thread to Microsoft.
Absolutely agreed. Thanks for your help.Your post was removed because, although it was on topic and polite, it was just a non-productive comment.
Ronnie, know what else has been regrettably "non-productive?" Our best efforts. Hence, my pointed request for help after 4 months of complete silence on Microsoft's part. Please let Microsoft know that we've expended a considerable amount of time and energy with no real progress - guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks again, Ronnie. -
Monday, February 15, 2010 6:13 AMHello guys.
Someone has mentioned this before but try this out please, it fixed my problem with copy/paste/refresh/rename/ everything you all mentioned above and before.
Go to your Control Panel and click on User Accounts, click on Change User Account Settings and grab that slider back to Default (it should say on the right - "Don't Notify me when I make changes to Windows Settings" and it will state below "Recommended if using familiar programs and visit familiar sites".
Click Ok and if prompted - restart.
I only got this whole problem when I changed this setting from Default to Never (or something) and forgotten what I did, for days I had the issues with refreshing until I went back and put the slider back to default. It's been more than a month since everything is working as usual (refresh fixed).
Hope it helps you. -
Monday, February 15, 2010 3:03 PMI keep UAC disabled and have no problems with display update.
Don't get me wrong, having UAC configured to prompt is probably a good idea in the general case.
-Noel -
Monday, February 15, 2010 3:39 PMok - this ' click on Change User Account Settings and grab that slider back to Default' isn't appearing on my PC - are you using a different os?
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Monday, February 15, 2010 4:25 PMH bomb schreef op 15-2-2010 16:39:
> ok - this ' click on Change User Account Settings and grab that slider
> back to Default' isn't appearing on my PC - are you using a different os?
Control Panel (Select: **view: small icons**, upper right)
User Accounts
Change User Account Control Settings
all Windows 7 .....
--
Karel Vos [MVP - Windows Desktop Experience] -
Monday, February 15, 2010 6:35 PMAny time you can't find something try this:
1. Click the Start orb.
2. Type in part of the name of what you're looking for in the search box at the bottom of the menu.
For example, in this case, type in User Account and the function you want will pop up as the second item. Just click on it at that point. VERY handy.
-Noel -
Monday, February 15, 2010 7:33 PMWhat karelVos said (it's Win7). When you click on Control Panel, by default it looks as if it only has 8 main options (System, Hardware, Programs, etc).
In order to see it as it was by default in XP, simply do the 'View By Large Icons' instead of default 'View By Category'.
Then you'll see everything including on the bottom the option to change the User Account settings where you will find this slider under 'Change User Account Settings', drag the slider and let us know if it works for you.
Whatever you do, don't search for some ghost in the machine and screw up your registry or mess up your devices, problem is sometimes right in front of you but we tend to complicate it. -
Monday, February 15, 2010 10:17 PM
Hello guys.
Not fixed .Problem remains here:(
Someone has mentioned this before but try this out please, it fixed my problem with copy/paste/refresh/rename/ everything you all mentioned above and before.
Go to your Control Panel and click on User Accounts, click on Change User Account Settings and grab that slider back to Default (it should say on the right - "Don't Notify me when I make changes to Windows Settings" and it will state below "Recommended if using familiar programs and visit familiar sites".
Click Ok and if prompted - restart.
I only got this whole problem when I changed this setting from Default to Never (or something) and forgotten what I did, for days I had the issues with refreshing until I went back and put the slider back to default. It's been more than a month since everything is working as usual (refresh fixed).
Hope it helps you.
Win 7 pro english 32bit. -
Monday, February 15, 2010 10:27 PMMine is Home Premium x64 but I think that has nothing to do with anything.
Have you restarted computer after dragging slider to 'Default' ?
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Monday, February 15, 2010 11:18 PMAlso, I forgot to ask before but any of you folks have recently (before the problem) installed some firewall on you computer, something like 'Comodo' or any others?
The reason why I'm asking is because the only time ever I've seen this weird behavior was when I had Comodo firewall on my XP machine long time ago. It did the same 'norefresh/copy/paste/rename/delete' thing until I finally disabled some of the 'tight' or whatever security level back to default.
Due to this, I believe really that the problem is exactly in the service on either Win (user account as mentioned) or externally via Firewall and similar programs where some sort of 'elevated protection' has taken place slowing down the most basic file operations.
I know for sure that it's nothing in registry (DontRefresh doesn't even exist in mine) nor ShellEx (got only Avast, not gonna disconnect it and it's not a culprit), nor rogue DLLs (not even malware does something like this), nor USB/SATA/RAID or view files by size/name/whatever and such.
Again, check your settings/user setup in Windows or via firewall/antivirus program before deciding to go with more experimental and exotic measures.
I know how aggravating this problem is and am very happy that User Account thing fixed it for me, hope you find a solution as well.
G'Luck. -
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 3:01 AMThe registry change did not make any difference for me. I performed the change and rebooted and ran into the issue again later today. I will say that is happens to be related to only folders in the "Libraries" tree for me. (Which is a real pain since those are the only folders where users will most likely be creating files and folders)
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010 3:39 AM
Also, have you folks recently installed some firewall on you computer, something like 'Comodo'...?
No -
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 6:46 PMI think it's a problem related with explorer.exe.
I opened the Task Manager, killed the explorer.exe task and then restarted it. Worked for me.- Proposed As Answer by Angeloz7617 Wednesday, February 17, 2010 1:52 PM
- Unproposed As Answer by ppanish Wednesday, February 17, 2010 4:51 PM
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010 10:13 PMComputer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{BDEADE7F-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F\Instance's DontRefresh (default 1 to 0) doesn't seem to work on my two months old, updated 64-bit Windows 7 HP (Dell OEM) machine. Do I have to reboot or something? What I did to test it was make a new folder on my desktop with a custom name.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010 10:13 PM+1, Win7 x64. And, I'm also experiencing the problem with long delays when creating files and folders, or renaming them, or moving them. I've found that I can perform file operations from the command line without experiencing any delays.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010 10:20 PM
I think it's a problem related with explorer.exe.
I opened the Task Manager, killed the explorer.exe task and then restarted it. Worked for me.
I don't beleive it I did something similar and worked also!
I changed the priority of explore.exe service from "norma"l to "realtime" and it FIXED the problem.(for an hour now all are normal).
I even restarted the computer to see what happens with the priority and the bug. The bug is still non existent after the restart even although the priority changed to default (normal).
For now and (after 4 months now) the bug for the first time is non existend!
I didn't switch off the service and restarted but i beleive this will work also.
Thanks Angeloz -
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 10:30 PMYou won't be the first one to declare a fix after such a short amount of time only to be disappointed after a slightly longer period of time. Here, I'll write it for you:
"Sadly, that fix I wrote about stopped working after X hours. I realized that temporarily changing the priority of one task couldn't have any long-lasting effect anyway."
-Where "X" stands for the actual number of elapsed hours. -
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 10:39 PM
You won't be the first one to declare a fix after such a short amount of time only to be disappointed after a slightly longer period of time. Here, I'll write it for you:
"Sadly, that fix I wrote about stopped working after X hours. I realized that temporarily changing the priority of one task couldn't have any long-lasting effect anyway."
-Where "X" stands for the actual number of elapsed hours.
You maybe right but is the only thing that worked for me until now. It's quite a relief you know... -
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 1:51 PM
I think it's a problem related with explorer.exe.
I opened the Task Manager, killed the explorer.exe task and then restarted it. Worked for me.
I don't beleive it I did something similar and worked also!
I changed the priority of explore.exe service from "norma"l to "realtime" and it FIXED the problem.(for an hour now all are normal).
I even restarted the computer to see what happens with the priority and the bug. The bug is still non existent after the restart even although the priority changed to default (normal).
For now and (after 4 months now) the bug for the first time is non existend!
I didn't switch off the service and restarted but i beleive this will work also.
Thanks Angeloz
Hope it is the definitive fix =D- Proposed As Answer by Angeloz7617 Wednesday, February 17, 2010 1:53 PM
- Unproposed As Answer by ppanish Wednesday, February 17, 2010 4:51 PM
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010 4:51 PMAngeloz,Changing the priority has made no difference for me, though I was only able to set it to high, not realtime.It's very clear this is a problem with Windows Explorer, but that doesn't answer or resolve anything. Restarting Explorer everytime this happens is easier than rebooting, but it's still a workaround. At this point I suspect that changing the registry values may also have done nothing, and it was simply rebooting (and therefore re-initializing Explorer) that caused the problem to go away for a time.Nothing that has been proposed is more than a workaround for this issue, and I think this is clearly up to Microsoft to resolve. So far, all we have is a thin assurance from the forum moderator that they are looking into the problem. Of course Microsoft doesn't believe in giving information on status or prioritization of reported issues since they have so little need to appear responsive to their customers.ppanish
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010 5:42 PM
Angeloz,
Changing the priority has made no difference for me, though I was only able to set it to high, not realtime.It's very clear this is a problem with Windows Explorer, but that doesn't answer or resolve anything. Restarting Explorer everytime this happens is easier than rebooting, but it's still a workaround. At this point I suspect that changing the registry values may also have done nothing, and it was simply rebooting (and therefore re-initializing Explorer) that caused the problem to go away for a time.Nothing that has been proposed is more than a workaround for this issue, and I think this is clearly up to Microsoft to resolve. So far, all we have is a thin assurance from the forum moderator that they are looking into the problem. Of course Microsoft doesn't believe in giving information on status or prioritization of reported issues since they have so little need to appear responsive to their customers.ppanish
Yeah, probably this won't work for everyone or not forever, but not having issues since 1 month after restarting 1 time the explorer.exe task -
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 6:29 PM
I don't beleive it I did something similar and worked also!
How do I set explorer.exe to realtime? It only goes up to high and won't let me go higher. High didn't fix it for me. :(
I changed the priority of explore.exe service from "norma"l to "realtime" and it FIXED the problem.(for an hour now all are normal).
I even restarted the computer to see what happens with the priority and the bug. The bug is still non existent after the restart even although the priority changed to default (normal).
For now and (after 4 months now) the bug for the first time is non existend!
I didn't switch off the service and restarted but i beleive this will work also.
Thanks Angeloz
Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx). -
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 6:32 PMI have UAC disabled, probably you can change it by disabling it. Not sure of it though.
-
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 7:30 PM
I don't know why you don't see it in your system... you right click on task manager the "explorer.exe" item and select "set priority" then "realtime".
You have to log in as adminstrator of course. I'm the only user of this PC and thus I only log in as Adminstrator. I don't have/use any other accounts. System :win 7 pro english .
If after all you don't see it, try to right click "explorer.exe" service on Task Manager again and then select "end process" to see what happens(as Angeloz said).
You would see that for sure!
I hope all these to help you!
PS make sure you don't mistake the iexplorer.exe with explorer.exe- Edited by paparas Wednesday, February 17, 2010 8:51 PM lang correction
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010 7:32 PM
I have UAC disabled, probably you can change it by disabling it. Not sure of it though.
me too i have it disabled. -
Thursday, February 18, 2010 2:08 AM
Hmm, I am using the default UAC settings. I will have to reboot to do that. If I enable UAC back on, then will explorer.exe go back to normal?I have UAC disabled, probably you can change it by disabling it. Not sure of it though.
me too i have it disabled.
Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx). -
Thursday, February 18, 2010 6:58 PMDon't know, you can try it anyway
-
Sunday, February 21, 2010 11:09 PM
The TOTAL SOLUTION is here: Buy a programmable mouse and assign the key F5 (which is the refresh button that restores the problem) to any button that you prefer. So every time you have that problem HIT that button and continue with your work without this problem.
I think that is really UNBELEIVABLE that Microsoft keeps so silent with such a big issue.Thank god that I didn't change all of my other PC's to win7 from win XP.
I really can't believe that they don't have a fix after so many months.
-
Sunday, February 21, 2010 11:38 PM
No thanks. I will stick with my F5 key. I still use two/three buttons mice sometimes. Even PS/2 depending on which computers that use old KVMs from early 2000s.The TOTAL SOLUTION is here: Buy a programmable mouse and assign the key F5 (which is the refresh button that restores the problem) to any button that you prefer. So every time you have that problem HIT that button and continue with your work without this problem.
I think that is really UNBELEIVABLE that Microsoft keeps so silent with such a big issue.Thank god that I didn't change all of my other PC's to win7 from win XP.
I really can't believe that they don't have a fix after so many months.
Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx). -
Monday, February 22, 2010 6:21 PMI have found the answer! Or one of them...
I have had this problem since the beginning of Windows 7. It would not reflect changes on rename, copy, paste, delete. Would come and go.
Been searching for a solution but was unable to find one.
Was thinking it must have something to do with drives connected to the "Computer"
Looked at the list of drives and saw a printer?
It was my HP Officejet 7410... it has a sim card reader.
I disconnected this (right click, disconnect)
And bam. All is good!
Something is going on with the HP driver of that printer. It is messing up explorer. -
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:37 PM
I have found the answer! Or one of them...
Hmm, mine is connected to a shared network printer. Don't remember if it was a HP or not.
I have had this problem since the beginning of Windows 7. It would not reflect changes on rename, copy, paste, delete. Would come and go.
Been searching for a solution but was unable to find one.
Was thinking it must have something to do with drives connected to the "Computer"
Looked at the list of drives and saw a printer?
It was my HP Officejet 7410... it has a sim card reader.
I disconnected this (right click, disconnect)
And bam. All is good!
Something is going on with the HP driver of that printer. It is messing up explorer.
Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx). -
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 3:45 PMNot sure if it's been noted anywhere else or not, but this problem was also in Vista. It is not a Win7 specific problem. It has nothing to do with custom themes or anything similar. I've had it since day 1 of my Vista install and Win7 install. Both clean installs, not upgrades.
I'm a VB.net Newb :) -
Thursday, February 25, 2010 4:21 PMAnother dimension (?) to this issue, as observed in Win7 Pro 32-bit:
If I open a zip file, right-click a file and select copy, then paste it in a folder, two instances of the file name appear. Refreshing eliminates one instance.
(I have not tried any of the above heavy voodoo solutions.)
George -
Thursday, February 25, 2010 5:07 PMGeorge, I just tried that, with both Ultimate 32 bit and x64 editions. Only one file appeared.
Specifically, I did this:
1. I have two folders: C:\Temp\Test and C:\Temp\Test2
2. In C:\Temp\Test I have a file called Subfolder.zip. Within Subfolder.zip I have a file goose.txt.
3. I opened an Explorer window to C:\, then navigated into Test\Subfolder.zip; the file goose.txt is showing in the file pane.
4. I right-clicked on goose.txt and chose Copy.
5. I then navigated into C:\Temp\Test2; no files were showing in the file pane as the folder was initially empty.
6. I right-clicked in the file pane and chose Paste.
7. Only one instance of goose.txt appeared, instantly.
I am once again curious about what you have installed or configured that I have not, such that our systems should behave differently.
What Shell Extensions do you have running? I've listed mine above.
What Antivirus/security software do you have running? I use Avast Pro 5.0 on the 64 bit system and Avast Pro 4.8 on the 32 bit system.
FYI, I have UAC disabled on the 64 bit system and enabled on the 32 bit system.
No difference in operation between these two systems.
-Noel -
Thursday, February 25, 2010 6:31 PMNoel:
Non-MS Shell Extensions
Notepad++
Context Menu
Microsoft Office HTML Icon Handler
Icon Handler
Adobe PDF Link Helper
Browser Helper Object
PDF Shell Extension
Column Handler
Bluewire General Property Sheet
Property Sheet
iOpus iMacros
Explorer Bar
GraphicsShellExt Class
Context Menu
iTunes
System
Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper
Browser Helper Object
Norton Toolbar
IE Toolbar
Symantec NCO BHO
Browser Helper Object
Palm Quick Install DropTargetObj Class
Drop Handler
palmOne Quick Install
Shell Folder
Symantec Intrusion Prevention
Browser Helper Object
IEContextMenu Class
Context Menu
Synaptics Control Panel
System
WinZip
Context Menu
WinZip
Drop Handler
WinZip
InfoTip Handler
WinZip
Drag & Drop Handler
But now that you ask, and I go back to reproduce the effect so I can provide greater detail, the behavior does not recur! What I'd done was go to my course management website (using Firefox 3.5.8), clicked on a link to one of the student data files, and said open. It opens in C:\Users\George\AppData\Local\Temp\Lesson03-1.zip\Student3. I selected and copied a file to a subfolder in a library and got two instances. At least it did earlier.
Don't you just love intermittent problems! So I guess I haven't really contributed to the discussion. But I'll continue to follow it.
George- Edited by TTrout Thursday, February 25, 2010 6:33 PM remove extraneous from pasting Word extract
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Thursday, February 25, 2010 8:49 PMWell, in your case I'd sure suspect WinZip of getting in the way of Explorer zip file handling.
I have avoided putting WinZip on my systems, in the hopes of determining whether I can get along without it. I have always used it in the past, but the zip handling in Windows 7 is supposed to be improved... So far I haven't needed it. Perhaps trying to open an archive format that Windows doesn't embrace will ultimately push me over the edge.
When I DID use WinZip on past systems (most recently Vista x64), I found the setting in Windows to disable all handling of zip files by Explorer. I can't recall exactly WHY I did that, but I'm sure I had a good reason at the time. It's something you might investigate. Having two different entities trying to work magic on the same file will likely be trouble.
-Noel -
Friday, February 26, 2010 7:33 PMI have this problem too, I'm trying the reg fix. Kudos to the CUSTOMER who provided the VENDOR with the possible solution. It's taken me 50 mins to read all these comments.
-
Tuesday, March 02, 2010 3:35 PMI thought the registry fix was the solution as well, but am horrified to see Win 7 back to its old tricks. I do have a very good TEMPORARY solution though that I would like to share. Someone posted that killing the explorer.exe process and restarting it will fix the problem for an indeterminate amount of time. I find this to be true, and while again I stress that this is not a permanent fix, if done properly this will make everyone's lives easier for a bit.
All we're doing is making a VERY SIMPLE script to kill explorer, restart it, and assign it a shortcut key to do it in a hurry.
1) Open up notepad
2) Copy and paste these two lines into it:
tskill explorer
start c:\windows\explorer.exe
3) Save it wherever you want and name it whatever you want, BUT make the extention .bat, NOT .txt
4) Right-click your new .bat file and create a shortcut
5) Drag that shortcut into your start menu (put it in the accessories folder or something)
6) Right-click the shortcut you just put into the start menu and go to Properties
7) Change the shortcut key to something easy to remember, like ctrl+alt+E (E for Explorer!)
8) That's it! Now when your computer starts acting up, all you have to do is hit your shortcut key, and one second later everything is back to normal!
I know this problem is infuriating, but at least this gives us a temporary fix while Microsoft gets their act together. -
Tuesday, March 02, 2010 6:24 PMAs an addendum to my previous post, that script above works perfectly on my home computer running 7 Professional, but after trying it on my laptop with 7 Ultimate, upon running the script explorer would close, restart, and then open the Libraries window (which I would then just have to close). To get around this, I deleted the "start c:\windows\explorer.exe" line from the script, leaving only the kill line. Then when running the script, explorer would close and restart by itself (for some unknown reason).
So in other words, if anyone tries my script and has an explorer window with their Libraries pop up afterwards, take out the second line of the script and that'll do it.
I'll be interested to hear if this whole script thing works for people like it does for me. -
Tuesday, March 02, 2010 6:39 PM
Aborting and restarting Explorer is not a good idea.
There is a much better way:
It would be better to set your system to open your file windows in separate processes. If you do that you won't have to restart Explorer... Since it starts a new instance every time you open the first new Explorer window on a clean desktop, all you need is to close all your Explorer windows and open a new one.
This is something I set with every new Windows installation (ever since WAYYY back) and the fact that I am constantly closing and reopening Explorer windows (thus causing new processes to be started) may explain why I don't see this problem.
From an Explorer window: Choose Tools - Folder Options...
-Noel- Proposed As Answer by Noel CarboniMicrosoft Community Contributor Tuesday, March 02, 2010 6:41 PM
- Unproposed As Answer by ppanish Wednesday, May 12, 2010 12:14 PM
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Saturday, March 06, 2010 11:05 PMI have a brand new laptop running Windows 7. The problem addressed in this thread is real. I must refresh (F5) after deleting files in Windows Explorer. The system does delet the file but it remains in view until page is refreshed. MS needs to create a fix for this problem. Discussion is interesting, but they need to fix this problem. They do.
-
Monday, March 08, 2010 5:31 PM
It is interesting to see all these ingenuous "solutions" to a problem that MICROSOFT should have fixed by now - it looks like this has been a known bug for months. I run W7 Ultimate on a new Dell XPS9000 (Dell installed the operating system, I didn't - I only transferred my files from an XP machine and re-installed all programs from scratch).
I have the non-disappearing file names problem also - and it definitely is a bug. Intuitively I feel that this is a side effect of these new libraries - which, by the way, I only find marginally useful, but that's for another post. Another possibility is that it's simply a refresh issue, but it is unclear why sometimes the file name disappears immediately, sometimes after a short interval, and sometimes not at all (until you get out of the directory and come back in). So, MICROSOFT, would you please put out a patch? It would definitely make me feel more confident about W7's Explore.Can we expect a fix tonight? -
Monday, March 08, 2010 5:53 PMHi, I've been having this same problem for ages...
Yes. Unfortunately, you'll have to install Windows XP.Can we expect a fix tonight?
Seriously : it's just about time for MS to solve this issue. -
Monday, March 08, 2010 10:03 PMThose with the problem will complain bitterly, and will imply everyone has the problem.
Then there will be a patch or service pack that fixes it or works around the incompatibility of whatever other program it is that triggers the problem.
It is the way of the software world.
I'm guessing, because we're seeing it take a long time for Microsoft to release ANYTHING AT ALL that changes Explorer, that there's a big Explorer rewrite project going on behind the scenes. I SINCERELY HOPE this is the case. With big projects come long integration, testing, and release processes.
-Noel -
Monday, March 08, 2010 11:11 PMI think the "big Explorer rewrite" probably took place when they put those libraries in W7. That was cute and unnecessary and apparently introduced bugs - such as the persistent-viewing-of-deleted-files one. Explorer has been quite steady since the DOS days, but now we're in cowboy land. Another (could it be major?) issue are those directories that cannot be accessed, show up as "protected" (from whom?) and cannot be changed.
I am certain that "the rest of the world" must be having these same problems, as there was never a more pristine system than my Dell-installed W7, upon which I only copied files (in the MICROSOFT approved manner) from XP, files that I use every day and know to be error and virus free, and freshly installed programs - all of which I have used errorlessly for years and years. There are no viruses on my computer.
At the very least, it would be good customer service if Microsoft acknowledges that there are issues with Explorer, even if there are no immediate fixes available. As it stands now, the user is left in the dark, wondering if there is anything he/she did or can do. It's like a Toyota. -
Monday, March 08, 2010 11:27 PMJoe, I have several Windows 7 Ultimate systems here, installed clean from Microsoft DVDs, and NONE of them have ever exhibited a failure to refresh. So it is clear that the ENTIRE rest of the world does not have this problem. In fact, based on the relatively small number of complaints (the length of this thread notwithstanding), I suspect it's a minority of all users. That doesn't make the problem any less of a pain if you're the one that has it. But from a support perspective it does affect the probability that Microsoft will fix it quickly.
I also don't have any folders that can't be accessed.
Notably I do not use Libraries, and I fully agree with you that Libraries are an utterly useless complication of Windows - but then I'm a software engineer with a lifetime of computer experience. However, it's clear that Explorer simply wasn't ready for release at the time Windows 7 was scheduled to be built, and they basically hid / compiled-out / deconfigured any features that weren't functional or which caused any kind of instability.
Regarding "cowboy land", we've been walking around amongst cow pies for a while... There's no question Explorer started its slide in Vista. It almost seems as though the current set of software engineers has never read the UI guidelines of yesteryear, don't have the "big picture" in mind, and are implementing things that just strike their fancy while in the trenches of development. That's not to say there aren't some good ideas; but there's no denying some are simply horrid. The problem described in this thread is just one of many examples (look for the screen grabs, specifically): http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itproui/thread/da0e2077-5f97-4305-8d98-48b16c0c5d29
-Noel -
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 1:18 PM
Joe, I have several Windows 7 Ultimate systems here, installed clean from Microsoft DVDs, and NONE of them have ever exhibited a failure to refresh. So it is clear that the ENTIRE rest of the world does not have this problem. In fact, based on the relatively small number of complaints (the length of this thread notwithstanding), I suspect it's a minority of all users.
Hi Noel,
Notably I do not use Libraries,
-Noel
reading your post, i was wondering if the rest of the world which hasn't this problem, actually exists or not. In fact, in my case, it happens only within libraries, and since you don't use them at all, your case is not comparable to mine and to the others with problems regarding the refresh of libraries.
I'll try two different systems with 7 as soon as i can, and i'll post the results here.
-Francesco -
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 1:50 PMFrancesco, absolutely correct: Only if you are under Libraries does the deleted file continue to show. If you approach a file outside the library structure (direct access to the directory), the problem is gone and deleting files immediately takes them away from view. Now that you have clearly pinpointed where the problem is, MICROSOFT (are they even listening?) should fix this bug quickly - or, better yet, just get rid of the entire library nonsense.
Joe -
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 7:02 PM
Francesco, absolutely correct: Only if you are under Libraries does the deleted file continue to show.
Hi Joe,
just out of curiosity, what is the sort type of your folders? I noticed that if i use sort by name the problem almost disappears, while sort by last modified or sort by size make things worst.
- Francesco -
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 8:21 PMI sort by access date, latest first. I'll try sorting by name and then do a delete - I'll report back in a few minutes.
-
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 8:32 PMHi Francesco,
Things actually got weirder. I stayed under the library structure, then sorted by name. After deleting a file, it took 3 or 4 seconds and then the file "disappeared." Then I sorted by access date, and the exact same thing happened: the file is not displayed anymore about 3-4 seconds after deleting. So there was no difference in behavior with the different sorts. What is the weird part is that now the file name actually did disappear "on its own," albeit in a delayed fashion, while before, again under the library structure, the file name never disappeared from view, except by leaving the directory and coming back in.
Do you think MICROSOFT is working on the problem? (Unlikely :-))
Joe -
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 8:56 PMOk, so things appear to have changed (a little). So then I went to the same file, but now directly to the directory (bypassing the library system), and delete worked as advertised, the file name disappears immediately. It's pretty conclusive that the library system is the culprit. I am just appalled that such an obvious problem wasn't caught before W7 release. It makes me feel unsure about the quality of the entire release. If it weren't for the floating windows (which are extremely useful), I'd go back to XP immediately. This was the first time in my 40-year computing experience that I disobeyed my own rule of never going to a new OS until at least the 2nd service pack has been released. I should've listened...
Joe -
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 11:17 PMWell, and tonight i had the chance to test another machine: a desktop with 7 32bit. I have a laptop, so no hardware / drivers in common.
I went in a subfolder of the document library, created many copies of a new text file, selected a bunch of them, deleted, and .. they were still there until i refreshed the window.
So, another 7 installation with the same problem. -
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 11:24 PMSeems pretty clear to me... Blow off that stupid Libraries feature - use the thing like a computer instead of some kind of abstraction designed to separate you from what's really going on (i.e., files stored on drives in folders), and problem solved.
-Noel -
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 1:44 PMIt's not at all that clear... I don't have anything to do with Libraries. The desktop isn't considered a library and that's where I always have the problem.
-
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 5:10 PMI just saved a file to the desktop, then deleted it, and the file name disappeared immediately. So, for me at least, no problems on the desktop.
-
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 6:17 PMWell, I just tested file deletion my My Documents folder under Libraries - Documents - My Documents. It updated Explorer just fine, immediately. I also tried dragging some things to my desktop and dropping them there, then deleting them. They immediately disappeared, just as expected.
As always it comes down to this unsaid summary:
1) People with a problem desperately want it to be a basic systemic problem with Windows that everyone has so it will be fixed soon, since they don't feel they can fix it themselves.
2) People without the problem want the people with the problem to know it CAN work, it isn't necessarily a systemic problem, believe the people with the problem could have have caused it themselves (through action or inaction), and would like to help those above people get their systems working.
3) Microsoft MAY be working to make Windows more defensive and/or implement a fix, but they're not talking.
I have two different Windows 7 systems on which it works properly - even with Libraries.
Anyone who wants to investigate what they've installed that I have not, or what I've chosen as settings that they have not, please speak up. Let's see if we can find the key difference so everyone can work around the problem.
In general, let's start with how I use Explorer:
A) I start Explorer afresh using commands like the following, built into several different icons on my desktop: C:\Windows\explorer.exe C:\
B) I prefer to keep Explorer generally in Details view, though sometimes I choose Large Icons (e.g., for Photo folders). As such I have chosen certain columns to display that are not default, and I have reordered them. A snapshot of what an Explorer window looks like on my system can be seen here:
C) My Explorer settings (Tools - Folder Options) are as follows (keeping in mind I have COMPLETELY disabled Indexing by stopping the indexing service):
-Noel -
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 8:29 PMDear Noel,
I duplicated your folder settings exactly, but the results are still as follows:
When NOT in the Library system, files delete and disappear from view immediately;
When IN the library system, files delete and disappear from view in 3-4 seconds.
Joe -
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 8:33 PMAnother thought: it is probably an indexing issue. Libraries are essentially only "indexed file names," not actual files, so it could be that deleting a file from within the phantom library file display takes a few moments to "index out."
Joe -
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 8:46 PMDear Noel,
Thanks for those settings; I now don't see those strange directories anymore which I couldn't access. The difference was probably that I previously had "Show hidden files" enabled. Great improvement. Things now look almost neat enough that I don't mind the "wait on delete" or using F5... We can get used to anything :-)
Joe -
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 11:05 PMI played around some with indexing.
First, I paused Indexing, then created a new file and saved it in a directory that is part of a Library.
Then, going to that Library, the newly created file did not show up at all. After going out of the Library and back in, the file did show up.
When deleting the file (indexing still paused), the file remains visible; only F5 deletes the view.
After resuming indexing (resumes by itself after maybe 15 minutes), but now not indexing the entire OS(C:), the earlier behavior resumes: upon delete, the file name disappears from view in 3-4 seconds.
I had hoped that excluding OS(C:) from the indexing parameters, I'd get a speed-up in refresh rate on the deleted file. This did not happen. Now, it might be that my existing index file is so large that it didn't make a difference. Next, I will delete the entire index and rebuild it (without OS(C:), and we'll see what happens then. I'll report back.
Joe -
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 11:46 PMJust wanted to say that I'm one more person from "the rest of the world" having problems with this.. on my desktop at work and on my laptop at home. win7 64 ultimate and win7 64 pro. Deleting files and then not having the explorer view refresh is a liability for me. A quick google search on the web shows that this is a COMMON problem...
but primarily I wanted notifications on the thread in hopes on someone finding a solution..
Turning off Microsoft Network client does nothing for me.
Turning off search indexing does nothing for me.
I don't have any registry keys called 'DontRefresh'.
I don't have office installed on my laptop.
Restarting explorer does nothing for me (this happens on boot) -
Thursday, March 11, 2010 12:47 AMThis is one of the best possible explanations for this problem.
-
Thursday, March 11, 2010 1:34 AMOK, indexing (from scratch) finished. It took almost 3 hours and 193,000 items were indexed, which is about 150,000 items fewer than before, when I had OS(C:) included in the index.
So, I created another little Word file and saved it. Then I went to the Library in which the directory in which I saved that file is represented, and sure enough, the file "showed up" immediately. Then I deleted the file, and from the instant of deletion until the file disappeared from the screen was about 2 seconds. So that is 1 to 2 seconds faster than before.
So we have proven 2 points:
1. Yes, it's an index issue under Libraries that creates the problem, and
2. The smaller the index (but still inclusive of the directories that make up a Library), the quicker the refresh.
Obviously, I cannot even begin to suggest a solution because I don't have access to W7 code, but intuitively, I feel that there is some issue with the search method of the index (just a guess :-))
That's it for me; it would now be nice to hear something from Microsoft.
Joe -
Thursday, March 11, 2010 1:48 AMOne thing that's important to note:
"Turning off indexing" can mean a variety of things. What I mean when I say it is that I have stopped and disabled the Windows Search service.
I have seen that there is a difference between deselecting things in the normal UI and actually turning off the service.
-Noel -
Thursday, March 11, 2010 5:19 AM
So we have proven 2 points:
1. Yes, it's an index issue under Libraries that creates the problem, and
2. The smaller the index (but still inclusive of the directories that make up a Library), the quicker the refresh.In my case it has nothing to do with libraries, I can be in C:\temp create a new folder, it won't show up until I press F5... no matter how long I wait. If I rename the "New folder" "AnnoyingWindowsBug" it will display as "New Folder" until I hit F5 again and shows the "AnnoyingWindowsBug" name. I did a quick post on my facebook and I am not alone amongst my friends either.
There seems to be a lot of jumping to conclusion all over the internet, but no real fixes.
-
Thursday, March 11, 2010 12:37 PMA "real fix" will involve you isolating what you and your facebook friends have done on your computers that causes this behavior.
This involves taking the time to understand what's running, what's installed, what's in your Add-ons list, and what you have configured. Not every system exhibits this behavior.
Try a "Safe Mode" bootup. Does the problem remain?
Good luck.
-Noel -
Thursday, March 11, 2010 5:04 PMI thought everything was fine yesterday but this morning Windows Explorer would not refresh when I added or deleted files. I hadn't noticed this problem since I built the PC a month ago. Win7 Pro 64-bit.
Ran CHKDSK on all three hard drives and now everything appears to be working correctly. Event Viewer indicates a few problems were corrected on C:, with D: and E: having a single problem each.
-
Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:54 PMHi all,I was suffering from this, and found my own fix (none of the others I found on here worked):I have a VPN set up for connecting to my work network, and in "My Computer" I had placed two network shortcuts. I removed these, and ever since I have had none of the delay issues.I was also experiencing a delay when selecting files for upload in browsers, and downloading files too. All of these now resolved.(Win 7 Pro, 32 Bit)
-
Saturday, March 13, 2010 8:07 AM
Hi all,
I was suffering from this, and found my own fix (none of the others I found on here worked):I have a VPN set up for connecting to my work network, and in "My Computer" I had placed two network shortcuts. I removed these, and ever since I have had none of the delay issues.I was also experiencing a delay when selecting files for upload in browsers, and downloading files too. All of these now resolved.(Win 7 Pro, 32 Bit)
I think you're right!!!
I checked "My Computer" and I had added two network locations to Windows file shares at the university campus. When I'm at home, I don't have a way to reach the campus network so the connections don't work. Note that they were added as "Network Locations" not "Mapped Drives". I tried creating a new folder on my desktop - no luck. Clicked one of the Network Locations and Explorer completely froze - the moment it came back to life the folders appeared at the same time.
Deleted the locations and everything seems fine now! -
Saturday, March 13, 2010 2:38 PMHere's a workaround for when you'd really, really like to be able to easily access a remote computer or share:
Put an icon on your desktop or start menu or wherever with the following target:
C:\Windows\explorer.exe \\Computer\Share
Since the target is a local executable, the sysetm will not try to access the Computer and Share until you actually open it.
-Noel -
Thursday, March 18, 2010 4:02 AM
Interesting. File shares are causing this? I need file shares since it is part of my job so I can't disable them. :(Hi all,
I was suffering from this, and found my own fix (none of the others I found on here worked):I have a VPN set up for connecting to my work network, and in "My Computer" I had placed two network shortcuts. I removed these, and ever since I have had none of the delay issues.I was also experiencing a delay when selecting files for upload in browsers, and downloading files too. All of these now resolved.(Win 7 Pro, 32 Bit)
I think you're right!!!
I checked "My Computer" and I had added two network locations to Windows file shares at the university campus. When I'm at home, I don't have a way to reach the campus network so the connections don't work. Note that they were added as "Network Locations" not "Mapped Drives". I tried creating a new folder on my desktop - no luck. Clicked one of the Network Locations and Explorer completely froze - the moment it came back to life the folders appeared at the same time.
Deleted the locations and everything seems fine now!
Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx). -
Thursday, March 18, 2010 5:13 AM
What do you mean by "file shares"?
You can rid your computer of mapped network drives and direct links to unreachable remote computers, and instead access the remote files using UNC filenames embedded in Explorer shortcuts, as I have described above.
-Noel -
Thursday, March 18, 2010 6:09 PM
I sort by access date, latest first. I'll try sorting by name and then do a delete - I'll report back in a few minutes.
Long but interesting reading....
Have been running Win 7 Pro 64 bit supplied with new Dell Studio XPS since february and noticed this strange explorer behavior since a couple of days.
For me it seems limited to Library folders when sorted by date only. Deleted files stay on screen until I hit F5.
Tried most of the fixes , but no avail.
I do like the Library concept - when it works properly.
Hope there will be a vendor fix soon. -
Friday, March 19, 2010 1:29 PM
I use \\computerlocation method. I manually connect to them or have shortcuts to them. Most of them require logging in too.What do you mean by "file shares"?
You can rid your computer of mapped network drives and direct links to unreachable remote computers, and instead access the remote files using UNC filenames embedded in Explorer shortcuts, as I have described above.
Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx). -
Monday, March 22, 2010 7:09 AM
I get the failure to refresh problem when I have Explorer arranged by Date Modified, but I do not have a problem when organised by Name.
i.e. If I sort by clicking on the "Date Modified" column header and then delete a file it does not reresh.
I have not tested when sorted by other columns.
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Monday, March 22, 2010 3:27 PM
Hey everyone, I would like to add something else that may be able to help a little bit, I have been using Windows 7 since the first beta came up with no problems, I even thought it was the perfect windows, too good to be truth tho. As soon as the genuine update came up, I had to downgrade from windows 7 ultimate to windows 7 enterprise and use a key that my university provides so I could have the genuine version. As soon as I installed the genuine update and the rest of new ones I started having problems with everything. My computer could not install most programs I used, everything would just stop working for unknown reasons, FOLDERS WOULD NOT REFRESH WHEN YOU DELETE THEM OR MOVE THEM, the computer stops responding on logging off screen, when installing programs they stop working during installation, and some other bugs.
I suspect, there is something in the new updates that are making Windows 7 the worst version of windows for me, I mean, windows xp is super unstable and slow, windows vista is just slow and some blue screens, but windows 7 is totally unstable at the moment and most programs I cant even start them because they stop working after a little while. I have reinstalled windows 7 three times and the problem still persists.
Been seriously thinking about giving up on microsoft ____ and move on to Linux Ubuntu.
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Monday, March 22, 2010 5:54 PMIf you're having problems with ALL versions it's probably a hardware/driver issue.
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Monday, March 22, 2010 7:05 PM
As soon as the genuine update came up, I had to downgrade from windows 7 ultimate to windows 7 enterprise and use a key that my university provides so I could have the genuine version.
I don't follow completely what you did, but did some part of this process involve an in-place upgrade from the release candidate to the released version? That's a no-no.
I have to agree with _xombie_ that if your system is unstable no matter what, you probably have hardware problems.
-Noel
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Monday, March 22, 2010 8:41 PM
My computer is a tx2, (a very new computer) again, I had no problems at all with windows 7 for nearly 6 months, everything started when I had to put the windows 7 enterprise version.
Let explain what I have done to my computer since then;
1) when i got my computer the first time new out of the box, I took windows vista down and put the beta version of windows 7, im talking of like 7 or 8 months ago. The computer worked fine with no even 1 problem at all.
2) windows 7 installed an update to veify that my copy was genuine like 3 or 4 weeks ago, I had to make a complete restore to factory settings to my computer so it had windows vista again.
3) I upgraded to windows 7 enterprise via customized installation, then there all the problems got started. Drivers were not compatible anymore, everything stops working, right now im trying to install office and it installs, but there are no icons anywhere, I had to go to program files to find the icons, when I try to start microsoft word it would stay frozen and never open.
4) Lastly, I am having the same kind of problem that this post is about, it does not matter how I start my computer, It will never refresh the icons of files that you move or delete.
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Monday, March 22, 2010 10:12 PM
To Noel:
Let me tell you what was the last thing I did and what kind of computer I have,
HP TouchSmart tx2
AMD Turion(tm) X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile ZM-X86 2.40GHz
6.00 GB Ram Memmory
ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics 320MB
Software Changes:
1) Restored computer to factory settings, (Windows Vista, everything working perfect) (But I hate vista because its too slow).
2) Installed Windows 7 Ultimate x64 to make sure that everything was working ok (never installed drivers or any kind of software just some updates) everything worked ok for one day.
3) I downgraded from Windows 7 Ultimate x64 to Windows 7 Enterprise x64 (A clean install "Custom") (The free copy you get from microsoft as trial) then installed all updates first then after that I tried installing drivers from HP and no any other software. I had problems installing the drivers; during the installation process some drivers would stop working or responding or cause some error. At this point, the problem started comming up, I tried to delete some files, and some ghost files would remain until i pressed F5. For me, If was a normal user, I would mind pressing F5 everytime I want something to move, but I am a webpage desginer and I move and update files a whole lot and man this is driving me so crazy.
4) Today I tried to do a clean startup, and the programs that did not want to open, opened, but I still have the refreshing problem. The refreshing problem went away for like 15 min then It came back again, I restarted again, and it goes away for like 15 min. then came back again.
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Monday, March 22, 2010 11:42 PM
Was it also Vista x64? Some drivers still have problems with 64 bit Windows.
Also, try making a direct shortcut in the Favorites in the left pane in Explorer. For a lot of users this bug only happens in Libraries.
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Monday, March 22, 2010 11:56 PMYes, the vista version was x64 too
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010 1:20 AMI just did a new clean Install from windows 7 enterprise x64 to windows 7 enterprise x64 - so far I don't see any problems, I disabled updates and I am going to try installing some drivers and see what happens.
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010 4:10 AM
Guys, I think I found out what the problem was, I have been slowly installing drivers with no updates in windows 7 enterprise, I have spent 4 hours installing and testing only 2 drivers. Then on the third driver, the problem started after installing it. The driver is for the touchscreen feature in my computer, and I got the driver from here:
When I was done installing it, it restarted my computer like very weird, a warning message came up saying "Your computer will shoot down in less than a minute" and boom i didnt even have time to react. Well when I turn my computer on again, the program didnt even start installing, i checked all the installed programs and it was not there. So I try installing this program again and after while it was done, it asked me if I wanted to restart and I did. The computer for first time in the the 5 hours testing gets stuck on Logging Off Screen
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010 11:43 PM
Guys I have solved this Issue with some help from HP.
The drivers from HP are only for RTM versions of Windows 7, the version I have is Enterprise (Upgrade) none of the drivers are compatible with this version yet, HP is working on making some patches for this. My computer does not have any kind of problems without the drivers. I hope this information is useful for someone with HP computers.
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Wednesday, March 24, 2010 3:08 PM
I get the failure to refresh problem when I have Explorer arranged by Date Modified, but I do not have a problem when organised by Name.
i.e. If I sort by clicking on the "Date Modified" column header and then delete a file it does not reresh.
I have not tested when sorted by other columns.
Tried all kinds of stuff, this made the problem go away. The persistent file icons/thumbnails only occurred on my machine in libraries and only in folders that I had just sorted by date. Sorting by name instead of date restored the ability to delete without a refresh.Libraries are good for some things but if you can't sort by what you want or have explorer remember individual folder views what good are they?
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Thursday, March 25, 2010 6:29 AM
Libraries ... what good are they?
Heh, good question!
As one who understands files and folders, who disabled the very appearance of Libraries in Explorer mere days after having installed Windows 7, and who's been able to do everything I need and want with Windows 7, I have to say, in answer to your question. Libraries are absolutely not needed for Windows 7 to be highly useful.
-Noel
- Proposed As Answer by ScienceAttic Monday, March 29, 2010 2:24 AM
- Unproposed As Answer by ppanish Wednesday, May 12, 2010 12:15 PM
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Monday, March 29, 2010 2:25 AMHi All,
I found this thread as I was experiencing a similar issue on a new laptop I just bought. This may work for some - hopefully it will, and seemed to resolve for me when I tried it on a whim. It's to disable, then re-enable "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder".
1. Launch an explorer window.
2. Go to Organize --> Folder and Search Options --> View tab
3. Uncheck "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder"
4. Click Apply or OK.
Test to see if it resolves the issue. If it does, repeat the above to re-enable it and see if it remains resolved. -
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 1:49 AM
I agree. Restarting explorer worked for me also.
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Tuesday, March 30, 2010 7:29 AM
Nothing helped me solving this bug till now.
Libraries ARE usefull to me.
Is Microsoft paying attention to this forum ?
If yes , can someone from MS please confirm the bug has made it to some future fix list ?
If no , what would be the proper way to bring this to MS technical support attention ?
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Tuesday, March 30, 2010 7:29 AM
Nothing helped me solving this bug till now.
Libraries ARE usefull to me.
Is Microsoft paying attention to this forum ?
If yes , can someone from MS please confirm the bug has made it to some future fix list ?
If no , what would be the proper way to bring this to MS technical support attention ?
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Monday, April 05, 2010 7:30 PM
Any help from Microsoft... this problem is bugging me... HELP!!!
OK, indexing (from scratch) finished. It took almost 3 hours and 193,000 items were indexed, which is about 150,000 items fewer than before, when I had OS(C:) included in the index.
So, I created another little Word file and saved it. Then I went to the Library in which the directory in which I saved that file is represented, and sure enough, the file "showed up" immediately. Then I deleted the file, and from the instant of deletion until the file disappeared from the screen was about 2 seconds. So that is 1 to 2 seconds faster than before.
So we have proven 2 points:
1. Yes, it's an index issue under Libraries that creates the problem, and
2. The smaller the index (but still inclusive of the directories that make up a Library), the quicker the refresh.
Obviously, I cannot even begin to suggest a solution because I don't have access to W7 code, but intuitively, I feel that there is some issue with the search method of the index (just a guess :-))
That's it for me; it would now be nice to hear something from Microsoft.
Joe -
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 3:10 AM
I have this problem too on Win 7 64 Ultimate, and my registry does not contain DontRefresh, except as follows, which appears unrelated:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0_Config\EnterpriseTools\QualityTools\Dialogs\{26930B7B-294C-44e4-8C2C-ECEBDAEF963A}\Options\7]
"Resource"="Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.Resources.Messages, Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.Resource, Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
"ResourceId"="TestsDirty_DontAskDialog_DontRefresh"
Jim Sn -
Sunday, April 11, 2010 5:05 PM
OK, indexing (from scratch) finished. It took almost 3 hours and 193,000 items were indexed, which is about 150,000 items fewer than before, when I had OS(C:) included in the index.
So, I created another little Word file and saved it. Then I went to the Library in which the directory in which I saved that file is represented, and sure enough, the file "showed up" immediately. Then I deleted the file, and from the instant of deletion until the file disappeared from the screen was about 2 seconds. So that is 1 to 2 seconds faster than before.
So we have proven 2 points:
1. Yes, it's an index issue under Libraries that creates the problem, and
2. The smaller the index (but still inclusive of the directories that make up a Library), the quicker the refresh.
Obviously, I cannot even begin to suggest a solution because I don't have access to W7 code, but intuitively, I feel that there is some issue with the search method of the index (just a guess :-))
That's it for me; it would now be nice to hear something from Microsoft.
JoeDisregard the "Proposed as answer"
The bug is still there after full indexing.
I wrongly assumed it was solved when trying on a Library folder, but when sorted by date deleted items still appear in the list....
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Sunday, April 11, 2010 8:45 PM
I ran into this issue about a week ago.
I'm rebuilding my index as we speak and it appears to be working. I delete a copied a file and it showed up after 20 seconds (I'm indexing my computer now). I'll leave it index and if I come back here again, it means it did not work.
-- Blen
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Monday, April 12, 2010 5:23 PM
Blen,
Can you test deleting a file in a library folder sorted by date .
Rebuilding the index did appear to solve the issue, but under this
sorting condition the deleted file still appears on my PC until the refresh F5 is pressed.
-- Francis
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Tuesday, April 13, 2010 2:44 PM
I created a folder in the library folder (the library folder has documents, music, pictures, videos and podcasts)
Sorted by date an deleted the file and it refreshed automatically.
So far everything is working for me. Do some computer clean up and rebuild index (the index did take a while, I rebuilt it twice because I stopped half way on the first time).
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Thursday, April 15, 2010 2:18 PM
It appears i now have the problem too:
I have an HP laptop (windows 7 x64 native/shipped)
recently installed .net 4 framework and visual studio 2010. I mentioned this, becuase i do not recall of having the probem until recently. Although folder refresh was sometimes slow before(where the green bar would come across windows explorer and seem like it would never end). When this happened sometimes, I did a reboot and the problem seem to go away for the near term.
it may have something to do with network drives via drive letters???
but again, i think this has occured in both by c: and d: too.
this computer is ported between my workplace and at home. At home I use a wireless network and also using microsoft VPN to connect through to my workplace. I remember windows XP having a ____ of time switchin between enviroments. Windows 7 does a much better job, but switching between environments maybe the root cause. In either case; microsoft stil should fix the "GREEN BAR" problem and the above problem.
THE ABOVE PROBLEM OF "NEW FOLDERS" NOT APPEARING IS REALLY BAD.
I REPORTED IT TO MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7 ONLINE FEEDBACK AT http://mymfe.microsoft.com/Windows%207/Feedback.aspx?formID=195&UrlReferrer=
ANYWAYS HERE WAS MY ORIGINAL PROBLEM WHICH I REPORTED TO MICROSOFT(KIND OF WENT ON A TANGENT ABOVE)
BUG/PROBLEM:
WHEN CREATING A NEW FOLDER IN WINDOWS EXPLORER..NOTHING HAPPENS
(AT LEAST THAT IS THE APPEARANCE)TO SEE THE NEW FOLDER WHICH WAS CREATED
------------------------------------------------------------------
I HAVE TO CLICK ON A ANOTHER FOLDER WITHIN WINDOWS EXPLORER
CLICK BACK ON THE FOLDER WHICH I WAS WORKING WITHIN
THE "NEW FOLDER" NOW APPEARS.IN OTHER WORDS, WHEN I RENAME FOLDERS/FILES, CREATE NEW FOLDERS OR FILES USING COPY PASTE OR OTHER METHODS
THESE CHANGES ARE NOT IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE IN WINDOWS EXPLORERERI HAVE TO MANUALLY REFRESH THE SCREEN.
I HAVE THE WINDOWS 7 X64 OPERATING SYSTEM
RECENTLY INSTALLED .NET FRAMEWORK 4 AND VISUAL STUDIO 10(PROBABLY NOT RELATED)THANKS,
DOUG LUBEY OF LOUSIANA (WWW.DOUGLUBEY.COM)
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Thursday, April 15, 2010 4:24 PM
I have mentioned this before... Try this workaround and please report if you see an improvement:
Make menus visible, then Tools - Folder Options,View tab, check [ ] Launch folder windows in a separate process. Close all Explorer windows and open a new one to test with.
-Noel
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Thursday, April 15, 2010 5:44 PM
THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP....I DID AS YOU ASK AND COULD NOT IMMEDIATELY DETERMINE IF IT FIXED THE PROCESS. IT DID APPEAR TO HAVE A TRANSPERENT AFFECT (NO VISIBLE CHANGES).
sO I WILL KEEP THIS OPTION TURNED ON.
AS TO WHAT CORRECTED THE PROBLEM (AT LEAST FOR NOW). A REBOOT (OF COURSE)...SO THIS PROBLEM HAPPENS ONLY INTERMITENTLY. SO IT WILL BE HAR TO PINPOINT.
I ALSO DID TWO OTHER THINGS BEFORE THE REBOOT (AND BEFORE I APPLIED YOUR SUGGESTION).
RECOMMENDED ON PREVIOUS POSTS (OTHER MESSAGE BOARD)
1>SET THE UAC (START MENU-SEARCH-TYPE "UAC" TO THE DEFAULT LEVEL (I PREVIOUSLY CHANGED IT TO NOT WARN ME ON PROGRAM CHANGES)
2> UPDATED THE WINDOWS EXPERIENCE (COMPUTER-PROPERTIES-CLICK ON RATING). MY RATING WAS NOT UPDATED IN 4 MONTHS. MY RATING WENT FROM A 6.2 TO A 6.7 AFTER THE UPDATE.
BOTH OF THOSE SUGGESTIONS PLUS YOUR'S HAS NOW BEEN APPLIED TO THE COMPUTER FOR NOW.
IF I SEE THIS PROBLEM AGAIN, I WILL REPORT IT AGAIN.
I ACCIDENTLY CLICKED "PROPOSE AS ANSWER"...SORRY (REBOOT IS A BAD SOLUTION)
- Proposed As Answer by Doug Lubey of Louisiana Thursday, April 15, 2010 5:45 PM
- Edited by Doug Lubey of Louisiana Thursday, April 15, 2010 5:47 PM HAD PROBLEMSWITH SPELLING
- Unproposed As Answer by ppanish Wednesday, May 12, 2010 12:16 PM
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Thursday, April 15, 2010 7:57 PMNoel, I did try that option in Folder Options and there was no improvement. I still have files that do not refresh on the desktop after an indeterminate amount of time.
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Saturday, April 17, 2010 3:35 AMI cant believe I have this problem again, I thought it was a virus...
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Sunday, April 18, 2010 12:41 AM
I think Microsoft might have implemented the sorting through the search facility and didn't manage to implement file system events handlers through the layers of abstractions.
In full:
Fact:
- The symptom is reproduced by using sort orders other than sort by file name in a library (an possibly some other locations).
- Library locations must be indexed. (Can actually use non-indexed locations by changing the configuration files, but the UI forces you to use indexed locations.)
- Some of the properties that can be sorted by, like artist and track number, can only be retrieved by opening and parsing the files, which is costly and slow. (And much worse user experience.)
- Database records can be sorted very fast and very efficiently and results of database operations can be easily cached and managed.
- If you search using the search box, the results won't auto-refresh.
Logical conclusion:
Microsoft probably used the search APIs to implement the sorting function and by doing so auto-refresh function is gone.
In fact I think the term "auto-refresh" should be clarified. Explorer does not need to refresh the view according to timers or user operations. It can simply wait on file system events and update the view according to what is changed.
However, using the search API adds an indirection to the implementation. It might be that the search API has no event notification system at all or it might be extremely hard to add such a function without changing the whole thing. Thus Microsoft might have knowingly left things this way.
Frankly, I think users are better off not pushing for this function because for Microsoft to implement it, they might introduce 1000 new bugs and make your computer 10% slower. Sadly, this is just how large software projects behave.
But Microsoft should make it clear what users see in libraries are virtual folders created from search results instead of actual folders. However, by doing so they make it obvious they're copying similar functions in other OSes and may have legal consequences.
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Wednesday, April 21, 2010 8:46 PM
Hi All,
I just want to let you know that up till yesterday I had the same problem with file refresh after my system upgrade to windows 7 ultimate 64bits.
I needed the XP virtual mode so Yesterday I installed the Windows XP virtual mode and after that I am not seeing any problem with files and directories in explorer. I am not sure what fixed the issue but thats all I did and some how it fixed the issue.
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Thursday, April 22, 2010 1:29 PM
I've been suffering from this issue for a while now as well. Last night, I disconnected the one network drive I had mapped, and the problem seemed to clear up immediately. The network drive was just the shared music folder on a Windows Home Server I have running.
For now the problem has gone away, but I have this page bookmarked and will return to check on the progress.
Also, at work -- I will definitely have to warn the migration squad about this issue since EVERYONE has at least 4-7 mapped network drives so this would be a huge problem. We are currently on Vista SP2 Enterprise and I haven't noticed this at all at work, but I would hate to introduce it.
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Friday, April 23, 2010 1:45 AM
Hey guys, I don't ever put posts up here but I think I found a fix for this. I too am running Win7 x64 and randomly had the folders stop refreshing. It happened after I set up my homegroup on my desktop (it used to be my laptop) and then resynced my XBOX and launched windows media center for the first time. It looks like, if I go into the advanced media sharing options and I turn off media streaming, the problem goes away.
I don't know anything else at the moment but hopefully someone else can leach on and figure that out.
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Friday, April 23, 2010 11:10 AM
Thanks for that info... Worth a try for those experiencing this problem.
Here's an article on how to get to the configuration item for that (see item 4):
http://www.nirmaltv.com/2010/03/31/how-to-change-advanced-sharing-options-for-network-profiles-in-windows-7/Interestingly, I had disabled that (or maybe it never got enabled somehow, I'm not sure), and sure enough I'm one who doesn't experience the refresh problem, so there's hope for this possible workaround.
-Noel
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Friday, April 23, 2010 9:47 PM
Well guys, I thought installing the XP virtual mode fixed the issue but it didn't. It seems like after reboot, refresh works fine for short time but then issue comes again. Today, I removed my network NAS drive and also removed all my startups for my HP officejet printer from MS CONFIG. After I restart the system the refresh is working fine. I will see how long this will stay working.... Will keep you posted.
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Sunday, April 25, 2010 11:54 AMI second that changing the media sharing to "Block All" seemed to fix the problem (preliminarily, at least). Will give it another week to see, but so far so good, and that somewhat seems to comport with people talking about shared network drives having something to do with it. Also thanks to Noel for posting the link about where to find the setting.
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Tuesday, April 27, 2010 12:28 PM
Hi, I think what happens here is no one is helping by providing basic hardware and software installed on their system. I'll do this as an example. Hope you do this too.
my hardware:
Laptop Toshiba Satellite U500/01C Part Number - PSU9BA-01C002
http://www.mytoshiba.com.au/products/notebooks/satellite/u500/psu9ba-01c002/specifications#detailsIntel® Core™ i3 processor 330M (2.13GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 Cache) 4 cores
4GB DDR3 (2GB + 2GB) (800MHz) expandable to 8GB
13.3" Widescreen WXGA TruBrite® Display (1280 x 800) with Touchscreen Control
Graphic Card： Integrated Intel
LAN Integrated 1Gbit TX Ethernet
HDD 500GB (5400rpm) SATA
Wireless: 802.11b/g/n
Integrated BluetoothExternal Keyboard, mouse, monitor. ( The problem appears no matter those items connected or not. )
Software:
Operating System: Windows® 7 Home Premium (64bit)
VS 2010 Professional RC
Office 2003
Office 2007
7-Zip
Avg Free
Firefox
Thunderbird
Skype
TeamViewer
and others see my attached pics
I think this is windows explorer issue as in TeamViewer File Transfer screen the problem never happened.
I'll post a video later to show you.
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Tuesday, April 27, 2010 12:33 PMForgot to mention, I disabled UAC. and changed the system to best performance (by Computer --> Properties --> Advanced System Settings --> Performance --> Adjust for best performance.)
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010 2:42 AM
I believe this problem is beyond the hardware or software. it is the OS itself. If anyone can recall a couple years ago the huge file-sharing issue for Vista, then this is the same thing again.
Major bug in Vista File Sharing (Peer-to-Peer)?
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/windowsgeneraldevelopmentissues/thread/e2cd9835-6f02-4c03-afaf-6060a2e91ee1
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010 6:52 AM
here is the download link of the demo. It is zipped by 7-zip. If you don't have it please go to 7-zip.org to download the 7-zip file manager.
http://cid-19299d29461d10dd.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Win7/DontRefresh2.7z 10MB
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010 3:08 PMI've had Windows 7 x64 installed for about 6 months now and just got this problem the other day. No updates were installed.
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Thursday, April 29, 2010 7:33 PMSame here. Had Win7 installed for several months. A few days ago, started seeing this problem. Delete a file from Explorer using the Delete key, window doesn't refresh.
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Friday, April 30, 2010 9:49 PM
I have been experiencing the same issue ever since installing Win7 32 bit on my PC at work. After reading and trying many of the items listed in this post. one item seems to stand out as being the issue in my case.
When using the libraries and doing the copy, cut, paste etc.... of files the issue seems to occur when I have have sorted files by the "Date". Once I change the sort to being by "Filename" the issue stops. Changing back to sorting by "Date" causes the issue to reappear. Since I usually sort my files by "Date" to make sure I am always looking at my most recent code changes, this is a huge issue for me. For many others maybe sorting by "Filename" is okay.
Not sure if this will fix the issue for everyone, but so far it does seem to be consistent and repeatable for me. Just to make sure to give credit where credit is due in case this is the issue/fix this was mentioned by at least one other in all of the above posts.
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Tuesday, May 04, 2010 9:21 PM
After using Win7 x64 Ultimate (on laptop Toshiba Cosmio X500) for a month the no Refresh problem appeared. Send a service call to MS service desk. Have done checks (asked by them).: (dis)conect usb external drives, disc error checks, virus scans (with ESET). Send my systeeminformation file to MS for checks. They thought I might be missing some DLL's. So I did an Upgrade option with the win7 DVD to get DLL's back. All effort with no result at all. Problem stays. Then I used Xplorer2 stead of windows Explorer. Both (Xplorer2 and Win Explorer) gave the same problem, both programs doesn't refresh. So, I believe it's not an issue of the Explorer software, but it's something else, probably loss of datastructure definitions in memory. In memory, because after restart the refresh option works fine for a while (few hours upto days)
Later on I use Win Commander and this program displays correctly the changes in the folder structures (also at the same time that Explorer showed the problem).
MS service desk thinks that an application (not win7) causes the problem. If that's the case all forum user must be using one or more of the same applications (which causes the trouble)
Would it be an idea tot share information about 'used application' to check if there are common used applications?
Another experience I want to share: I use the windows mobile center to connect myHTC winmo to my win7 laptop. I notice my HTC winmo also has the same no refresh issue. Creating a folder on my HTC SD card does not display the new folder name at once!. Does someone else have this problem too? (This problem also appears with a Vista laptop by the way).
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Thursday, May 06, 2010 1:25 AMI had the same issue - I am running Win 7 64-bit. A new, moved, renamed or deleted file or folder would not appear unless F5 refresh used. To fix, I rebuilt my icon cache using the steps below... 1. Close all folder windows that are currently open. 2. Launch Task Manager using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence, or by running taskmgr.exe. 3. In the Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process. 4. Click the End process button when asked for confirmation. 5. From the File menu of Task Manager, select New Task (Run…) 6. Type CMD.EXE, and click OK 7. In the Command Prompt window, type the commands one by one and press ENTER after each command: CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local DEL IconCache.db /a EXIT 8. In Task Manager, click File, select New Task (Run…) 9. Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK. This fixed my problem instantly. Hope this helps. (solution found on http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/how-to-rebuild-the-icon-cache-in-windows-vista/)
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Thursday, May 06, 2010 2:54 PM
There appear to be multiple issues here involving multiple objects and complicated ways of determining what will become visible, how, when, where and to whom.
I am not even sure that this is a bug per se. It appears to be an artifact of a byzantine set of rules governing visibility and the effect of updates or other unrelated changes on user settings.
In my case, no 'icon pictures' were showing up on one of my Windows 7 machines. They had formerly and I definitely did *not* change the relevant setting myself. It must have come as the result of an update or remarkable and unexpected side-effects from some other change.
What I was seeing was only the thumbnails for the registered application that opened the file type and not its preview picture.
I was able to see the pictures as expected by checking and then unchecking the following checkbox
Tools->Folder Options->View->[Always show icons, never thumbnails]
I feel that the genesis of this and other problems in the MS environments come from a combination of:
Disrespecting backward compatibility
Ignoring or distorting standards or accepted terminology
Concentrating on new features rather than debugging existing ones ('Featuritis')
Being sloppy. I could write a book.
Disrespecting users outside of a narrow group of fan-boys who devote body and soul to learning and re-learning the ever-changing rules and manifest errors in the tools that form the MS 'party line or the increasingly rare corporate giants who can challenge them.
Classic errors (certainly not exclusive to MS) such as assuming someone with a gift in one area (say, Einstein, who made plenty of mistakes) is 'ipso facto' unlikely to make mistakes and should not be viewed with a critical eye in their area of expertise. Worse, some extend this notion to include areas in which they are demonstrably incompetent. This leads to all sorts of mayhem. The fact that it is *possible* for an expert with years of experience to hunt down and correct something like this (though thus far nobody has actually 'solved' the problem) is hardly a recommendation in its favor and not nearly any sort of vindication that this is not, at best, a horrible 'mis-feature'. No doubt programmers were both over-represented at high-level UI design and under-represented at low-level over-all system design. Doubtless people who had no business being involved in the process were the guiding lights here.
Inappropriately inflated self-image and insular tribalism.
The near-term prescriptive for users is to continue to voice their concerns and help one-another. Even though my precise answer was not found in this thread (I may be in the wrong thread, but this is where my search engine lead me), it got me in the ball-park well enough to fix the proximal cause of my particular concern. In my case, this is unambiguously what was wrong. When I check the check-box, the pictures disappear immediately. When I clear it, my pictures come back as I expected them to exist in the first place. I have treated no windows box particularly differently, but one Windows 7 box suddenly started getting the problem and three did not.
MS has shown in the past that they will be eventually responsive to strong user concerns. I think a medium-term prescriptive here is to convince MS that when users have problems, it is of necessity a responsibility of MS and foot-dragging on a solution and/or blaming the victims is counter-productive. If MS, by policy and measurement, took a much more aggressive stance on correcting user concerns quickly and completely, I think they would be much less inclined to create these problems in the first place. Currently, the costs involved in broken compatibility, poorly designed UIs, missing help instructions, difficult and time-consuming diagnostics, etc is borne by the customer. If these costs were shifted to MS, they would have strong incentive to nip these in the bud at their source. The ridiculous problems with Windows help files come to mind here. Had MS borne the cost of the first change-over they would *never* have made the next so awful for their users. Similarly, if they had to bear some of the horrendous costs of the abortive switch to Vista and U-Turn to Windows 7, the transition to Windows 7 would have been a dead-simple no-brainer.
The long-term prescriptive is to fix the many failings of this ecosystem. I think at root they arise because MS cannot be compelled to fix them -- they are a piper with the power to call their own tune and exact payment by fiat. It is unclear whether users will eventually vote with their feet, but I think that anyone with an interest in the long term health of MS (and their own investment in its products) would do well to communicate the severity of this problem (as a general thing) and direct their attention to their increasingly vulnerable position. It is not likely, but it is possible that a company like MS could be all but wiped out overnight. I just spent days re-installing MS software and trouble-shooting the many various problems that come from MS shooting themselves in the foot. This little thing with the pictures is a case in point -- valuable time wasted on a little problem that due to its mystifying difficulty cannot be classified as to its ultimate severity and hence had to be fixed. A VM I work with ended up porting from VPC 2007 under XP to Windows Virtual PC under Windows 7. This was an aggravation caused by VPC 2007 being incompatible with the existing Virtual environment under Windows 7. After all that trouble, it turns out that, surprisingly, I cannot allocate more than a single processor to the VM when formerly it had four. I will have to migrate this again. Like many of my other former MS VMs this will be migrated to VMWare and will never come back. Given the increasing number of VMs under VMWare, it will likely be moved itself from a Windows Host to a Linux Host.
This is not the first MS thread I have turned to and it will not be the last. I have to say, though, that I have generally had success in the wider community than I have had with MS or its forums. Until problems such as this are seen in their overall context as systemic problems and Microsoft begins to address them seriously, we are all doomed to play this game forever.
This is a thread that should never have existed (because the problem should not have existed). Had it slipped through, it should have been addressed with authority and a real explanation and a work-around within hours and a fix within days. Instead, the thread is still open after months (or years if you go back to other threads) without a fix or even a satisfactory response from MS. People will still be coming here and many will leave without a fix even still. If experience is any guide, it is possible that many or most of the people arriving at this thread will never get a fix.
Criticism aside, I would have fled MS years ago if it were not for the fact that (despite, not because) of these practices, Windows still operates faster and more surely on most of my systems.
Many people here have been excellent in offering what fix they found for themselves. Maybe somebody can step up to the plate and look at the entire thread, separate the concerns and then definitively address the various issues. There *are* some good MS fixes in various KB articles. It is a shame they are so hard to find. This one may actually be addressed somewhere for all we know.
Sorry for the tl;dr. I am either in or out when it comes to these things. Sure, I would like a specific fix to this particular symptom, but rather than hundreds of threads addressing the symptoms, maybe they could at least mention that there are some deep underlying problems that would clear up many of the symptoms at a stroke.
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Friday, May 07, 2010 5:55 AM
I'd like to chime in that I am also having the same issues. This is a very annoying problem and I hope Microsoft does something to fix it soon. I have spent about 2 hours reading this and the original thread and I've tried all the solutions posted to no avail.
It's not fun when you use Firefox's download manager to download something and when it completes it errors out because the .part file can't be renamed to what it should be because windows thinks the filler file is still present after it gets deleted and you have to manually rename it yourself after you delete the filler and refresh the page. It's equally not fun when you try to delete stuff twice in a row because you think its still there and it starts to give you permissions errors which make you start fiddling with security settings and wasting your time when in reality the file isn't there and its an explorer bug.
I really do think it probably has to do with explorer looking in a location for files and that location is inaccessible and it starts to freak out. This is just based on what a lot of others have said but the hard part is figuring what location that is and how to stop it from happening.
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Monday, May 10, 2010 1:08 PMI just wanted to follow-up to whs5711's proposal of trying to figure out what applications we have in common... I installed 7 Ultimate on a clean machine the other day, and it IMMEDIATELY had this problem as I was downloading drivers from Internet Explorer to the desktop. I hadn't installed a single thing yet.
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Monday, May 10, 2010 8:13 PM
Hi tcwota,
Quite a coincidence, yesterday I encountered the same problem, when downloading with Google Chrome!
Very interesting, to get the problem on a clean machine. That means there is nothing left for common programs to compare. You only have win7 installed.
And did you verify that the problem wasn't there BEFORE the download action? Let's assume you did (if not you might consider re-installing and verify it)
If you mean by a clean machine that only win7 ultimate is installed (no other apps , no anti-virus prog etc), you have a strong case here for the MS service desk to look at. In this situation probably the error can be reproduced! Anyway, Would it be an idea to contact your MS service desk and ask for support. It's a free service provided that you are running a genuine win7 (activated and registrerd) of course. They probably ask to sent your system information file. This file does not have password data nor outlook data included, just registry and hardware info data). It would be better to sent the MS desk a copy of your win7 dvd, so they can test it themself.
By the way, do you have this problem on a Toshiba laptop?
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Monday, May 10, 2010 8:55 PM
Apparently it was reported to the team by a MS employee in the first thread.
Hoping to see a fix in SP1.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2010 9:43 PM
I had a live chat with Microsoft support a while back and she told me to download the newest drivers for my graphics card to fix this problem. Oh really? Thanks a lot.
I DO have this problem on a Toshiba laptop, but also on my desktop computer made up of parts, one running Ultimate and one running Professional.
- Proposed As Answer by PietrodeSantaCruz Tuesday, May 11, 2010 9:55 PM
- Unproposed As Answer by ppanish Wednesday, May 12, 2010 12:11 PM
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Wednesday, May 12, 2010 12:47 PM
There have been a raft of proposed "answers" for this problem, all of which are work-arounds of one sort or another, most of which at best temporarily suppress the problem for variable periods of time. Nothing mentioned in this thread is a fix. The only answer I've left in place is from the forum moderator, and specifies that the problem has been escalated to MS, which is where it belongs.
It has become clear from the duration of this thread (and its predecessor), as well as lack of any substantive input or investigation from MS, that they either have no interest in the problem or don't consider it of high enough priority to actively assign.
As a prior software engineer and engineering manager at two major corporations I find Microsoft's handling of this problem to be inexcusable. The assigned engineer or moderator should be able to find the priority of the issue in the escalation process and post it's status. If the problem is not currently considered worth addressing we should be told as much. Otherwise a target date for resolution should be provided and updated as necessary. I don't ever expect to see this happen as it does not align with Microsoft policy of non-communication.
As a result of the lack of response or progress I've started using DirectoryOpus as an alternative and will probably never go back to Explorer, which I consider to be an inferior product even if it worked properly. DirectoryOpus is not cheap, but after using it for an extended trial period I have come to consider it worth the price. There are a number of such alternatives which seem to offer good functionality and are less expensive or free. Do a web search for "windows explorer alternatives windows 7" and you'll find a number of options.
Perhaps someday we'll be able to take this approach for alternatives to Microsoft products to their logical conclusion.
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Wednesday, May 12, 2010 1:22 PM
Speaking of SP1, there is a beta out of it. Has anyone gotten a hold of a copy and tried it to see if it fixed the problem?Apparently it was reported to the team by a MS employee in the first thread.
Hoping to see a fix in SP1.
Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx). -
Saturday, May 15, 2010 4:00 PMSo while I don't think this problem is caused by any common program we're all running, am I correct in assuming that we've all disabled User Account Control? Up above in this thread, there is a link to a Microsoft Knowledge Base article that describes this problem as a result of disabling UAC, but I'm just wondering if we all fit that bill. I know I certainly do. Anyone here having the problem NOT disable UAC?
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Saturday, May 15, 2010 6:44 PM
This bug is happening more and more for me. It's absolutely maddening. If I select a file and hit delete on the keyboard the file will not disappear until I manually refresh. I just cannot understand why Microsoft aren't in the slightest bit interested in fixing it.
I'm using win7 64bit, UAC off.
I really resent having to manually refresh - a decent operating system wouldn't require that. I have tried the norefresh registry trip but no joy.
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Saturday, May 15, 2010 6:49 PMI don't think so. I haven't disabled UAC and this problem still pops up now and then.
It was reduced when I turned off indexing for libraries, though. -
Saturday, May 15, 2010 9:30 PMAfter several weeks of being very impressed with Windows 7, I developed this problem too. Un-checking MS client for windows, and switching off all the sharing options has worked for me (so far). I tried a full re-install first and that didn't help, even though I hadn't had the problem before today. Luckily for me I don't need sharing. It's very dissapointing, just when I felt MS had got something right.
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Saturday, May 15, 2010 9:36 PM
After several weeks of being very impressed with Windows 7, I developed this problem too. Un-checking MS client for windows, and switching off all the sharing options has worked for me (so far). I tried a full re-install first and that didn't help, even though I hadn't had the problem before today. Luckily for me I don't need sharing. It's very dissapointing, just when I felt MS had got something right.
It's a new release so it is bound to have bugs. It's a minor, but an annoying bug. I need sharing at work so I can't disable them. I just have to refresh manually with F5 key. :( Hey, at least it is not a blue screen or something worse!
So everyone with this bugs uses file sharing? I also use networked printer sharing too.
Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx). -
Sunday, May 16, 2010 12:26 PM
Sure, but why can't they just hold up their hands and say "we acknowledge this, we'll fix it"? Why can't they bow to do that?
And surely it could be fixed with a small windows update?
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Sunday, May 16, 2010 2:13 PM
Large companies are allergic to admitting their product has any flaws in it whatsoever. Their lawyers tell them to never, ever admit anything's wrong so they won't be sued.
YOU might not be preparing to sue them over this, and would prefer if Microsoft would say "Sorry about that, we're looking into making that better", but there are undeserving people who want to do nothing but find a way to grab some of Microsoft's money.
Imagine if Microsoft said "Well, now, we really botched Explorer up didn't we". Some dip would come up with a scheme to turn that very deficiency into a life-threatening issue, then fire up their lawyer and sue Microsoft for a deficiency they have already admitted exists.
It's lawyers and law suits that have screwed things up so royally.
Now, do you think that Microsoft isn't aware that Explorer has so many problems? Clearly they read things. After their having released such obviously unfinished and incomplete software I really do have high hopes for Service Pack 1.
Or maybe (God help us) the Marketing people have swung into action and have decided that Windows 7's successor is the one that will get all the needed Explorer improvements, on the general principle of making a lemon into lemonade and charging money for it. I hope we don't have to wait that long.
I can see it now... "I had an idea, right here in a taxi. Microsoft should make Explorer in Windows 8 actually work."
Sigh.
Okay, so Marketing people help the lawyers screw things up.
-Noel
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Sunday, May 16, 2010 4:04 PM
Now, do you think that Microsoft isn't aware that Explorer has so many problems? Clearly they read things. After their having released such obviously unfinished and incomplete software I really do have high hopes for Service Pack 1.
I want to know if that current SP1 beta fixed it or not. If we can get a confirmation from a tester, then I will be happy!
Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx). -
Sunday, May 16, 2010 5:03 PM
I had thought that my video card was the problem and reported it previously. I was able to rid my system of the problem by simply rolling back the video driver. But I had removed the computer from the homegroup as part of testing fixes and never added it back.
I consistently get the problem to occur if I add my computer to the local homegroup. As soon as I remove it from the homegroup, the problem goes away.
I know that not everyone experiencing the problem is on a homegroup. But perhaps it is some other setting that gets set/reset as part of joining/leaving a homegroup that is also active in the setup for others. Just wanted to comment that I can consistently reproduce it.
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Sunday, May 16, 2010 9:12 PM
Interesting Noel, I hadn't thought of it like that. But surely by that logic a future update or amendment is tantamount to an admission of incompetence in the previous release, which is surely still grounds for a lawsuit. Furthermore, it was my understanding that the lengthy terms and conditions that we all accept when installing windows indemnifies MS from any subsequent action? The EULA or whatever it's called...
I suspect the real reason is because MS is such a large organisation that it's easier to hide behind the corporate doors than to do the decent thing and actually write decent software. Their attitude really sickens me.
- Proposed As Answer by PietrodeSantaCruz Sunday, May 16, 2010 9:30 PM
- Unproposed As Answer by ppanish Sunday, June 13, 2010 12:13 PM
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Tuesday, May 25, 2010 2:31 PM
Hello,
I stumbled upon this thread by accident while looking for a solution to another issue I was having and thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. I too had this issue on both of my home PCs - 1 running Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit & the other running the 64-bit version. I don't use the "library" features in Explorer, nor do I do any sharing since I'm the only person using these machines. I too had the refresh issues, folders remaining when they should have moved via drag-and-drop, etc...
Here's what my fix was for both PCs. I haven't seen it since and that was a couple of months ago at least.
In the Registry: start--> Run--> regedit --> OK
Under "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE --> SYSTEM --> CurrentControlSet --> Control --> FileSystem"
Find the entry named "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate". Right-click on it, select "Modify" and in the "Value data" box I changed the value from "1" (yes) to "0" (no). --> click "OK", close out the Registry and log-off / log-on or reboot the PC.
By the way this entry is named, I believe with the "1" (yes/on) setting is telling the file system to not update and changing it to "0" (no/off) it's now instructed to indeed update. I may be wrong.. but anyway, I have not seen any of these issues since.
I hope this helps and if this has already been tried and/or posted, I apologize. I didn't have time to read every post in this and the previous forum relating to this topic.
Have fun and "Yes", Microsoft blows!
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Tuesday, May 25, 2010 3:44 PM
Find the entry named "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate". Right-click on it, select "Modify" and in the "Value data" box I changed the value from "1" (yes) to "0" (no). --> click "OK", close out the Registry and log-off / log-on or reboot the PC.
NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem Data type Range Default value REG_DWORD 0 | 1 0 Description Specifies whether NTFS updates the last-accessed timestamp of a file when that file is opened. Because updating the last-accessed timestamp requires writing data to the disk, an activity that accesses many files might be faster if this type of update is disabled. However, some applications may require that files have an accurate last-accessed timestamp.
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Friday, May 28, 2010 10:43 PM
Hi guys,
has anybody tried this solution?:
"Lisa - Microsoft Support Engineer
The following update may provide a solution for some experiencing issues with windows explorer ceasing to respond when a file or directory is created or renamed: KB 980408 "I can't check it right now - post your experiences please.
- Proposed As Answer by PietrodeSantaCruz Friday, May 28, 2010 11:30 PM
- Unproposed As Answer by ppanish Sunday, June 13, 2010 12:12 PM
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Sunday, May 30, 2010 2:03 AMThanks for posting that, Nucleo. That one seems to have eluded all of us. I just installed it and am hoping for the best.
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Tuesday, June 01, 2010 7:55 AM
That KB was already installed via windows update a few weeks ago and I'm still experiencing the issue. Here's a list of things I remember I've done to try to fix it:
1) Create a new user account and use that one instead
2) deleted the icon cache
3) disable homegroup and file sharing
4) disable UAC
5) deleted desktop.ini from the desktop
6) sfc scan
7) disabled indexing
8) disabled antivirus
9) searched the registry for dontrefresh but didn't have the keyI'm wondering if its because I have remapped a lot of folders to other drives/partitions (Program Files, users, desktop, music, videos, documents). I also have a printer set up thats connected off of another computer. Also I have a memory card reader installed. I noticed one person solved his issue by disabling the hp printer that had a memory card reader so maybe thats relevant? I'll try disabling mine and seeing how it goes.
I'm using Win 7 64-bit Professional.
- Edited by Nachbar Wednesday, June 02, 2010 9:59 AM
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Tuesday, June 01, 2010 8:15 PMYeah, I am experiencing the problem as we speak and it turns out that update was already installed.
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Wednesday, June 02, 2010 12:29 PMFunny enough you may want to check and see if you have "show hidden files and folders" turned on, my problem started when i enabled it and then went away as soon as i disabled "show hidden files and folders"
- Proposed As Answer by Schneebeli Wednesday, June 09, 2010 10:13 PM
- Unproposed As Answer by ppanish Sunday, June 13, 2010 12:11 PM
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Wednesday, June 09, 2010 10:12 PM
Disable "show hidden files and folders"did solve the problem for me too. That's really funny.
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Wednesday, June 09, 2010 11:04 PM
I must admit, I haven't seen the problem since unchecking the "show hidden files and folders" box. However, life is young, and I keep expecting to see it.
Sooooooo........... what about everyone else in this thread? Has anyone experienced this problem despite never checking the "show hidden files and folders" box?
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Thursday, June 10, 2010 5:07 AM
I just found this thread after the problem started happening to me. I didn't install anything (hardware or software) or change any settings. The problem started happening to me when I was working with a large number of files in one folder, then when I tried to delete or move files I noticed the icons for the files didn't refresh until I hit the F5 key. Also If I reboot it fixes the problem, but after an hour or so of working the problem will restart again.
Iv had "show hidden files and folders" turned on since I installed the OS 5 months and this problem only started 2 days ago.
I really hope microsoft make a real fix for this soon.
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Sunday, June 13, 2010 11:09 AMI've been having this issue for a long time now but thought I'd make a comment here as it's really doing my head in, and I've received the update mentioned which didn't solve the issue.
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Sunday, June 13, 2010 12:31 PM
Well, I started this thread and I'm now going to unsubscribe from the topic.
I've periodically gone through and removed proposed "answers" to the problem, as they have all proven to be ineffective over the long term when using Windows 7 in what should be perfectly acceptable modes of operation which Microsoft has itself provided. If MIcrosoft has made their product too complex to debug issues such as this one, then their architecture is fundamentally flawed. This problem is severe enough, and has been present long enough, that it should have been resolved in a patch by now.
The only "answer" for this issue lies with Microsoft. They clearly don't give a ____ about it, and will continue to operate in this manner as long as they can dominate the PC OS market. I'm unsubscribing because my feeling is that the forum is ineffective, and as a result the notifications a waste of time.
The only solution I've found to be effective has been to stop using Windows Explorer in favor of third party alternatives. In my case the $75 I've spent on Directory Opus was the best investment I've made in some time. In this regard it no longer really matters to me if Microsoft finds a fix for the issue or not.
Good luck to the rest of you.
- Proposed As Answer by PietrodeSantaCruz Sunday, June 13, 2010 5:04 PM
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010 3:34 AM
I've been following this thread for a very long time. Some of the proposed solutions seemed to fix the problem temporarily. I have a 64bit Intel system. I'm running Raid 1 on my HDs (which shouldn't matter). I've had the issue since I originally installed Windows 7. I've kept up with my updates. I've never changed the UAC settings.
Aside from this very annoying problem, I've been relatively happy with Windows 7. I very much wish someone from MS would address the issue, and fix it with an update. This is past the point of ridiculous. This problem was reported while Windows 7 was in Beta. Maybe they're waiting for Windows 8 (it won't have any of the problems Windows 7 has / had).
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010 7:20 AM
Hello,
Since some time I also experience the problem. I have tried about all solutions that are suggested in this thread but as to be read in this thread without any succes. In my case Deleting a batch of files do not result in a blank windows explorer pane. None of the files dissapear untill I press F5. I´m running a Windows 7 Ultimate OEM 64 bit (Dutch language only), on a iCore 7 920 processor with 6GB memory of OCZ. Something that strikes me, is that some users reporting, they think that it is not an issue related to SSD. However, a little while ago I changed my harddisk into an OCZ SSD, type Collusus Lite, 120GB, without trim command option. Before that I used a regular 1TB HDD, without this problem occuring. Because I also installed several new peaces of software (ABBYY finereader Pro 10 and Netgear Digital Entertainment centre v 1.8.35 software) i'm not 100% sure, but i'm having strong suspicions towards the problem originating from the combo Windows 7 and SSD.
I must say that it annoys the ____ out of me and that I think it´s a disgrace that Microsoft is not able to provide a working solution for it´s customers. Certainly in light of some users stating that the issue has already been reported during Beta fase.
Come on Microsoft, every complaint is a gift, do something about it and do it fast, sure you can......
- Proposed As Answer by PietrodeSantaCruz Wednesday, June 23, 2010 10:39 PM
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010 8:19 AM
I just did some testing again, just to be sure for being mad at Microsoft. I was able to pinpoint my problem to one specific service. Here it is.
PLFlash DeviceIOcontrolservice by Prolific Technology inc.
I disabled it through Msconfig in TAB services and BANG the problem is gone, turned is ton and it's back again I'm not sure what this particular service does, but I think that it comes with Nero Burning software, more specific Nero Back it UP or Nero Essentials.
Got some more testing to do but I'm now sure it has something to do with that specific service. Just check and test it yourselves and post results here plz..
Also this service might have relations to (the detection of ?) USB devices i.e flash memory devices, could this be why problems occur relatively often amongst SSD users.....?
UPDATE 16.58 CET: problem is back, while service still seems disabled in MSconfig. So there are more variables that play a role. Trying to figure out wat else is playing a part in this Issue Let you know when clear.
UPDATE 18.35 CET: Uninstealled NETGEAR Soft ware which came with Multimedia Streaming Device EVA9150. Problem seems to have disapeared. The Netgear Software installs 2 services, (Some netweorking service and something else I don't recollect the specifics.) which were very persistent untill I uninstalled the complete software. Stay tuned for more.
Update 19.01 CET Yep it´s official. As far as I can see the Netgear software is crucial in my case to the problem. Netrgear Sotware installed, problem occurs, uninstalling solves it. I repeated the procedure twice withe the same result.
This was the problem in my case. Now I can't imagine that all people here complaining, have Netgear Devices i.e. Netgear Software installed. So microsoft don't leave your customers standing in the cold and look into the specifics of the NETGEAR (English language)software what could be the problem. Here is the link. http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/314
Okee another finding is that the problem of Windows Explorer not refreshing, occurs only in shared folders. (Which was shared because of the Netgear software) I copied a folder from the share to my desktop there I deleted the files and they disapeared and reapeared from the trashbin without a glitch. So I hope that this info can help some of you to solve their problem as well
- Proposed As Answer by PietrodeSantaCruz Wednesday, June 23, 2010 10:39 PM
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Thursday, June 17, 2010 7:59 AM
I have tried several ways above and came across a solution from other site.
I got no problem after I uninstall a CPU monitoring gadgets on sidebar.
So, think about what you did install on side bar, and try...
good luck!!
- Proposed As Answer by Kevin Cheung Thursday, June 17, 2010 8:08 AM
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Thursday, June 17, 2010 10:07 PM
Unbelievable that this issue has not been fixed yet.
Whatever it is, it isn't down to gadgets, ssd devices or netgear software for me and has been a problem since the day of release on a clean install for me!
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Thursday, June 17, 2010 11:04 PM
I also have the similar problem with windows 7 64-bit. I didn't spend enough time to figure out what kind of pattern this problem has, but right after reboot, I generally don't have any problem, and after a few days, the problem comes back, and I have been rebooting my computer for several times only due to this problem.
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Sunday, June 20, 2010 8:04 PM
Hi there,
just bought Directory Opus (like ppanish did).
I Agree it's a good investment and it works well.
Too bad I was forced to buy another product because MS neglects us all!
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010 8:17 AM
One of the previous solutions has worked for me for the past few weeks -- a long time, compared to before when the problem would begin within hours of rebooting.
That workaround is ... (drum roll, please) ...
Turn off homegroup. (Yes, Virginia, it was really that simple.) I don't need it, so that's a painless workaround.
Hope it works for you, too.
- Proposed As Answer by jboy1812 Tuesday, June 22, 2010 8:17 AM
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Friday, June 25, 2010 9:28 PM
Same for me. Win 7 64 bit on Dell Studio XPS on Raid 1.
Problem started ( or maybe I just noticed it then ) within weeks if clean install.
NONE of the proposed solutions worked for me ( up to the "turn off the homegroup")
I do like Win 7 overall and libraries are useful.
For me the problem is specific for libraries sorted on date modified.
Anybody home at Microsoft ?
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Saturday, July 03, 2010 12:52 AM
Hi Ronnie,
Just notice this week that the same problem is happenning to my Win7 Home Edition.
1. New folders created does not appear on Windows Exploer or
2. New folder appears but files saved into the new folder does not appear. However, when re-saving the same fies into the new folder, windows would ask if I want to replace the files in the new folder. Which tells me that the files are in the new folder but not visible.
Tried the many proposed solutions in the thread. The one that worked was
In Windows Explorer --> Organised --> Folder & Search Options --> View --> Reset Folder followed by Restore Default.
Then close Windows Explorer and re-start PC. Mysterious, all the folders and files re-appears.
Hope you will find a permanent solution soon.
Rgds,
JC
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Saturday, July 03, 2010 5:54 AM
Has anyone managed to delete your current user profile? I've managed to do that. I thought it could be the reason why I'm not having this problem anymore, and after installing KB980408. Although I can't guarantee it'd work, I think it's worth to try. But with a very careful thought: always back up your data first, in case of any unexpected behavior.
The following links should provide steps how to delete a user profile properly:
- Fix a corrupted user profile: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile
- Deleting User Profiles - Correctly: http://blogs.sepago.de/helge/2008/12/03/deleting-user-profiles-correctly/
What I've done was described in the second link, though I prefer one to try the first link first.
HTH.
Maximilian Haru Raditya -
Sunday, July 04, 2010 9:32 AM
Hi all,
Noel's temp fix (below again) works for me after having this very annoying problem. Microsoft should be ashamed that they don't fix basic issues fast!!!
Many Thanks Noel :)
Stewsoft11
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Vote As Helpful
I have mentioned this before... Try this workaround and please report if you see an improvement:
Make menus visible, then Tools - Folder Options,View tab, check [ ] Launch folder windows in a separate process. Close all Explorer windows and open a new one to test with.
-Noel
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Monday, July 05, 2010 5:03 PM
I have followed this thread from the beginning. I have tried every fix proposed. NONE of it works. The ONLY way I see the issue "disappear" is by not sorting my library folders by date modified, which, by the way, is a real PITA.
Microsoft NEEDS to fix this. Their "official" fix of changing UAC settings did nothing for me. Launching folder windows as a separate process does nothing. Turning off the indexing service does nothing. Registry hacks -- nothing. Changing priority of explorer.exe -- nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. As for other proposed fixes... I cannot turn off file sharing or disable my homegroup or disconnect from mapped networked drives or uninstall printer drivers, as I NEED all these things. When the fix breaks other things, it really isn't much of a fix, is it?
Microsoft, PLEASE fix this. I love Windows 7, but until I can sort my files by date modified, I'm going to be very, very grumpy.
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Monday, July 05, 2010 10:05 PM
I have experienced non-refresh of folders when deleting, renaming or copy files for months, even after a clean install of Win7Pro.
There are no 'DontRefresh' entries in the Registry.
I have UAC turned off - I may try turning it back on to see what happens.
The sort-order of the folder appears to make no difference whatever.
Launch folder windows in a separate process makes no difference. I made sure that no Explorer instances were running before launching a new one.
The computer is always up-to-date with Windows Updates.
Microsoft HELP - you need to get this sorted - it's causing a massive loss of confidence in your capabilities!
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Monday, July 19, 2010 6:00 PM
I have experienced the refresh issues since the Windows 7 beta. My testing clearly points to an explorer.exe issue, as I do not experience the problem with other file managers (like XYplorer). It's disappointing that 3rd party developers' code does not exhibit this issue.
Frankly, I am amazed Microsoft has not fixed this yet in a patch release. Hopefully Microsoft "will get around" to fixing this when W7 SP1 is released.
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010 2:21 AMI am also having this problem, very annoying. I never had this issue on my asrock pc with geforce 7 series pcie graphics, 3 gig ram, amd dual core processor, win 7 64x home premium, I did have the freez after resume problem with this pc. The pc im having this problem with (deleting files or moving them and the icon does not change untill i manually refresh) is Acer Aspire x1800, 2 x 2 gig ram exact same size maker ext, intel dual core processor, geforce 315 pcie graphics, win 7 64x home premium. Other accounts on this pc do not have this problem, I have thought about deleting my account and creating a new one but this issue may just keep coming up. I think ill let this problem go for a couple of weeks then do a reinstall and hope i don't get this issue again. As for the reg fix I can't try it as that reg does not exist in my regedit also tried changing show all folders option and automatically expand to current folder also reseting folders and other things nothing works for me.
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010 11:49 AMDoes anyone here have SP1 beta yet?
Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx). -
Thursday, July 22, 2010 11:58 AM
Glad to say that this issue (refresh problem when moving or deleting folders/files) Has resolved it's self and i have no clue how.
I checked update history, no new updates except definition updates for ms security essentials, I have not uninstalled or installed anything or have i changed any settings at all.
But come to think about it the only thing that happened out of the ordinary was my pc was shut down for several hours today which it usually is always on, i did try restarting my pc to try and correct the problem and it did not work so having the pc cold boot rather then a warm boot i doubt would have anything to do with this issue fixing itself. anywho just happy its fixed, FOR NOW
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Thursday, July 29, 2010 2:29 PM
I will be VERY upset if MS does not fix this issue in the SP1, and I am sure MANY people will feel the same. This is a VERY serious bug that affects the usability of the OS and the productivity of the user, and must be flagged in the highest priority.
All those "security" updates that most likely will not matter are fixed, and this is still here? Unbelievable!
GT -
Friday, July 30, 2010 7:50 PM
Does anyone here have SP1 beta yet?
Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx).I've had SP1 beta installed for a couple of weeks , this issue appeared maybe 3 days ago , I'm having the problem with delay when downloading files with Firefox as well.
I tried most of the fixes in here but nothing works.
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Friday, July 30, 2010 8:02 PM
Well... I fixed this...
I shutdown my NAS and removed all network shares to it, tho to be honest some other stuff I tried may have fixed it, I should have kept a list.
the delay with downloading is also gone.
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Saturday, July 31, 2010 2:18 AM
I have a slightly different version of the problem most people are describing in this thread, in addition to the usual problem. Most people are saying that their explorer windows do not refresh when they move/delete files. I've experienced that problem since I first bought this machine around the beginning of December, 2009. [Note: The machine is running Windows 7 Home Premium on Intel Core i7 940 quad CPU with multithreading (4 x 2.93 GHz, 4 cores and 8 logical processors) and 6 GB of RAM.]
Lately, though, I have discovered a kind of error that is utterly bewildering.
I am trying to move .jpg files from a folder in a library, into that folder's subfolder. i.e. Library = "Media", folder = "images" and subfolder = "Images/Old Images".
I have both "Images" and "Images/Old Images" open in two separate explorer windows. I have extra large icons displaying in the "Images" folder (on the left side of my screen) and list view displayed in the "Images/Old Images" folder on the right side of my screen. That way I can easily visually determine the images I need to move into the sub folder and drag and drop them.
Unfortunately, once I've moved the image, it still appears in both folders. But wait, it's not what you think. I refreshed both folders, one time by navigating up a level and then back down, and once by pressing F5. No matter which way I refresh, the .jpg file is still displayed in both folders. Not only that, but I can actually open the file from either of folders.
Did windows perform a "copy" operation instead of a "move"? No.
After opening the file from either location (parent or child folder) using Photoshop CS5, then clicking "Save As" in PS (Photoshop), the path displayed is the path to the child folder, where the image belongs. Attempting to move the file again from parent to child results in an error, "The source and destination file names are the same". Navigating to the parent folder in the "Save As" (or "Open", for that matter) PS window, the file is NOT displayed. Not only that, but in the "Save As" window, with files displayed as extra large icons, I can click-and-drag a .jpg file out of the parent folder and into the child folder (the child folder being still open in Windows Explorer) and the icon will immediately disappear from the "Save As" window and be inserted into the child folder's list view.
So, as everyone else here has already discovered, Windows is indeed performing the move operation properly. But there is some bug so deep and so vile that even a year's hard work at Microsoft has not resolved it, and it seems to be getting worse. In addition to the above problem, I have another one where the parent folder is displaying two or three instances of the same exact file. Why is it that everything operates normally in a "Save As" window but not in Windows Explorer? Is it really that hard to fix?
It seems that Windows Explorer is maintaining some kind of data link to the files even after they are moved to another folder. The data link is a function that makes sense when you are dealing with a library that is supposed to gather component files into one location. But clearly, that process has gone haywire for many people. Microsoft really needs to dig into the way data connections are made and severed/updated in their library system. My next step is probably going to be to disable my library, and just use a good old fashioned file path, which always worked fine anyway.
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Saturday, July 31, 2010 2:32 AM
I bought Win 7 for better performance, instead I am being forced to use two laptops now, my old Dell with XP while I try to sort out the bugs in Win7.
This non refresh issue is something I cannot work with. I am a web designer and all I do all day is change sites and graphics and folders.
Not only do my folders not refresh but none of my sites do either unless I RESTART the computer! or I have to go to run and to do a command "clear dns" to see fresh files!!! That is ridiculous.
I am so mad. I tried the suggestion for the folders Noel suggested and it seems to have worked for now on the folders, but we will see.
In the meantime does anyone have a suggestion for the lack of f5 or Ctrl R working to view new files online?
This is such a critical part of any OS I cannot beielve it has been going on for over a year and more.
Microsoft FIX this now.
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Sunday, August 01, 2010 5:36 PM
We probably can't expect much from Microsoft in the way of a fix. Something's wrong with your particular system setup if you're seeing these kinds of refresh problems in general. I simply don't see them, and I've been running Windows 7 for over a year now (first the beta then the release). I'm on my original install of the released code and it's still perfect. In particular internet caching works for me just as expected.
I'm glad that my suggestions have helped. In summary some things in general (for the benefit of all) that might help:
- Avoid using Libraries
- Review what you have installed - e.g., antivirus and Add-ons in your browser. Remove what you don't need.
- Change browser settings so as not to run Add-ons from sites that are not trusted, and trust only when you must.
- Use Autoruns and ShellExView to see what's running.
Windows 7 seems to me to be a solid system that works pretty well until software installs add so much junk to it that it drops to its knees. Personally I think some packages that were designed for earlier systems and which install as Add-ons or browser helper objects really hammer Windows 7.
Best of luck getting to the bottom of the problems.
-Noel
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Monday, August 02, 2010 2:30 PM
We probably can't expect much from Microsoft in the way of a fix. Something's wrong with your particular system setup if you're seeing these kinds of refresh problems in general. I simply don't see them, and I've been running Windows 7 for over a year now (first the beta then the release).
-Noel
This is an interesting post Noel. So, let me clarify if I correctly understood what you wrote, before I unleash the troll that lies within me :)
Are you saying that since YOU do not have this problem, ALL of us having this problem have something wrong with our machines, and therefore MS is not responsible from this issue, and since their code is perfect and free of any bugs, they should not spend their time to look for a solution, and instead it is US who must find out what is wrong with our systems to fix this issue?
GT -
Monday, August 02, 2010 3:40 PM
We probably can't expect much from Microsoft in the way of a fix. Something's wrong with your particular system setup if you're seeing these kinds of refresh problems in general. I simply don't see them, and I've been running Windows 7 for over a year now (first the beta then the release). I'm on my original install of the released code and it's still perfect. In particular internet caching works for me just as expected.
I'm glad that my suggestions have helped. In summary some things in general (for the benefit of all) that might help:
- Avoid using Libraries
Great advise !
Next time your MS Windows PC does not boot , avoid using a Windows PC...
In my case the refresh issue only occurs in libraries when sorted by access date - and that's exactly the explorer feature I use most of the time. NONE of the fixes in this thread did work for my machine.
If MS does not get this fixed in SP1, I may as well consider MAC OS or Linux.
Francis
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Monday, August 02, 2010 6:09 PMI also have the same refresh problem. I have had it since I installed Windows 7 Premier. It was a clean install. I have tried all the suggestions and nothing works. There is clearly a problem with Window 7 because the problem started occuringwhen it was in its vanilla state.
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Wednesday, August 04, 2010 3:01 AM
This is an interesting post Noel. So, let me clarify if I correctly understood what you wrote, before I unleash the troll that lies within me :)
Are you saying that since YOU do not have this problem, ALL of us having this problem have something wrong with our machines, and therefore MS is not responsible from this issue, and since their code is perfect and free of any bugs, they should not spend their time to look for a solution, and instead it is US who must find out what is wrong with our systems to fix this issue?
Nope, I'm not letting Microsoft off the hook. I think to be a robust operating system it MUST to be resistant to bad add-ons. But I'm a realist. They clearly think that if it works okay on a reference system, without any badware installed, then it's fine. Thus we have to take some responsibility for what we've done to our computers.
Someone expert at this stuff says it CAN work well. Find out how to make YOURS work.
Also, I happen to think Libraries are a stupid abstraction, and I see the bad things adding magic all over the place (Explorer, the file system) is causing. I say avoid using them precisely because they're a stupid idea, badly implemented. I'm under the assumption you'd like your computer system to actually work, and certainly you and I can't change the programming of Microsoft's system.
-Noel
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010 6:42 AM
I ran across this same problem today for the 1st time. I shut my Dell xps 420 pc quadcore, upgraded RAM and Video Card, Win7 Ult 64bt, down for the 1st time in 3 weeks and upon restart had this problem of new/delete/rename/refresh in windows explorer. Worked just fine for three months with plenty of shutdowns. I didn't change operating settings within the last two months or update os or install 3rd party soft.
After reading this thread, as suggested, I adjusted the User Account Control Settings to Default (a setting I adjusted when I first installed win7 three months ago!) So far it appears to have resolved the problem. I'll post an update if the problem reappears .
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010 7:54 AM
Mee too. I recently got an Acer Aspire 5745G 15.6 inch gaming laptop.
I have had a few problems with it so far such as it taking 5 minutes to shut down, but now i need to reload explorer all the time. I have gone back to factory settings and everything suggested here, but sometimes when I try and copy things, they dont appear, occasionally, even after i refresh.
I am running 64 bit 7 home premium (i will upgrade to ultimate soon) any help plz?
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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 2:44 AMAfter this issue going away by itself for some time it has now come back and i can't figure out why, no settings changed and no programs reinstalled ext, nothing exactly mirrored the same as last time i had this problem. this is bull$hit man $300 dollars for windows 7 home premium and ms can,t use my money wisely and fix this ffs.
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Thursday, August 12, 2010 7:44 PM
Hello everyone, I'm experiencing the same problem from time to time after having tried ALL this thread could propose.
Don't you think it could be a hardware problem we have all in common ? I noticed that my HDD led is red during the time the bug is active.
My HDD is a Western Digital. What is yours ?
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Sunday, August 15, 2010 11:33 AM
Hi,
Just thought I would report that I had started getting this problem a few days ago and was beginnning to find it really irritating so investigated which led me here.
Thanks for all the suggestions. In the end I traced mine down to a USB hard drive that for some reason does not always mount properly when the system restarts. Normally it just doesn't show on the system, but on this occasion it had partially mounted and was showing drive J:, but I could access nothing on it. Disconnecting and reconnecting it resolved my folder refresh.
I don't understand why this drive has such a problem as it is identical to another I have connected (I use synchtoy to backup data from one USB drive to the other) and if I connect them both on other PCs I see no problems at all. So I suspect a hardware/driver issue somewhere.
Neil
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Monday, August 16, 2010 3:02 AM
We probably can't expect much from Microsoft in the way of a fix. Something's wrong with your particular system setup if you're seeing these kinds of refresh problems in general. I simply don't see them, and I've been running Windows 7 for over a year now (first the beta then the release). I'm on my original install of the released code and it's still perfect. In particular internet caching works for me just as expected.
I'm glad that my suggestions have helped. In summary some things in general (for the benefit of all) that might help:
- Avoid using Libraries
- Review what you have installed - e.g., antivirus and Add-ons in your browser. Remove what you don't need.
- Change browser settings so as not to run Add-ons from sites that are not trusted, and trust only when you must.
- Use Autoruns and ShellExView to see what's running.
Windows 7 seems to me to be a solid system that works pretty well until software installs add so much junk to it that it drops to its knees. Personally I think some packages that were designed for earlier systems and which install as Add-ons or browser helper objects really hammer Windows 7.
Best of luck getting to the bottom of the problems.
-Noel
Hi Noel,
Sure, your advise might work for some people, but its not a solution.
I WANT to use Libraries, I WANT to turn of UAC, I WANT to have Antivirus... The most BASIC responsibility of OS is file manipulation and control, ability to properly see my files shouldnt be affected by any of the things menitioned before especially since they are BUILT IN..
"Hi we give you Libraries, but dont use em... and you can, but dont turn off UAC" ????
This thread is almost a year old and there is still no fix? MS really dropped the ball on this one.. -
Monday, August 16, 2010 7:26 PM
I found this problem on every Windows 7 machine I have set up until now (all 7 Pro 64-bit Dutch, networked but no server), and it is already there directly after clean install with default settings for UAC etc. IMHO it is a Libraries problem, at least in all my cases. It only occurs when I have arrived in a folder via the "Libraries route" AND the folder is sorted on last modification date. If I take the classic folder route from C:\Users\username\ it does not occur.
I remember seeing this behavior in XP, on network shares and in local shared folder. It was on the SP3 fixes list, but I have seen it on systems clean installed with SP3.
Avoid using libraries? Yes, for the moment. I still like the idea behind it though, but the current implementation looks like a version 0.3 or so...
Greeting from The Netherlands,
Willem -
Saturday, August 21, 2010 12:09 PM
I've got a similar problem.
Whenever I try to remove, rename, move or create a file. It will be shown immediately in Windows Explorer. HOWEVER as soon as I refresh, the change isn't shown anymore. It turns out it didn't take place after all, but Windows Explorer showed it as having taken place because it assumes it does work. Any attempt to do a remove, rename or move on one of the affected files will result in windows telling me that I need to have administrator privileges, which of course I do already have. This 'lock up' will continue for about 10 seconds to 5 minutes. Then the intended action will have taken place correctly.
The nasty consequence is that any program that executes one of these actions, will receive the error from windows, and then tell me that I don't have administrator privileges, or simply throw an error.
One example is Steam, It will throw the exception saying "Deleted Steam.exe but the file is still there".
Please can someone help me with this? I'm currently all out of options, and my attempts of fixing this have degraded to the point of swearing at my PC that I **** well am it's administrator. Then shutting down Windows and booting Ubuntu and working painlessly on that.
The big problem is that I'm a .NET programmer and I have to use windows for my job. If not I'd have given up on gaming and I'd be happily running Ubuntu all the time.
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Sunday, August 22, 2010 7:43 PM
Hi
I've also been having this problem on my Win7 PC for many months; but it doesn't happen for every change I make. I support many XP PCs and have never ever seen this problem. I am totally convinced that it is a (serious) Win 7 bug which needs fixing. I am disappointed that various contributors, including I believe some from Microsoft, suggest it is due to third party installs etc. The feedback from many so far suggests this is not the cause. So, can someone from Microsoft please confirm or even hint that this problem is on the list for a fix as it is a very serious filing system problem and appears to be related to the new Win 7 Libraries function :-)
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010 5:07 AM
I now Have problems with icons not being displayed, instead i get the horrible white file looking icon.
I don't know if this problem is on the same path as this other issue but its similar as in I will install software and any short cut made by the installer or by me won't have an icon, i then go to properties and change the icon to the exe that the short cut leads to and it works but as soon as a refresh happens the icon disappears.
I think both issues might have something to do with a bug some were or something to do with admin privileges or user account control maybe security for libraries. (same as before clean win 7 64 default settings) This problem does not happen with all software i install.
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Monday, September 06, 2010 4:52 PM
Hi everyone, I have just experienced the same problem on my professional computer (changed 10 days ago, happy to have WIN 7 professional 64 bits).
After a few experimentations, I have found that the following steps to solve the issue for a folder :
- the folder is in libraries/Documents/ (refresh is KO)
- move the folder to the desktop
- copy an existing file inside it, and delete it (refresh is OK)
- move the folder again to its initial destination => refresh is now OK
It seemed some flag attached to the folder was the problem, but with comparing folders working and folders not working, I found that the problem can occur or not on the same folder, depending on how you access to it :
- if windows explorer shows : "Libraries=>Documents=>my folder" => refresh is KO
- if windows explorer shows : "my user name=>My Documents=>my folder" => refresh is OK
Both accesses are for the same folder, but windows explorer is working with one access and not the other one, I can reproduce the problem 100%, and I changed all my shortcuts, since the difference between both are the " in the target field.
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Monday, September 13, 2010 2:53 AM
Wow! This works for me every time!!!!! and for every type issues, move, deletes, and renaming. Win7 library functin is at fault.
I will quit using Libraries and go back to good ol' folders!
Microsioft needs to fix their library functions to make is a final solution.\
Thanks!
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Friday, September 17, 2010 6:22 AM
I can confirm that when the files are sorted by name, I have no issue. If I sort by date or something else I have the issue.
I also only experience this problem when using the library paths. I also only have this problem with picture files in the pictures library.
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Sunday, September 26, 2010 1:04 AM
Brand new PC, brand new install. Problem occurs as described in first post. In 2 days it will be the one year anniversary of the original of this thread: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproui/thread/8afb8b65-900c-4f42-b1df-3c2394417b6e
This is ridiculous. Any update mods? What happened to all those escalations at MS? I want to use My Computer that I paid for. Fix. This.
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Tuesday, September 28, 2010 8:39 AM
I'd like to report that this happens to me constantly: copying, moving, renaming or deleting a file does not update the view in Windows Explorer until I hit F5. Sort order has no effect on it. Changing the view (small/large icons/thumbnails) has no effect, and options such as Show All Folders and Show Hidden Files (or not) have no effect.
But the worst part is that it is not limited to libraries. Whether on the Desktop or a subfolder, on a flash memory drive, or directly in C: drive, it doesn't update visible files until I refresh. And if I move files, I have to refresh both windows so the files are removed from one view and added to the other (of course moving the files worked fine).
It's a good thing I'm used to hitting a F5 a lot for other reasons (refreshing web pages and debugging in Visual Studio).
Pity there's no true solution to this.
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Tuesday, September 28, 2010 8:39 AM
I'd like to report that this happens to me constantly: copying, moving, renaming or deleting a file does not update the view in Windows Explorer until I hit F5. Sort order has no effect on it. Changing the view (small/large icons/thumbnails) has no effect, and options such as Show All Folders and Show Hidden Files (or not) have no effect.
But the worst part is that it is not limited to libraries. Whether on the Desktop or a subfolder, on a flash memory drive, or directly in C: drive, it doesn't update visible files until I refresh. And if I move files, I have to refresh both windows so the files are removed from one view and added to the other (of course moving the files worked fine).
It's a good thing I'm used to hitting a F5 a lot for other reasons (refreshing web pages and debugging in Visual Studio).
Pity there's no true solution to this.
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Friday, October 01, 2010 12:56 AM
Same
problem here too. Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. I have to hit f5 everytime i rename, delete and move a file or folder. I'm heartbroken that my GoogleFu has shown this problem has been around since the beginning of Windows 7 and is still not fixed. When i bypass the Libraries and go directly to a folder refresh works..so i'm almost convinced that Libraries is the culprit and is, at least, broken on my pc. But my recycle bin has the same problem too..is recycle bin part of the library too?
Have had Win 7 since Dec. of 2009 and the broken refresh problem has only happened recently, (a month or so). I love Windows 7, i love the look and stability of it compared to Vista. But this problem of Explorer not refreshing is ridiculous. I don't have the time to fix a problem that Microsoft needs to be aware of and fix..soon.I should also add i have a laptop running Win7 home premium 32 bit that runs perfectly with no refresh problems at all....yet:-(
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Sunday, October 03, 2010 1:53 PM
After reading through 2 years worth of troubleshooting (Thanks Microsoft) i unjoined my PC from Homegroups and the problem went away. Hopefully this problem won't be back soon. It truly is a relief to see Explorer working again. Other problems like slow dowloads and saves in browsers like Firefox have gone away too.
If your PC is connecting to Homegroups you may try disconnecting it to see if it works for you too. Guess i'll have to find another solution to networking my pc's. Thanks again Microsoft.
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Thursday, October 07, 2010 2:50 PM
Thanks for the job security MS!
In my case on 64 Pro...
Relevant components:
An external LaCie Firewire 500G
Small handful of drives mapped to a Server 2008 (NOT R2..) PDC.
Small handful of drives mapped to a Server '03 PDC.
<No reboots / safe mode / etc..>
D/C external LaCie: No change.
D/C all drive mappings: Problem resolved!
Reconnect drive mappings: Problem still appears resolved.
Reconnect LaCie external: Problem resurfaced!
No, the problem is not properly resolved.
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Tuesday, October 12, 2010 11:32 AMI solved this problem by avoiding the use of Libraries.
I encountered this problem when I tried to open a file folder. Instead of navigating to the folder from Computer or Desktop, I right-clicked on the Explorer icon in the taskbar, and selected the folder under the list of "Frequent" locations.
What I didn't realise was that Windows opened my folder within its Document Library. This Library view of the folder would not refresh. I did not have this problem if I navigated to the folder from the Desktop.
The Document Library version of a folder looks identical to the folder, except that it contains the words "Document Library" as the main title, and the name of the folder as a subtitle. I played around with the Document Library and found that some locations would always auto-refresh, but other locations would never auto-refresh.
I proceeded to delete all libraries and I haven't encountered this problem since.
Hope this helps.
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Sunday, October 17, 2010 9:18 AM
This is the solution!
Open regedit, and go to:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{BDEADE7F-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}\Instance\
And change DontRefresh to 0.
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Sunday, October 17, 2010 9:19 AMOpen regedit, and go to:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{BDEADE7F-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}\Instance\
And change DontRefresh to 0.
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010 11:07 PM C'mon man, there's a whole thread here of people that still have the problem after changing that registry key.
- Proposed As Answer by AKLeeAnn Wednesday, October 20, 2010 10:50 PM
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Wednesday, October 20, 2010 11:25 PM
Here it is a year later. I am now the latest installer of Windows 7 and also have the problem. I don't think what kind of system or equipment or network I use is relevant so I am not going to bother with that, but summarize what does and doesn't work. That Microsoft hasn't fixed the problem indicates to me that this may be an intenional nuisance that they have created to keep us all using the default settings.
I have the problem that Windows Explorer, Library, Documents folder does not refresh if: 1) I uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types OR "Show hidden files, folders, and drives" (and probably true with other folder option changes, but these are the ones I care about) AND 2) the folder is sorted by Date modified rather than Name order (may be a problem with sorts on other fields, but I tend to use date modified most). (Probably is a problem with Music, Pictures, Videos, too, but my interest is Documents).
This always fixes the problem: Explorer's Organize / Folder Options / View / Restore Defaults
But of course I do not wish to use the default settings.
I also notice that I do NOT have any problems, even with my pet settings, if I navigate to My Documents via C:\Users\[user name]\My Documents. Even the files come to the top when I sort by Date Modified.
Here is a workaround. Navigate to C:\Users\[user name]\My Documents
Drag the icon for the folder in the navigation bar under Favorites in Windows Explorer. Now you have a Documents folder that works like it should!The problem appears to be their Libraries functions which also can act very strange if you change the "Arrange by" to anything other than Folder. In the Library, even when I sort by Date Modified, my folders are on the top and I have to scroll past them to get to the file I want to delete, which is annoying. I can change the "Arrange by" to "Date Modified" instead of just sorting on the field by clicking on its name, but then my test file wasn't even listed!
So, create a shortcut in favorites of your documents (music, pictures, videos) under favorites and don't use the libraries.
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Friday, October 22, 2010 9:03 AM
On my system (windows 7 32bit professional retail) this problem came up right after a fresh reinstall.
I found that rebuilding the icon cache did the trick. thanks
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Saturday, October 23, 2010 6:43 PM
Hi, is someone watching this?? I have a new dell, one week old with Windows 7 and Office 10. I am having the same problems listed below. It seems to be almost 2 years of this problem. Any sure fixes? Nothing mentioned has worked? Pleaes help, thanks Jeff
- After moving files: A) moved files do not disappear, or B), all moved files disappear but pop-ups report "Could not find this item" for each file.
- After deleting files: deleted files do not disappear.
- After renaming files: renamed files continue to show former filenames.
- After creating a folder: created folder does not appear.
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After emptying the Recycle Bin: emptied bin is not shown as empty.
After clicking another file and going back the changes show up.
- Edited by Brent SerbusMicrosoft Employee, Administrator Sunday, June 12, 2011 12:27 AM html issue
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010 7:17 AM
When you have an Internet Explorer problem what's the 1st thing you should do?......ping 192.168.1.1
Ok guys, you know what I mean. Start climbing that troubleshooting ladder at rung #1. Let's go to the command prompt.
My scenario: 4 freshly built Win 7 Pro computers on a network: Station1, Station2, Station3, Receiving:
In a command prompt on the Receiving computer I created a text file: copy con t.txt, asdfasdf, ctrl-z, enter
In a command prompt on Station3 I typed DIR \\RECEIVING\ACTIVE-CHARGE\*.TXT
No file shows up. I hit F3 to repeat the command every second and it finally shows up after 7 seconds.
I have dozens of these exact same setups I've been installing for 10 years since win98 and it works instantly, this is my first Windows 7 install.
I hope my explanation shows that this problem is definitely not related to any single gui component of 7 but somehow the core structure of the file system. Misc details....That ACTIVE-CHARGE dir is a shared dir on the Receiving computer. This is a point-of-sale setup and the Receiving computer runs PC-Charge credit card processing software. The 3 Stations all have the nasty 7 second delay seeing a newly created file on the Receiving computer. Here is the one thing that is interesting.....The Receiving computer does not have the 7 second delay when detecting a newly created file on itself. The newly created file is what PCCharge creates as the ACCEPTED or DECLINED response to a credit card processing request. Had Trend Micro installed on all computers, uninstalled it all, still same problem.
Just now tried the same test on my Win7Pro laptop and my XP Pro Desktop. It worked instantly both ways. Hope my scenario sparks some thoughts.
hkg -
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 12:59 PM
Quick question, where did you create the file. Because apparently it's a problem related to the Libraries, so it would be best to create it straight on C:\
No?
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010 8:19 PM
On the Receiving computer I created this folder C:\Active-Charge
The folder is shared with Everyone full access. That is where I did my above testing.
hkg -
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 6:33 AMThe problem still exists in SP1 RC, at least for my variation of the issue, which is occasional and completely random lack of refreshing, mainly on the desktop. I think this almost surely means that SP1 won't be fixing it. SP1 is supposed to ship in the first quarter, so there at least a couple more months to do something about it.
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Monday, November 01, 2010 6:23 PMProblem still occuring, is MS going to do nothing, are we just left to believe that after installing a MS product our relation with MS is over?
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Tuesday, November 02, 2010 1:56 AM
First, thanks to Noel & others with suggestions for fixes.
I started having this issue soon after I started using Windows 7. This is on a new Toshiba Tecra A11, Windows 7, 64 bit Pro, as shipped + all Windows updates installed.
Home group on or off made no difference, likewise UAC setting.
Tried the Windows Explorer: Tools > Folder Options > Launch folder windows in a separate process; then restart Explorer. Made no difference.
I then deleted all the Libraries & rebooted. Problem solved... for now.
I note that the Registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > FileSystem > NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate: still = 1.
The Libraries were no great loss as I am content to use Favourites as I have been since XP (when it appeared to be a secret in all apps except IE). Bear in mind I am an old DOS-head & prefer to know where the files actually are rather than some “helpful” abstraction.
I have been using both macs & windows machines for years. Mac OS is not without its glitches, but at least it remembers the size & position of folders' windows & always immediately refreshed folders’ contents! I am very annoyed that Windows has gone backwards on these functions. I also resent having to pay for a third party app to obtain a function that should be fundamental to the operation of an OS.
Noel & others: I would be interested in your suggestions for the best way to communicate my dissatisfaction with Microsoft.
The problem manifested copying, moving files in & out of libraries, including the desktop - always had to use F5 to refresh. -
Friday, November 05, 2010 9:34 PM
I also have the problem ever since I got my new Toshiba running Windows 7 professional. It comes and goes but throws you for a loop when it happens. You change a name of a file and it does not change. Then you try opening the file and it is empty and you think you just lost it. It is actually there with the new name after you reboot. Reboot usually fixes it for a while. I am glad it is not just me having the problem. I have used MAC and windows since win3.1 and this is the most annoying problem I have seen. Well maybe the blue screen of death might be worst, but this is certainly annoying for this day and age and I wish Microsoft would fix it. There are 3 other problems I am experiencing and with Windows 7. I have not had any problems like this with 95 96 XP or VISTA.
I found a link suggesting exiting explorer and doing control alternate delete and restarting it under new task as an alternative to rebooting. I have not tried it yet. It is too bad we have to find these work arounds.
- Edited by joedsim Sunday, November 07, 2010 12:22 AM
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Saturday, November 06, 2010 1:40 AM
Hi joedsim, Yes I had the same thing with the file rename not showing as well as the others I mentioned. It would happen in Office file open dialogues as well as WE.
Did you try Noel Carboni's suggestions from Sunday, August 01, 2010 5:36 PM? Since I deleted my libraries the problem has not resurfaced... yet.
So, anybody out there got any ideas on how put the heat on M-Soft to sort this out?
(Apart from ... get a mac!)
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Saturday, November 06, 2010 5:10 PMI am also experiencing this problem in Windows 7 x64. Quite annoying! I found some relief by using Explorer++ (http://www.explorerplusplus.com/), which always refresh fine, but still, it would be nice if Microsoft solved this problem.
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Sunday, November 07, 2010 12:39 AM
Hi imakka
There seem to be a general Consensus that the problem is related to files in libraries. I never used libraries and was wondering what they were when observing explorer. How do you delete libraries without losing the actual data?
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Sunday, November 07, 2010 1:16 AM
Read up on Libraries in the Windows Explorer ? (help) function before you start deleting things. Libraries are nothing more than a grouping of similar content folders. And, as you have seen in this thread, they have their problems. Whether Microsoft is addressing these problems is unclear; they have never even acknowledged that these problems exist. There are work-arounds, but a mature operating system looks amateurish displaying the current behavior in such an important area - file handling.
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Sunday, November 07, 2010 8:48 AM
Hi joedsim
I could not find any entries in WE help about deleting libraries. Seems as if you created new docs & saved them in the library you will delete them if you delete the library. But if you find where they really are on the C:\ & move (or safer copy them) to another c:\ location say "My Documents" [which is actually C:\Users\(Username)\Documents] you then delete the library. Pays to experiment first before deleting anything important!
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Sunday, November 07, 2010 1:34 PM
Hi joedsim, Yes I had the same thing with the file rename not showing as well as the others I mentioned. It would happen in Office file open dialogues as well as WE.
Did you try Noel Carboni's suggestions from Sunday, August 01, 2010 5:36 PM? Since I deleted my libraries the problem has not resurfaced... yet.
So, anybody out there got any ideas on how put the heat on M-Soft to sort this out?
(Apart from ... get a mac!)
Hi Imakka
You said you deleted your libraries.
From Windows Help and Support:
"If you delete a library, the library itself is moved to the Recycle Bin. The files and folders that were accessible in the library are stored elsewhere and therefore aren't deleted. If you accidentally delete one of the four default libraries (Documents, Music, Pictures, or Videos), you can restore it to its original state in the navigation pane by right-clicking Libraries and then clicking Restore default libraries.
If you delete files or folders from within a library, they're also deleted from their original locations. If you want to remove an item from a library but not delete it from the location it's stored in, you should remove the folder containing the item. When you remove a folder from a library, all the items in the folder will be removed (but not deleted). For more information, see Include folders in a library."
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Tuesday, November 09, 2010 6:33 PM OK I had not deleted libraries and I had a reoccurrence of the problem. I never know what causes it. This time I inserted a USB drive and it did not come up with the usual prompt: open etc. I went into the USB drive and deleted a file and it did not appear to delete. I opened word which I use as a test for the problem and tried to save to the desktop. It just hung up and did not respond. I then did an exit of explorer.exe and cntr-alt- del and started explorer.exe as a new task. Everything then ran fine. I guess word must also use explorer. I knew it would come back and decided to delete all my library folders and see if that works as so many claim. I have not had a recurrence yet.
- Proposed As Answer by BruceElliott Wednesday, November 10, 2010 5:46 AM
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Thursday, November 11, 2010 8:13 PM
I posted a similar issue to this in another thread. The moderator reproduced the issue, submitted to the feedback team, and marked it as solved... It is not solved.
First, reproduce the issue. I've tried this on more than a dozen Windows 7 machines running every version of 7.
With a user account that has been in use for more than a day or so, use the Libraries to navigate to the My Pictures folder (or My Documents, etc). In the folder, having used the library to access it, sort the folder by anything other than name. Press delete and confirm the move to the Recycle Bin. The file will not appear to be deleted. Ctrl+Z to undelete the file. Sort the folder by name. Delete, and the file will delete properly.
Now, navigate to the same folder by using the My Pictures or My Documents folder, or through any method that avoids the libraries. Sort by date and delete the same file. It will disappear properly. Ctrl+Z to undelete. Sort by name and delete. It will disappear properly.
I think if someone can figure out what is causing the behavior here, it will solve (or at least give clues) to all the other problems stated in this thread.
As a workaround, I have changed the shortcuts on my system to point to the My Documents folder rather than the Documents Library (and similarly for the other libraries). By avoiding the use of the libraries, I have had zero issues.
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Thursday, November 11, 2010 10:04 PM
Hi DArtyB
I reproduced the issue as you did by sorting the folder by anything other than name. I only observed this occurring in folders that are linked to libraries.
I also note that in Excel & Word, if the default file location is set to a folder that is included in libraries, when you use the open dialog it reverts to the library rather than the actual folder path.
I am working around this issue by avoiding any use of libraries.
I await an update post from a moderator. The last post appears to from Ronnie Vernon be back in February...
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Thursday, November 11, 2010 10:16 PM
Let Microsoft know how you feel!
Quote from Ronnie Vernon's post of 11 Feb 2010 follows:
If anyone want's to post a comment, we have another thread specifically for that purpose.
Have Comments about Windows 7? (Part 4 - Do not post questions in this thread)Or, you can use the following link.
Windows 7 feedback - Speak to us at Microsoft
PS I'm in the process of escalating this thread to Microsoft.
Thanks for understanding.
Ronnie Vernon MVP
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Friday, November 12, 2010 7:30 PM
@imakka Thanks for checking. As I said, I've also been able to reproduce this problem on every single Windows 7 machine I've had the chance to test. This includes computers set up for display in stores. Every single one. I'm going to start calling this the Windows Library Refresh Bug. It's pervasive enough to have a name
I think where others are having more severe issues is in cases where there is an additional problem (video driver, etc) on top of this existing issue. For me, I don't experience the issues with moving or renaming, but always experience the issue with deleting.
IT WOULD BE NICE TO HEAR BACK FROM A MODERATOR, even to just let us know they've read the posts in this thread.
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Sunday, November 21, 2010 12:55 AMI have not has a reoccurrence of the problem since I deleted all of the library folders. I do notice that the Music, Video and Picture folder reappear in the library for some unknown reason. My Documents folder does not reappear since I deleted it.
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Sunday, November 21, 2010 1:05 AM
As Microsoft is either unwilling or unable to correct this serious problem, the "solution" to the issue is to delete all libraries. Libraries are quite useless anyway, in my opinion, so good riddance.
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Friday, December 03, 2010 3:42 AMI'm appalled this serious bug hasn't been fixed yet over the last year. All of desktops suffer the same bug and I'm having to do an F5 refresh EVERY single time I delete a file in Explorer.
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Sunday, December 05, 2010 10:33 PM
I'm appalled this serious bug hasn't been fixed yet over the last year. All of desktops suffer the same bug and I'm having to do an F5 refresh EVERY single time I delete a file in Explorer.
Look into deleting your library folders as recommended above. I did this months ago and have not had a problem since. Check your windows "Help and Support" on doing this. Libraries is a new feature in Windows 7 which appears to be causing the problem which I do not find useful anyway.
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Tuesday, December 07, 2010 10:18 AM
The original Thread was in 2009 started can't belive that MS is unable to find a fix for this...
Files/Folders in Libaries and some other place's don't work as expected.
- Creating a new *.txt File in Libs > Images and immediately renaming it to asdf - Working
- Creating a new *.txt File in Libs > Docs and immediately renaming it to asdf - shows two files unnamed and asdf (F5 needed)
- Creating a new *.txt File in Libs > Music - doesn't show up the newly created file (F5 needed) - after F5 it displays unnamned file marked for rename
- Same for Libs > Videos
While i could live with the Libaries not working i cannot live over a YEAR without a MS Fix....
- Creating a new *.txt File in Desktop displays the ready for editing Unnamend File.
- When changing the Value in Unnamned File to asdf and save the file shows up still as unnamned (F5 needed)
- Deleting a File on Desktop doesn't reflect the changes
I've tested most of the stuff stated here and there wasn't really helping anything...
Changing Order doesn't do any - i didn't even change these settings in most cases
Registry Entry Refresh whatsoever is MS Office specific and as ppl state doesn't solve any and in most cases of course doesn't exist
Hidding/displaying some sort of Folder/File neither works
I had already running Explorer on its own process (Thats the first thing ill do on Win because of its lock-up habits)
3D Party Software is an excuse but not the source neither the answer
Task kill explorer.exe and re-run sounds more like a Microsoft "the way it's meant to be" :-/Maybe that Delete Libaries could help but would this have any impact on Desktop?
For thoose who made it! Is it gone for good? (I am mainly interested in Desktop)This is my main concern... any futher notice would be keen!
And an MS patch uber...
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Friday, December 10, 2010 5:00 PMThe code that seems to be missing after any one of those operations is executed is "refresh." That code obviously does exist, and is even incorporated in some of the option screens that are part of the operating system, so why not tack it on? Is MS even listening or looking here? I doubt it.
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Sunday, December 12, 2010 9:38 PM
Another quirk in explore: if you move a file that is saved on the desktop to another directory, the move goes fine, but the file depiction remains on the desktop. Even F5 doesn't get rid of the file name on the desktop, although the contents of the file are no longer available. One actually has to delete the desktop image with a right-click, delete, etc.
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Monday, December 13, 2010 10:39 PM
Sorry Guys deleting all library folder does not get rid of the problem!!!!!
I have not seen the problem for a long time after deleting all library folders but it came back today. I tried to add a new folder to the desktop and could not find it. F5 did not show it, but doing a right click of the desktop and selecting Refresh did. I then continued to dump a number of files from my phone to the folder and they did not show up till I did an F5. Restarting the computer got it back working again.
WHAT A PAIN !!!!
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:11 PMI can easily reproduce the problem everytime I open a new Explorer window and click on any shortcuts on my Favorite. After this, the Explorer window does not refresh, e.g. when I click on New Folder, etc. One way to "rectify" the problem on that window is:- 1. click on the right portion of the location bar and select the directory's path 2. copy 3. click on (go to) another directory 4. click on location bar 5. paste (to go back to the previous directory) 6. press enter After this, the Explorer window will refresh normally (notice the arrangement of the left pane is a bit different than before). But I have to do this every time I open a new Explorer window... hope someone will patch this ASAP... :-( KK
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:19 PMI probably need to add that my Explorer defaults to open in DOCUMENTS. That is probably the source of the issue.
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Thursday, December 16, 2010 7:09 AM
This was not changed in my case, but those who disabled UAC may want to rethink that decision:
I did this (and possibly several other things). After that, Explorer was ok for the rest of the day. Today, after burning a CD (not sure if this is the trigger), it is back to NOT WORKING again. I checked on the UAC and it is still default.
Article ID: 2018895 - Last Review: February 11, 2010 - Revision: 1.0
Desktop items disappear after renaming them on Windows 7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2018895
Symptoms: When renaming a file, folder, or shortcut on the desktop, it will disappear until you refresh the desktop.
Cause: This can occur if "User Account Control" (UAC) under "Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\User Accounts" is set to "Never Notify" for the logged on user.
Resolution: Set the UAC to the Default setting of "Default - Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer". -
Thursday, December 16, 2010 4:17 PM
I am getting this same problem, I just built a new computer on monday (3 days ago) and the problem has already gotten on my nerves. All of my drivers and windows updates are current.
The registry hack did not work. I don't use the library.
I have windows 7 pro x64
XFX ATI/AMD Radeon HD4670, Gigabyte p55A-ud3, core i7 870
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Saturday, December 18, 2010 2:43 AMThis problem went away for a long time after deleting all my library folders. It then came back again In fact within an couple hours today it happened twice requiring a reboot and then windows explorer notified me it stopped working altogether requiring another reboot. I wish Microsoft would fix this thing.
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Sunday, December 19, 2010 6:32 PM I have had this problem happen as well. Eagerly awaiting a solution. Just installed widows 7 and this problem is occuring.
- Proposed As Answer by PietrodeSantaCruz Monday, December 20, 2010 8:56 PM
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Tuesday, December 21, 2010 6:10 PMI found a solution that works for me. I don't think this solution has been posted yet, so let me try to explain what happened to me and how I fixed it.
My problem was very similar to others posted here. When I created a new folder it wouldn't show up in the Windows File Explorer list until I hit F5 to refresh Explorer (at which point the folder would appear in edit mode). The new folder should appear without hitting F5 (i.e. without manually refreshing the window).
When I started troubleshooting this problem the first thing I noticed is that it only occurred when I used one of my "Favorites" shortcuts to go the folder "Libraries\Documents\test". If I clicked on "Documents" in the "Libraries" section and then browsed to my "test" folder I wouldn't have this problem.
The next thing I noticed that was different between my working and non-working test folder explorer window was the path. In normal mode the working window (i.e. the one where I manually browsed to my test folder) and my non-working window (the one where I used my Favorites shortcut) both displayed the same "Libraries > Documents > test" path. However, if I clicked in the address bar the path then changed to the fully qualified path and these paths were different!
Working path: C:\Users\williamgates\Documents\test
Non-working path: C:\Users\williamgates\My Documents\test
So the direct cause of my problem seemed to be using a "My Documents" path when Win7 apparently prefers a "Documents" path. Now I was curious why this just started happening when all of my favorites used to work fine.
After a bit of digging I came to this registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
In the key all of my user folders were set to "My Documents" type paths. For example "Personal" was set to "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents". According to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/886549 none of these directories should have "My Documents" in the path. For example "Personal" should be set to "%USERPROFILE%\Documents".
Once I fixed all of these registry keys (removed "My Documents" from my paths) I assumed everything would start working again, but it didn't (even though my favorites shortcuts updated themselves). I then rebooted my laptop confident that a magic reboot would be all that was needed to finish fixing this issue, but this still didn't work!
Just to recap my favorite now (correctly) points to "C:\Users\williamgates\Documents\test", but doesn't work. If I browse to "C:\Users\williamgates\Documents\test" by going through the "Documents" library it does work (i.e. new folders automatically appear).
At this point I now deleted my "test" favorite shortcut and recreated it. I did this with little hope that it would work, but much to my surprise this new favorite (which points to the exact same place as the old favorite) works! Not only that, my other favorite shortcuts that didn't work (i.e. when you used the favorite new folders wouldn't automatically appear) also magically started working.
I can't explain why my last step of recreating my favorite helped, but it appeared to be a required last step to resolve my issue. It's also strange that using the “Documents” library always worked, whereas others report libraries as the cause of their problems. I hope my pain and suffering can help someone else.
Note that I'm using Win7 Enterprise. A corporate registry update which mucked up my user folders appears to have been the trigger of my issues.
I should also note that my "DontRefresh" registry keys are both set to 1, which sounds like it could cause this problem. However I did NOT change these. I.e. I left them both at 1 and it works ok for me (now that I've fixed my path and re-created my favorite link).- Edited by Jim-J Tuesday, December 21, 2010 6:12 PM Removed all of my parpagragh breaks
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010 12:32 AM Add me to the list of folks having this issue. Any other ideas?
- Proposed As Answer by Xeal Wednesday, December 22, 2010 7:07 PM
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010 7:14 PMThe only solution to this aggravation is for MS to fix the problem. Everything else are just bandaids trying to circumvent MS's (incorrect) code.
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010 7:17 PM
I had the same issue on Windows 7 x64 all up to date with MS patches and updates.
In my case the cause of the problem was "Network Location" items to destinations that were no longer accessible . When I deleted those items the problem was gone.
If I re-create them and then make destinations inaccessible, the problem would come back after I log-off and log back in.
Haven't tested it with mapped drives, could possibly be the same.
PS
Sorry, Allen-CCWTech, I hit the wrong button which made your post as a "Proposed Answer"- Edited by Xeal Wednesday, December 22, 2010 7:19 PM Hit the wrong button
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Tuesday, December 28, 2010 8:30 AM
I have the same problems as others do!
I have to say Windows 7 is too annoying. I never upgrade my OS to the latest version as they are always problematic!! But I have no choice this time as it was done by the IT department of my company and the technician is totally irresponsible. Please add me to the list of folks and let me know the solution.
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Tuesday, December 28, 2010 11:33 PM
And it's been what? 10 months and still no answer.
Way to go Microsoft!
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Thursday, December 30, 2010 3:22 AMThis is blog Part 2 discussing this problem. It has been more like 15 months from the first entry in blog Part 1 and there were comment that the problem was seen in the beta version of Windows 7. Do not hold your breath.
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Thursday, December 30, 2010 3:44 AM
Once Microsoft has decided to rewrite the Explore code, they need to also address the "jumping back to some elusive startingpoint" when executing an action. Users, most likely, will repeat an action in the Explore area, at least they will want to deal with the directory they just came from. Right now this happens sometimes, but most often, it does not and the user needs to provide additional keystrokes to come back to where he/she wants to be. An unnecessary nuisance.
Also, what's with the "Size Column to Fit" or "Size all Columns to Fit?" Once that has been indicated, doesn't Microsoft know that the user really wants to see the display in that manner, even upon return? Apparently not.
Come on, Microsoft, this is inexcusable behavior; if my car drove like that, I would have crashed a long time ago and be dead.
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Thursday, December 30, 2010 7:18 AM
Probably you do not have sufficient permissions to perform the operation.Go to file shortcut, right click on shortcut, click on properties, deselect hidden and read only attributes.Try performing renaming, deleting, moving operations.Check the deleted items in the recycle bin. Right click on recycle bin, click on properties, select display delete confirmation dialog. Empty the recycle bin and check the dialog.
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Saturday, January 01, 2011 2:38 AM
Probably you do not have sufficient permissions to perform the operation.Go to file shortcut, right click on shortcut, click on properties, deselect hidden and read only attributes.Try performing renaming, deleting, moving operations.Check the deleted items in the recycle bin. Right click on recycle bin, click on properties, select display delete confirmation dialog. Empty the recycle bin and check the dialog.
Hi,Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately this did not resolve my issues. Perhaps someone else can try and see if it makes a difference.
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Tuesday, January 04, 2011 6:51 AM
I experienced the same problem several minutes ago and did a Google search. Some people said to change a certain key in the registry. I simply added the following lines to a desktop.ini in the root folder of the drive where I was experiencing the problem.
[{BDEADE7F-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}]
DontRefresh=0[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BDEADE7F-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}={BDEADE7F-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}I don't know whether that will give me new problems in the future, but for now at least, the problem went away.
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Thursday, January 06, 2011 11:38 AM
this fix worked for me.... it will disable the Libraries folder
Create a .reg file with this content
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
;Created by Vishal Gupta for AskVG.com
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{2112AB0A-C86A-4ffe-A368-0DE96E47012E}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{491E922F-5643-4af4-A7EB-4E7A138D8174}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{7b0db17d-9cd2-4a93-9733-46cc89022e7c}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{A302545D-DEFF-464b-ABE8-61C8648D939B}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{A990AE9F-A03B-4e80-94BC-9912D7504104}]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
“{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}”=-run it and restart your pc
another possible fix I found here: http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/81527-need-help-unable-rename-move-folders-2.html#17
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Thursday, January 06, 2011 11:51 AM1) I backed up the registry.
2) Searched for occurrences of the word refresh and found this key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{BDEADE7F-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}\Instance
which contains three subkeys. One of them, curiously enough, is DontRefresh and it has a value of 1 (turned ON)
3) I then changed the value to 0 (turned OFF) and hit F5 to refresh and save the now changed registry.
Hello there!
I had the same problems e.g. on my desktop. After doing the above and log off and re-login again everything works fine!
Cheers,
mav2kger
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Sunday, January 09, 2011 9:58 PMI thought I would share my find on the matter. This only turned up in the last week or 2 after setting up my local network for sharing to transfer data to different devices on the network. I can;t be asked to site the source, but I think it was in the Part 1 thread. A proposed resolution was to go to My Computer and remove network locations. I did just that, and the refresh problem was solved for me, atleast for now. I was even able to readd atleast one network location with out resurrecting the error. I really hope Microsoft finds a resolution to this but after 1+ years of bug reports I have little to no hope of that happening.
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Monday, January 10, 2011 2:08 PM1) I backed up the registry.
2) Searched for occurrences of the word refresh and found this key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{BDEADE7F-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}\Instance
which contains three subkeys. One of them, curiously enough, is DontRefresh and it has a value of 1 (turned ON)
3) I then changed the value to 0 (turned OFF) and hit F5 to refresh and save the now changed registry.
Hello there!
I had the same problems e.g. on my desktop. After doing the above and log off and re-login again everything works fine!
Cheers,
mav2kger
Hm I think I have revise this...renaming works, but when I delete items to the trash bin, I still have to refresh manually to see that he moved it there... -
Friday, January 14, 2011 10:31 PM
I am having this same issue, but that registry key does not exist in mine. there is no {BDEA-anything}, nor is there anything that says dontrefresh. This occurs in every build of windows 7 I have played with, except my stepfathers laptop (ultimate). I have used 3 other versions home32, pro32 and pro64, all have this issue on my rig as well as a few tester rigs I have set up.
...and for the record, I have never used Aero or any of the other additional desktop garbage, I keep shared files to a minimum, and I have to turn off indexing or my system lags out so badly none of my games will run smoothly.
Part of the issues seems to be that the dev's seemed to be under the impression that windows explorer is a useless tool, one a long time ago told us in a post about why the lack of functionality in Windows 7 Explorer, that we shouldn't use it as our file manager, and that we basically get what we deserve if we use it. My thoughts on this are IT'S WHAT YOU GAVE US TO WORK WITH! ...and it's always worked much better in the past, until Bill Gates left the OS department and went to XBOX, and what do we get as a result of that? Windows Vista and Windows 7.(I want my folder trees, I want to see free space on the drive in the status bar, I want to get rid of the stupid addition to the status bar that tells me nothing about the folder I am in and just takes up a lot of space for no good reason, and so many others I don't feel like listing any more...)
It is NEVER an 'upgrade' when you take away functionality, and then we are required to get 3rd party software to overcome the gaps you left in the programming.
This issue reminds me of the win7 BSoD issue that everyone kept telling us it was a setting we did incorrectly or a bad driver or something, turns out, they put out a beta fix and surprise haven't had it happen since. This is just one more failure in the Windows Vista life (7 is just a modified vista).
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Sunday, January 23, 2011 3:24 AM
Becoming our own software engineers and modifying the registry is not our job, nor is it desirable. What is appalling here is that Microsoft has an obvious software issue and is refusing to address it. I am sure that by now - has it been over a year? - they must have seen that there is a glitch (actually, a whole bunch of glitches) but have elected to entirely ignore the problems. Are they trying to bolster Apple Macintosh sales?
And then there is Office 2010. Those ribbons look like fun, but what about functionality? Does Excel have to crash after a few files are open? I know this is not an Office forum, but I don't think it is our job either to find the "correct way to complain." Shouldn't Microsoft be looking here? And can't they communicate issues amongst each other?
Please bring back DOS. At least we could trust it.
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Monday, January 24, 2011 11:09 PMI just lump it under MS-PITA.
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:43 PM
Hello joev7777x,
I couldn't have said it better!!! :-)
Apple, here I come!!! :-)
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Friday, January 28, 2011 7:25 PMI found an interesting solution. You may try this. I had the problem when I created a file at Documents. Under "Libraries" I right clicked Documents then entered Properties and then clicked Restore Defaults and it seems to be working now =/ Maybe you should try that
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Friday, January 28, 2011 10:17 PM
Crazily enough, this worked for me too. I have spent about 2 hours today going over this and related threads and trying various suggestions, but nothing worked, and I as about to give up, seeing as people seem to have been struggling with this for over a year, but suddenly this "Restore Defaults" thing, proposed only 2 hours and 45 minutes ago, gave me some relief! Who knows if the problem will come back, but it definitely has gone away for the moment! Thanks. I'm running Win 7 Home 64 bit on a new HP Pavilion, by the way.
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Saturday, January 29, 2011 5:30 AMWell, my optimism was indeed premature. The problem came back after a few hours. At least I know how to make it go away for a while, but that's not a real solution. I'm not going to waste any more time on this time and energy consuming black hole.
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Saturday, January 29, 2011 2:18 PMWell that fix is still working for me. The problem is not occurring again. Maybe you should also try "Restore Defaults" for Music, Pictures and Videos as well.
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Monday, January 31, 2011 4:05 PMThats not a solution as "my documents" are NEVER stored in my "users" folder on the system/root drive. Likewise with downloads. I have noticed that these "special" folder seems to exhibit the behaviour alot more than anywhere else. My problem sometimes seems localized to just these folders which i have right click redirected to other folders. I bet thats the whole problem with these damn "libraries". In previous versions of windows, you simply used a registry key to relocate "my documents". Perhaps you could do it from right click, i cant remember. But this is where the problem lies. Regardless its a bug which will probably be fixed in sp1 sinces its so blatant and widespread. I am still liking win7 more than xp at this point, even with this stupid bug.
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Wednesday, February 02, 2011 10:32 PMHas anyone else here been using SP1 RTM since it leaked about two weeks ago? Anything interesting to report? MS will be releasing it themselves soon, but oddly enough I haven't seen my variation on this problem (desktop icons) recur since. There's no way that I'm going to declare that it's fixed, because every single time someone does, it's not -- and also because there seem to be so many varieties -- but it's certainly promising. I didn't even do a clean install, just a normal install after removing the RC. I doubt that it's going to help everyone with this problem, and I haven't even proven that it's helped here, but it'll be interesting to read the reports come in as more people try it.
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Friday, February 04, 2011 9:41 PM
Sick and tired of this problem.
It cost me more then once a file I didnt want to loose (working a lot with FTP).
But finally i found the solution . .
Going back to windows XP.
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Saturday, February 05, 2011 1:17 AM
SP1 RTM ... I haven't seen my variation on this problem (desktop icons) recur
Well that's very encouraging at least! But as you say, people might have to fish for quite a long time before declaring there are no more fish in the lake.
Any other obvious Explorer improvements you've seen in there?
-Noel
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Monday, February 07, 2011 1:16 PMI have to agree... put SP1 RTM on my laptop and have not seen the problem since. Haven't given it the extensive testing to say for absolute sure, but it's lookin' pretty good.......
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Wednesday, February 09, 2011 7:00 AM
Becoming our own software engineers and modifying the registry is not our job, nor is it desirable. What is appalling here is that Microsoft has an obvious software issue and is refusing to address it. I am sure that by now - has it been over a year? - they must have seen that there is a glitch (actually, a whole bunch of glitches) but have elected to entirely ignore the problems. Are they trying to bolster Apple Macintosh sales?
No better way to say it. Please enough of these registry tweaks. Its an issue. Period. It's 2011, original post was 2009, circa VISTA???!!
Shiny new Windows 7 x64 box + select files + DELETE = Whoa! Still there - but not really....Good grief!
After browsing through the threads... Network drivers??? "Other incompatible software"??? You mean we're back to this finger pointing?
Don't get me wrong, I actually like Windows 7 (skipped VISTA entirely), and at some point, "I'm used to this" - it's an annoyance more than anything...but at some point, one has to question why this hasn't been addressed all this time.....I actually just did a quick search out of curiosity thinking it would be one of those weird issues....didn't even know how to phrase the search...BUT then, the beauty of search....you know its a bad sign when auto complete did the search phrase for me...ouch.
Yes, I'm in IT. Yes, I have no fear in making registry tweaks. No, that's not a compliment to Microsoft, nor am I "proud" to say that. No, I don't expect to be doing this forever. Yes, I remember someone saying "self healing" systems uttered - sadly nowhere near it.
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Wednesday, February 09, 2011 1:17 PMWell, nevermind. Same old problem in SP1. Was going good until I was in Word and saved a document to the desktop while watching the desktop and the document didn't appear until I hit F5. Then tried to rename a desktop file just to confirm my worst fears, and sure enough, the name didn't change after hitting Enter. Oh well. Thanks for nothing, Microsoft.
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Thursday, February 10, 2011 7:19 AM
Hi Guys,
I also had this problem for a while and solved it today! My solution was hiding and removing the library's from ms explorer with these tutorials:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/08/05/how-to-disable-and-remove-libraries-from-windows-7-explorer/
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/09/02/how-to-remove-and-hide-libraries-group-from-navigation-pane-of-windows-7-explorer/
I did it because I think the libraries are annoying, and not to solve this problem, but it did.
Hope this works for some of you guys!Cheers
- Proposed As Answer by SlawomirL Wednesday, February 16, 2011 11:16 PM
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Thursday, February 10, 2011 9:51 AM
I find it quite interesting. I use 4 Installations of W7:
@work:
- Dell Desktop with Windows 7 x64 Ultimate System Builder : THERE IS THE PROBLEM
@home:
- Selfbuild Desktop PC with Windows 7 x64 Ultimate System Builder : No Problem
- Dell Notebook with Windows 7 x32 Professional : No Problem
- Samsung Netbook with Windows 7 Starter : No Problem
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011 11:16 PM
Thanks a lot! I’ve been googling for several hours and found this solution WORKING! I had the same problem with 64 bit Win 7, Polish version, working on Intel processor. I followed the first tutorial prompted by TheDutchEngineer, downloaded the .reg file, run it, rebooted machine, and... voila! It works – after deleting, renaming, removing etc. all changes appear instantly, just as they used to in Vista.
Right, the library thing disappeared, but I think I even like that. I made a shortcut to my files on quick launch bar (also reestablished on good, old manner) and everything works just perfectly.
Thanks again for a tip!
Good luck to others!
SlawomirL
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Thursday, February 17, 2011 10:20 PMGive it some time, Slaw. I tried it as well but within two days the desktop was ceasing to refresh.
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Friday, February 18, 2011 3:27 AM
I have been running that tweak for over a year myself in daily use and have never seen the problem. Admittedly, I don't change what's on the desktop much; I just don't work that way.
Libraries are evil.
Oh, and the "Remove Libraries" tweak still works in SP1, by the way. :)
-Noel
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Wednesday, February 23, 2011 1:35 PM
It is pretty upsetting that microsoft still haven't address this issue. SP1 and still the most straightforward way to view and manage files doesn't refresh every time! Come on microsoft! I only know 6 other people on Windows 7 64, but they ALL have the same problem and all have done since first clean install... Doesn't sound like a 3rd party software issue to me.
I bet it happens in Microsoft HQ everyday but employees sign a contract to deny it is a bug. Like Macintoshes used to actually say "It's not my fault".
Microsoft, you CAN do better...
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Monday, February 28, 2011 6:45 PM
I also confirm that the PROBLEM STILL EXISTS IN SP1!!!!!
Un-freaking-believable...
GT -
Wednesday, March 02, 2011 9:28 AM
I did a clean install of Windows 7 x64 with all the updates including SP1.1
Deleting files of any kind in the 'Pictures' librarie doesn't automatically refresh but DELETING A FOLDER DOES INSTANTLY REFRESH!!!
WHY???
ALL THE OTHER LIBRARIES REFRESH PERFECTLY NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF FILE OR FOLDER!!!
So it's a great improvement but still not perfect!
Am I the only one with this improvement?
EDIT: rightmouseclicked in Explorer on 'Pictures' library properties and choose to restore defaults. NOW IT WORKS PERFECTLY!
EDIT 2: It only works in the 'Pictures' library if the files are sorted by name... the other libraries work perfectly...
EDIT 3: The other libraries work 'perfectly' if viewing of thumbnails is not enabled :-(
EDIT 4: Eventually it all stopped working 'perfectly'.... :-(
CONCLUSION: NO IMPROVEMENT!!!
THE ONLY THING THAT REALLY WORKS FOR ME IS TO CREATE NEW LIBRARIES AND GIVE THEM THE SAME NAME AS THE OFFICIAL ONES AND IMPORT THE FOLDERS.... THIS REALLY WORKS... YOU ONLY DON'T HAVE FANCY FOLDER ICONS :-(
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Sunday, March 06, 2011 12:18 AM
I have installed a fresh Win 7 SP1 x64 Ultimate on Lenovo T400 2674-CTO and am experiencing the exact same behavior.
I cannot remember when it started to happen, however I can confirm that I have the explorer refresh problem along with a short explorer lock when I press Browse button on web pages or try saving a page as Shadow Chaser mentioned. Even after selecting a file in the browse window, the system locks for another few seconds until the path appears in the corresponding field on the page.
Here is all of my Shell related stuff:
http://img193.imageshack.us/i/shellp.png/
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Saturday, March 19, 2011 5:04 PM
The auto refresh actually works, but it takes times. In my case it is usually 10-20 seconds.
after opening folder windows and performing operation (like copy, pastes, create new ..., rename, etc.) it takes 10-20 seconds, and that operation will be displayed without need for manual refresh. also, after performing any one operation, waiting for 10-20 seconds, all following operations made in the same folder window will be displayed immediately taking less than a second.
Opening new folder window (while already having one open folder window), which will start as a new process has same issue. that is, it will need to wait 10-20 seconds for first operation to display, after which all operations will show immediately. that is probably because you checked "Launch folder windows in separate process" - i have not checked this, so i'm not sure, it is only my guess.
Closing and opening folder windows with the same path has the similar issues. that is, you will still need to wait 10-20 seconds for first operation to display.
this is also issue when saving files, for example in desktop, as we all probably do. saving file on desktop also takes 10-20 seconds to display that file. however because desktop is not a separate windows explorer, further operations performed on desktop will not show immediately, almost each operation performed on desktop needs 10-20 seconds to show up.
One more test i did. I open folder window, wait for 30 seconds without performing any operation. after which any operation performed shows up immediately. this is same with saving on desktop. if you want to save on desktop, point to desktop and wait for 30 seconds without click to save, only after waiting click on save, and your file will show immediately on desktop.
I don't know if this is helpful but hope it will answer to some questions.
My guess on this issue and the silence of MS is that this is what they were planning. I think they decided to increase the response time of opening windows folders, and decrease the response time of file operations. i mean for the first 30 seconds in my case. as an example, when i open folder window it shows immediately on my monitor, but not completely operational. so this file operations can be a separate process which takes time to start. i hope i made my point clear.so it seems that only MS can solve this.
good luck to you on this issue. eagerly waiting for an update solving this.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2011 9:46 PM
Sick and tired of this problem.
It cost me more then once a file I didnt want to loose (working a lot with FTP).
But finally i found the solution . .
Going back to windows XP.
I have had this same problem for the past couple of months. I thought it had something to do with Google Chrome downloading files to the desktop. I'm not sure that's the case.
I did want to say that this is not a Win7 only problem.
I AM RUNNING WIN XP PRO SP3 and I am having this same problem. That means that I have no libraries to deal with. This has to be some bug brought on by some program/software.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2011 9:57 PM
Well you clearly have a different issue. The symptoms may be similar but this problem is to do with the libraries folders which as you say, do not exist in xp.
In most peoples cases here, this happens on a default win7 install with no programs or special software installed.
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Saturday, April 02, 2011 4:44 AM
Any Powershell hackers out there?
Since it's built in and can apparently do anything, I thought I'd find a way to get it to do the following, which is one of the documented ways (waaaay up the thread somewhere) to temporarily fix the Desktop flavor of this problem. Scheduling it (the easy part) once a day might do the trick as a preventative, I don't know, since right now I only do this manually after the problem occurs. It would need to do this:
1) Check if Windows Explorer is running. If it is, use it, If it isn't, run it.
2) Tools/Folder Options/General, Navigation Pane section: reverse the state of the "Show all folders" item. Apply. Reverse the state of that item again. Apply. OK.
I realize that's easier to do with a macro program, and I may end up doing that if Powershell is too complicated.
Update: For now, I ended up going with a useful little task-automation tool called DoItAgain:
http://www.spacetornado.com/DoItAgain
I then created a keystroke-driven macro, which I've pasted here in case anyone wants to save themselves the trouble:
I scheduled the macro as a task to run once a morning. I'll report back if that's enough to forestall this silliness. Even if it doesn't turn out to be a preventative, running a macro manually is certainly easier than going into Explorer manually.
Update 2: Due to the unpredictability of this problem, I realized that scheduling this didn't make sense. Until the time comes that I have a way of running it silently, and therefore a lot more often than once a day, it's not practical. So I just run the macro manually when the problem recurs, which is maybe once a week. -
Sunday, April 03, 2011 2:36 AM
I also confirm that the PROBLEM STILL EXISTS IN SP1!!!!!
Un-freaking-believable...
GTYup - "living with this" is the only real answer here. Here's another related matter that I'm sure will irritate even more people (when they realize it).
In "some application", hit SAVE AS, then navigate to where you want to save your file. If by chance you want to create a new folder, voila! nothing happens (or so it seems).
- Now you're thinking, OMG (I can use that now that its apparently a 'word'), Windows 7 froze!!!! Now what do I do? How do I save this document I've beem working on for x hours!!!!
- If you sit there and throw a fit and press that RESET, or power button in anger, we'll yeah, you're toast
- If you somehow try it again -> SAVE AS -> back to same place you wanted...WTF, there are x number of "new folders"!!! (each one = the number of times you tried to create a folder and nothing appears), and you can now relax a bit and save the file...then
go online in a forum like this and "report" it so that hopefully, it can help someone out there:
TRY hitting F5 first so you'll "refresh" the folder location, or just close out and try again...the folders you tried to create while SAVING AS, are all there...
Until MS fixes this damn "ghost" feature, f5 is your friend...
SP1, definitely had no effect on this issue....
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Sunday, April 03, 2011 3:32 AM
Microsoft obviously doesn't read this post. Hasn't read it for a year or more. If I ran my business in this manner, I wouldn't be here. Do they care? Does a dictatorship care what their people think? Don't be surprised that at some point the people will rise up in protest. Unix and its derivatives are very nice and reliable OS. Can we at least get some acknowledgement that this is a huge problem in a production environment? A few words, please? PLEASE.
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Monday, April 04, 2011 1:51 PM
On Sun, 3 Apr 2011 03:32:55 +0000, joev7777x wrote:
Microsoft obviously doesn't read this post. Hasn't read it for a year or more. If I ran my business in this manner, I wouldn't be here. Do they care? Does a dictatorship care what their people think? Don't be surprised that at some point the people will rise up in protest. Unix and its derivatives are very nice and reliable OS. Can we at least get some acknowledgement that this is a huge problem in a production environment? A few words, please? PLEASE.
This isn't Microsoft you're addressing; this is a peer support forum.
We are all just users of this version of Windows here, helping each
other if and when we can. We are not Microsoft employees (not even
those of us with "Microsoft MVP" behind our names; that's an honorary
title for having provided consistently helpful advice) except for an
occasional employee.If you want to complain to Microsoft about something, please contact
them directly. Trying to do it here is just a waste of (figurative)
breath.
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP -
Saturday, April 09, 2011 3:47 PMTry restoring defaults for folder options, it worked for me.
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Friday, April 22, 2011 11:03 PM
for those who still have this problem maybe this command fixes the problem.
Run --> CMD --> type "gpupdate" without the qoutes. Wait til it finishes and close everything. Then try again.
List of fixes that may work:
1. Restore default in Folder options.
2. Remove the check from "Client from Microsoft Network" in the Wireless or "Local Area Connection" properties.
3. Change the Sort by to Name.
4. Using the "gpupdate" command.
5. Right click Dokuments in Libraries Folder, Chose properties and Restore Default.
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Thursday, May 05, 2011 12:20 AM
My company just rolled out Windows 7 to about 200 users and we've gotten a number of calls about this issue and I was even able to replicate this issue on my own workstation. A simple reboot resolves the issue temporarily and then it comes back a shortwhile after.
Is there any update for this from Microsoft? This thread has been opened for over a year now.. Not sure how to attack this problem.
Thank you!
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Thursday, May 05, 2011 1:38 AM
Until it is, "F5" is something your users will have to be friends with - pretty much when doing something to file system - saving/deleting/create file or folder....and "something strange" is or isn't happening when they try to....
- can't seem to delete (but it is)
- can't seem to move (but it is)
- can't seem to SAVE AS + new folder (or some combination) - this is particularly dangerous (see my post above) because to a user who first experiences this, its not uncommon for them to hit the "wtf mode" and restart/shut down/power cycle their systems - thereby losing the file (and or changes). The other common issues (moving/deleting files) can be more of an annoyance, but this one can really do damage....
I haven't done any of the registry tweaks or suggested fixes (fiddle with network stuff, group policy, etc.) being suggested in this forum so I can't comment...just using refresh/f5 + letting users know (to avoid disastrous issues) is what its place for me/company....
hope this helps...
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Saturday, May 07, 2011 9:13 AM
Hi. I think I have the permanent solution for that and I discovered it by accident when I was experimenting with my desktop.
The solution: You have to run 2 processes of explorer.exe
1) To do that, open any folder on your hard disk.
2) click on "Organize"
3) Select "Folder and search options"
4) Click on "View" tab
5) Under "Advanced settings", check "launch folder windows in a separate process"
6) Restart explorer.exe
That's it. Hope this helps. :)
PS: I am not sure if this will work with every version of Windows 7 (I'm running Windows 7 Pro, 64 bit). I am not adept in Windows. I wouldn't actually this a "fix" as a technical term but it sure did spared me of this annoyance.-AJ
- Proposed As Answer by poteb Saturday, May 14, 2011 2:02 PM
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Saturday, May 07, 2011 3:09 PMNo, that's not a fix--and it won't be for you, either. Just wait a while.
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Sunday, May 08, 2011 2:23 AM
Well, 4 months have passed already and I'm not experiencing any trouble so far. My memory is running smoothly. As I said, I wouldn't call that a "fix", but as far as getting rid of that annoyance goes, it did me good. And I think there isn't really a fix for this, so the best bet is to go for the closest thing. I merely wanted to get rid of the "explorer not refreshing" problem. Also I did not experience any explorer.exe crashes. If you're experiencing that annoyance, feel free to try it. If not, then undo it. I'm not saying it's "the all around fix" but it certainly made me work comfortably with my laptop. If a real fix is discovered, then I'd try that and see what happens. :)
- Edited by AJfudge Sunday, May 08, 2011 2:25 AM forgot to add more information
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Sunday, May 08, 2011 7:07 AM
FYI, it was disproven a very long time ago in this thread. I've run Explorer that way for years.
It's great that you're no longer seeing the problem, but it's more complicated than that one setting, or it would have worked for more people than you. Unfortunately, with an unlimited number of possibilities, there's no telling what that is. I continue to use the workaround I described a few posts back--it lasts for a number of days and is pretty quick to run again when the problem comes back.
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Sunday, May 08, 2011 8:36 AMWow, so that makes me one of the lucky ones. :) Anyway, I'd like to try your solution, too Wouldn't hurt to try and help out. :)
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Friday, May 13, 2011 11:34 AM
Seems like LIBRARIES is the culprit then?
Works for me: accessing My documents either via C:\, or User, gives the wanted behavior (i.e. auto-refresh). Accessing via Libraries gives unwanted behavior. Also, network shares works OK.
/kay
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Saturday, May 14, 2011 2:03 PM
Worked for me! Thank you!Hi. I think I have the permanent solution for that and I discovered it by accident when I was experimenting with my desktop.
The solution: You have to run 2 processes of explorer.exe
1) To do that, open any folder on your hard disk.
2) click on "Organize"
3) Select "Folder and search options"
4) Click on "View" tab
5) Under "Advanced settings", check "launch folder windows in a separate process"
6) Restart explorer.exe
That's it. Hope this helps. :)
PS: I am not sure if this will work with every version of Windows 7 (I'm running Windows 7 Pro, 64 bit). I am not adept in Windows. I wouldn't actually this a "fix" as a technical term but it sure did spared me of this annoyance.-AJ
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Monday, May 16, 2011 1:22 PM
I had this problem (or one similar) on Windows 7 64bit with files I could not delete from the desktop. After much searching I found the solution to the problem at,
http://blog.dotsmart.net/2008/06/12/solved-cannot-read-from-the-source-file-or-disk/
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011 5:17 PM
A general clue for what is worth . . . This is not a problem on a fresh install of Windows 7. We have several notebooks with many applications that were installed immediately after the Win 7 installation. Because of the nature of our business, we maintain a Windows 7 Backup Image of each notebook. The Backup Images are always kept as a new installation with apps. No run time on the images.
After a few weeks of use all notebooks have the Windows Explorer refresh issues described. After restoring a Fresh Installation from image backup, its good for a few weeks again.
The problem of "files open" when they aren't seems to show up more quicky after installation than the refresh view issue. I have never been able to observe an update or new program that causes this problem to re-appear after being resolved for a while with a fresh-install image recovery.
- Edited by swb_mct Wednesday, May 18, 2011 5:21 PM spelling
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Saturday, May 21, 2011 9:20 PMNot in my case, swb. I've had the problem occur five minutes into a fresh install with nothing new installed. Try to rename a file on the desktop and it appears to have the old one.
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011 6:32 PM
In addition to rest, i recomment to change "Arrange By" option also. Here is what i did:
1) Tools->Folder Options : Reset all tabs settings to default.
2) Arrange By: Clicked on "Clear Changes"
3) Then Arrange By: Clicked on "Folder"
Magic... Explorer started refreshing!!
Try your windows :)
--
Ranganadh
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Tuesday, June 07, 2011 10:16 AM
And when you click 'Arrange by Date' or something else it stops refreshing :-(
This is not a real solution and was mentioned before.....
Still waiting for Microsoft to fix this stupid thing.........
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Wednesday, June 08, 2011 11:56 AM
A SOLUTION: This worked on my two Windows 7 Pro notebooks.
I had created "Network Locations" with one of the options under the Map Network Drive wizard to WebDav shares that can be turned on/off on two android phones. These shares are normally off, so these Network Locations are dead ends to Windows 7. When I deleted these two "Network Locations" the Windows Explorer refresh problem was resolved.
This is reminiscent of an old Internet Explorer problem on Windows XP back around 2004. If you had a Nework Shortcut to a file server (SMB share) on your desktop to an unavailable share (notebook away from the office) , Internet Explorer would take exactly 20 seconds to open. When you deleted the dead SMB shortcut, IE would open instantly. This was a persitent repeatable problem/soltuion on all machines I was involved with at the time.
This Windows 7 issue seems like the same type of thing. Windows is trying to verify all existing networks before Windows Explorer well refresh the Desktop or a Share.
I hope this fix continues to work and maybe works for others with this issue.
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Wednesday, June 08, 2011 3:25 PM
What you have listed is a WORK AROUND, not a solution. Also this work around will probably only work for you. But you havent given any more information. Do you mean the "network" area on the desktop? On my machine that area is filled with "auto discovered" devices from my lan. I have not populated it at all, as I am sure many other people havent as well.
No, your work around is pretty much limited to your circumstances, and while you may have worked around this bug, the bug still exists and needs to be fixed. (if it is indeed the exact same bug that you are noticing, i am still not sure of)
"Windows is trying to verify all existing networks before Windows Explorer well refresh the Desktop or a Share"
then this would be easily reproduceable by simply disconnecting from the network while having mapped drives in my computer. Of course this does not lead to the problem, because it has to do with the "libraries" folders and not network connections.
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Friday, June 10, 2011 1:48 AM
It is now 6/9/2011. I have this exact same problem in Windows 7 Home Premium, files still show even after being moved to another folder.
Hey Microsoft: you wonder why everyone's moving to the Mac platform and your stock is in the toilet? Bugs like this, left unfixed for 3 years, is precisely why.
Get off your butts and fix it.
Thanks.
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Friday, June 10, 2011 8:00 PM
Microsoft Marketing, in an attempt to sell Windows to more people, probably requested the ability to show users "collections of things" that are not actually "files in directories on the disk". The intent was likely to make using Windows less "geeky", rather than to try to educate non-technical users (probably a bit of a lost cause).
Clearly, implementing such a thing was beyond Microsoft Engineering. It was just "too hard" to do right, so they did it in a half-baked way. Typical. And it will probably never be quite right, much the same as an Explorer view of things inside a zip file has never been quite as capable as looking at real files on the hard drive. I doubt it will get any better even in the next version of Windows.
Again and again we see that the best workaround for people seeking to actually USE Windows effectively is to completely avoid using Libraries entirely - just put your files on your hard drive and access your folders there. In short, DO YOUR OWN ORGANIZATION on your hard drive.
Another thing to consider is to tweak Windows to always show things in General Items views. There's a simple registry change to accomplish this.
I have been using Windows 7 for years now and honestly, in following the above advice, I have never seen a failure of the Explorer pane to update upon doing any operation. It just works.
-Noel
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Friday, June 10, 2011 10:34 PM
I have been using Windows 7 for years now and honestly, in following the above advice, I have never seen a failure of the Explorer pane to update upon doing any operation. It just works.
-Noel
Well, awesome for you. Congratulations! As for those who are experiencing this, yeah, it's a bug that hasn't been fixed, as of June 2011. One more time, its a BUG.I have no idea about Microsoft mktg nor do I have insight to Microsoft Engineering. I am a Microsoft user/developer. That's pretty much it. A BUG doesn't change my view on Microsoft (mktg, engineering or whatever division). Its a bug that exists and hasn't been fixed.
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Saturday, June 11, 2011 2:53 AM
I didn't post that to brag, but to tell folks how to work around the bug.
Don't look now, but no matter how emphatic you get; no matter how much you threaten to buy a Mac, Microsoft doesn't give a damn about your opinion and is clearly not going to fix this any time soon.
-Noel
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Sunday, June 12, 2011 2:31 AMNoel, I don't see how your advice is applicable to those of us who don't use libraries in any way and have the problem exhibit on the Desktop where viewing as "General Items" is not doable.
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Sunday, June 12, 2011 2:44 AM
Well, for what it's worth I don't see things on the desktop as General Items either. They're icons.
Hey, I'm just recounting what I find to work. Maybe there's something else I've tweaked as well that helps it to work properly. I've turned off that nuisance indexing, for example.
Or maybe there's something on your system that you have set in a particular way thinking it will do one thing when it actually exacerbates this problem.
-Noel
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Sunday, June 12, 2011 4:56 AM
Again and again we see that the best workaround for people seeking to actually USE Windows effectively is to completely avoid using Libraries entirely - just put your files on your hard drive and access your folders there. In short, DO YOUR OWN ORGANIZATION on your hard drive.
I agree with Noel that the only (temporary) workaround is to AVOID using Libraries at all. Based on my experience, I only encountered this issue when I was working with Libraries. Outside Libraries, everything is working just fine, no delay whatsoever :D.
However, one should NOT interpret the workaround as a way to deny the existence of this bug. No matter how, it's still a bug, BUT ONLY in Libraries. Please don't generalize it nor make it as a hype it as if a bug in Windows Explorer as general. Working with Windows Explorer outside Libraries is doing just fine.
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Sunday, June 12, 2011 3:17 PM
Noel,
Do you think that this is the best roundabout path to resolution? Unfortunately, I had disabled "Libraries" on my last W7 but found it gave me problems in other proceses. Now on my newest W7, I thought I would solve THOSE issues by utilizing the darn things, and now this is the problem. Do you experience any glitches with, for example, your Microsoft-created Media Player when your Libs are off?
For some reason, if I use direct from directories, the Media Player is very selective about which directories it will access and it changes by the reboot.
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Sunday, June 12, 2011 3:48 PM
Alright. After 2 hours of reading over a years worth of workarounds, I'm going with this one. I can exist without Libraries, I can use other Media tools, I can take control of my directories.. although I don't think I should HAVE to.
Noel, if there were a Nobel Prize for Microsoft Solutions, you deserve it.Goodbye Libraries. Hello Peace of Mind!
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Sunday, June 12, 2011 4:43 PMThis thread is always deja vu all over again. It's not as simple as libraries since there isn't only one flavor of this problem. The Desktop is the most pronounced problem area for some, for example, and it has nothing to do with libraries.
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Monday, June 13, 2011 2:58 AM
For what it's worth, I don't see any problems with Media Player. None at all. And I play it a lot - I listen to ambient music via WMP virtually all day every day.
There may well be several problems, but I don't see any of 'em. The stuff on my desktop is relatively static, though when I *do* put stuff there and remove it, it behaves just fine.
No one's denying the existence of bugs. I just find that dwelling on what's wrong isn't nearly as productive as finding a way around the bugs to become productive. As a career computer engineer, I have no problem with using files and folders to organize my work, and I am a firm believer that far too much magic is being built into the basic facilities in the first place, which gives rise to these kinds of problems.
-Noel
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Monday, June 13, 2011 2:59 PM
For what it's worth, I don't see any problems with Media Player. None at all. And I play it a lot - I listen to ambient music via WMP virtually all day every day.
There may well be several problems, but I don't see any of 'em. The stuff on my desktop is relatively static, though when I *do* put stuff there and remove it, it behaves just fine.
No one's denying the existence of bugs. I just find that dwelling on what's wrong isn't nearly as productive as finding a way around the bugs to become productive. As a career computer engineer, I have no problem with using files and folders to organize my work, and I am a firm believer that far too much magic is being built into the basic facilities in the first place, which gives rise to these kinds of problems.
-Noel
Noel ~Seems like we got off on the wrong foot. Perhaps I should have reworded my response...my only point is that this is a bug, and yes, I don't think any mention of MS Mktg/Engineering is relevant.
As above, this bug doesn't change my positive (missing word from my original response) view of MS and its products. I use them a lot, personally and professionally. I don't need to threaten MS (as if I could in the first place) by purchasing Apple products (which I already have and love). You can add Google OS to that as well (Android/Chrome) which I use daily as well. Neither of these non-MS platforms were obtained because of some lofty notion or spite of MS. I'm only mentioning them here because of your response - otherwise, just like MS Mktg/Eng, they're irrelevant in this thread.
This thread is still alive because the bug still exists in 2011. Yes, its full of suggestions that may help others. Nobody is "dwelling" (at least not me) - "dwelling" on this bug for a couple of years is idiotic. I have my own "workaround", it's called F5 - no registry tweaks necessary....never been a fan of registry tweaking (not that I can't, I've been in IT since...oh my, NT), but if it gives some sense of "normalcy" and "permanance" to this bug to most/others, good.
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Tuesday, June 14, 2011 7:13 AM
Hi,
Just thought I would report that I had started getting this problem a few days ago and was beginnning to find it really irritating so investigated which led me here.
Thanks for all the suggestions. In the end I traced mine down to a USB hard drive that for some reason does not always mount properly when the system restarts. Normally it just doesn't show on the system, but on this occasion it had partially mounted and was showing drive J:, but I could access nothing on it. Disconnecting and reconnecting it resolved my folder refresh.
I don't understand why this drive has such a problem as it is identical to another I have connected (I use synchtoy to backup data from one USB drive to the other) and if I connect them both on other PCs I see no problems at all. So I suspect a hardware/driver issue somewhere.
Neil
FINALLY some people also notices this is somehow bigger problem than just refreshing. I also notices that since the refresh problem occured, the "My computer" main folder did not worked proporly. I wanted to use my USB stick but the window didn't popped out like normally. So I went to My computer and nothing. It was very slow and even after restarting my PC few time, it was basically impossible to get to files on my USB stick. I was very angry because I needed them quickly so in a rage I also took off the other USB stick I had in my other USB pernamently - as a ReadyBoost drive.
And guess what. Since then, about 2 weeks ago, I didn't experienced the problem.
During these huge problems with Windows I also noticed that MS Security Essentials was incredibly slow during Quick scan. The problem was EXE file for Windows Media Player. It took hours to complete quick scan. Now it's perfectly fine. Can it be related? USB... WMP tries to "find it" in the background to see if it's mp3 player...???
So, my specs during problem were: Desktop machine, W7 Ultimate 64-bit, 4 GB RAM, 2x HDD, Intel CPU, ATI GPU, USB stick always in for ReadyBoost.
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Wednesday, June 15, 2011 5:48 AM
I have had this problem for many months on one windows 7 x64 machine, and one without the problem. I recently added a logitech wireless mouse to the unaffected machine, and after installing Setpoint Software, the problem started on that machine. The other affected PC had always had a logitech mouse with setpoint installed. I uninstalled Setpoint from both and the problem hasn't returned. It's been weeks now, with no refresh problems.
I'm not suggesting that everyone with this issue is using setpoint from logitech, but in my case, this was the fix. Other 3rd party software or drivers may also cause explorer to misbehave.
Please post if you are running setpoint, and if uninstalling it fixes your issue. Of course you lose some mouse function without setpoint. I just replaced the mice with non-logitech mice.
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Wednesday, June 15, 2011 7:19 PM
I do not use/have any Logitech product or software. To me, this is obviously somehow USB related.
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Friday, June 17, 2011 10:28 PMFor those who are experiencing the problem in a regular basis, can you check if you have more than one instance of Explorer running when the problem shows? You can check by right clicking the taskbar and starting the task manager. One of the things I did that is apparently helping was to start Explorer using the command "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /r start c:\". This ensures that only one instance of explorer showed in task manager. Maybe the newest instance of Explorer is eating out the "refresh" messages that are intended for the main instance that starts when Windows boots...
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Saturday, June 18, 2011 1:04 AM
Well, just as a minor data point I run multiple instances of Explorer (via the Launch Folder Windows in a Separate Process option), and I don't see the refresh problem.
-Noel
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Monday, June 20, 2011 1:54 AM
Noel,
Here's how you too can see this refresh problem: sort a folder by MODIFIED DESCENDING. That means, the most recently modified files are at top.
Next, select ONE of the files, typically not the first or the last, then, using only the keyboard, hit DELETE on the keyboard.
The file still shows in the directory.
I can demonstrate this without fail every, single, solitary time. Shall I make a video?
Explorer does seem to refresh when you DRAG files, which is probably what you do, and you also probably don't have it sorted by MODIFIED DESCENDING. This is why it is happening sometimes to some people, not others.
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Tuesday, June 21, 2011 6:41 PM
ericshawn, as someone who consistently has the refreshing problem on his desktop on multiple computers, I did as you instructed in a folder and did not see the problem. The files I deleted disappeared from the face of the earth after sorting by modified descending.
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Thursday, June 23, 2011 5:00 AMI think you'll find that you no longer have the issue until you do, though maybe you'll get lucky. There are other Explorer tricks that will temporarily fix it, too, and not reset you to defaults, such as: Tools/Folder Options/General, Navigation Pane section: reverse the state of the "Show all folders" item. Apply. Reverse the state of that item again. Apply. OK.
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Thursday, June 30, 2011 3:39 PMI'm seeing this too. Any updates on this welcome...
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Tuesday, July 05, 2011 4:14 PM
WOW! Could this be one of the longest running threads in the forums? Particularly since it's a continuation of an earlier thread.
I have been running Windows 7 Pro x64 on a new Dell desktop purchased in March, 2010. Windows Explorer was working just fine until maybe a week ago. Now, out of the blue, files deleted from the desktop retain their icon until F5; and files saved to the desktop are invisible until F5. Only the desktop is affected. What happened over the last week, I'd like to know?
What this seems to "prove" is that the fixes posted earlier, even when they work, do not hit on the underlying cause of the problem. For example, the use of libraries has been identified as a culprit, but I've been using libraries since day one without a problem...until a week ago. (BTW: I always thought libraries were a silly idea, and now that I know I can run without them, they are so gone.)
And since <name-removed-to-avoid-having my-post-deleted> has thus far stonewalled, I presume that they do understand the issue, and a complete resolution would involve major re-coding, which is not going to happen.
Instead, and like so many other Windows eccentricities that have arisen through the years, it's up to us to (hopefully) find a workaround that works for us. That's what I'll be doing, and I thank my predecessors in this thread for publishing their own workarounds.
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Saturday, July 09, 2011 7:32 PMHaving had this issue and seeing it continue, I thought I'd post a solution that has worked for me consistently for 6 months and counting. I used to have the same problem of deleted and renamed files not "refreshing" unless I manually did it which was a pain on multiple rename, delete, or move operations. Anyway I did this and now it does everything immediately: I went to the Policies tab under the properties of each drive and checked the following boxes: Under Write caching policy I used to only have the top box checked. I now have both checked and it has solved the problem 100% for me: Check- Enable write caching and check- Turn off write cache buffer. The second one was the trick. Instead of a delay while it waited for additional data, it now writes instantly.
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Saturday, July 09, 2011 7:44 PMSorry about the text run-on. For some reason it won't format properly???????????
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Saturday, July 09, 2011 8:16 PM
Same issue.
No automatic refresh when saving/copy/rename/move
New Lonovo laptop w/ Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit.
Tried many of solutions offered in this thread and the older one, without success.
I do not have any instances of the DontRefresh key in my registry, so couldn't use that.
I don't use libraries, and I hate them, but the issue persisted regardless.
I do like to tweak my computer though, and had set the UAC to never notify, because I find it extremely annoying when logged in as administrator to be prompted if I really REALLY want something I double-clicked on to RUN!
I set my UAC back to the lowest level of notification, and the bug appears to have been fixed for me. All files and desktop is now refreshing in real time again...
I am posting this more than a year after people first started reporting the issue, and MS representation here is PISS POOR for informing their customers that they are working on this or they even care. Their reputation for not being responsive is WELL deserved in my opinion. In almost every place you go online looking for a solution to an MS bug, it's always the average Joe-Non-MS employees that are doing most of the heavy lifting and solution suggesting. MS reps are nowhere to be found after they break into a thread, blame third party software, and refer you to some other support solution which does not work!
And although I got my files and folders to refresh without having to hit F5 all the time - THIS IS NOT A FIX! I should be able to set UAC as I see fit and still expect that my files, folders, and desktop are going to refresh as they are supposed to!!
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Sunday, July 10, 2011 4:26 AM
UAC is not the issue, at least not directly.
I run with UAC off and never experience the failure to update.
-Noel
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Monday, July 11, 2011 4:44 AM
I have this problem at times on two Windows7 machines (one laptop and one custom built). Both are very high powered systems, 8GB RAM, Win7Prof, SSD drives, etc. A system reboot helps, but that's very annoying and it happens enough that it's not worth the time to restart to fix the problem. I've tried a lot of the little tips found online but the problem exists. It's a strange and annoying little bug, and after 3 years of people complaining to MS the problem still exists, that's the strange part - apparantly they can't figure it out either ;)
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Monday, July 11, 2011 4:03 PM
I went to the Policies tab under the properties of each drive and checked the following boxes: Under Write caching policy I used to only have the top box checked. I now have both checked and it has solved the problem 100% for me "check- Turn off write cache buffer."
Wow.. Please DO NOT DO THIS! If your computer ever shuts down unexpectedly, you will either loose data or make the drive corrupt. It actually even says that on the control. This is to be used for battery backed drives such as on a raid controller, or external scsi or other drives. This is bad advice. Even it it fixes the problem, it opens up you to the risk of data corruption so it is in no way worth it
!
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Tuesday, July 12, 2011 2:26 AM
That's WAY too alarmist. ANY unexpected failure chances loss of data. If your system is relatively stable and is a laptop with a good battery or running on a UPS you have very little to worry about.
I have been running with that setting checked for a long time. It improves performance. I didn't realize it could work around this issue, though, but it might well be why I don't see the problem.
-Noel
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Tuesday, July 12, 2011 10:48 AM
I just had this issue start yesterday. When I deleted a file in Windows Explorer the screen did not refresh. Even leaving it for 30 mins it did not refresh itself, I had to manually refresh every time.
I have had Windows 7 (Pro 64-bit) installed for 2 years and never encountered this problem until yesterday. Why it suddenly appeared I don't know. After trying various things mentioned in this thread (including re-indexing, which didn't work) the one that worked for me was to right-click on the Documents folder, select properties and Restore Defaults. It doesn't say what defaults are restored, but whatever they are they cured the refresh problem.
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Tuesday, July 12, 2011 3:30 PM
"That's WAY too alarmist. ANY unexpected failure chances loss of data. If your system is relatively stable and is a laptop with a good battery or running on a UPS you have very little to worry about."
LOL... yes most home users have UPS's and battery backed raid cards. Hilarious. Have you ever been inside a normal users home? Their computer is duct taped together with no functioning backups or redundancy whatsoever. Your suggestion WILL lead to data loss.
I am glad you enjoy rolling the dice with possibly original non reproducible data, but instructing a normal user to do that is completely irresponsible. All power supplies will fail and then it doesnt matter about your fancy UPS, or laptop battery. People will run that equipment into the ground anyways.
All this for an almost 0 performance increase. Most people are not going to notice a 0.5 ms access time difference.
If you disagree with that number, please post these "improvements in performance" that you are so sure are there. Its alot to trade off for, and I think most people, especially home users, would not want to loose their data just to fix a stupid bug, which if it indeed can be tied to write caching, should be easy for M$ to fix.
It has to do with the damn library folders. Thats the change in windows 7, thats the code which causes the problem. We all know this. Work arounds are just that, work arounds. And this one is particularly dangerous, even if it does technically "fix" the issue.
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Tuesday, July 12, 2011 6:05 PMI've got a new HP desktop running Windows 7 Professional x64 and from the day I unpacked the system and started using it, Windows Explorer has had this problem. ANY changes I make in Windows Explorer (rename, delete, move, etc.) do not show up until I click out of the folder and back into it. It is friggin' maddening. WTF did Microsoft do to screw up their OS so badly? NEVER EVER had this problem using XP or prior versions of Windows. I really HATE Windows 7. There, I said it.
NikRaye -
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 6:30 PM
I've got a new HP desktop running Windows 7 Professional x64 and from the day I unpacked the system and started using it, Windows Explorer has had this problem. ANY changes I make in Windows Explorer (rename, delete, move, etc.) do not show up until I click out of the folder and back into it. It is friggin' maddening. WTF did Microsoft do to screw up their OS so badly? NEVER EVER had this problem using XP or prior versions of Windows. I really HATE Windows 7. There, I said it.
NikRaye
NikRaye,Well, win7 isn't bad at all - I actually like it a lot - definitely a worthy replacement to my beloved XP boxes (I still have 1 but only for legacy stuff). Except of course this bug.
Your best friend is F5 - there are a lot of suggestions here - but I personally just stick to this.
No reason for me to tinker around with registry stuff without really knowing what all that tinkering will do....not that I haven't and always only under certain cases where I must, and based on official MS (or vendor - easy enough to see which keys are vendor vs OS..usually) guidance. Otherwise, you're risking more pain over some "peeve" (like F5). ...
Hope this helps....
Ed
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Tuesday, July 12, 2011 6:35 PM
Yeah, sharepointwhatever, I'll bet you have a huge amount of personal experience with loss of data because of this setting.
But no matter, please feel free to use the settings you like.
-Noel
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Thursday, July 14, 2011 4:06 AM
I have the same problem: When I delete a file in windows explorer, the file is still displayed as if it wasn't deleted until I refresh by pressing F5. But it only happens under certain conditions, and it never occurs under different conditions.
Thanks everybody for their input, I have spent many hours investigating and reading everything here, including the previous thread started by Joeboxer way back in september 2009. I am surprised to see there is still no fix for this problem after 22 months. I want to share with you the circumstances of how and when this problem occurs on my system and when it does not. It might be helpful to be able to finally fix it. I am using a legitimate non-OEM 32 bits version of Windows 7 Ultimate with SP1 and all other updates, clean install.
I am a Microsoft Certified System Administrator (among other certifications). English is however not my native language, so please forgive me if I make any mistakes. Also, my Windows 7 is in my own language, so I hope I translate it correctly to the English naming conventions. I haven't tried any of the proposed solutions or workarounds. I didn't have trust in them as I saw many people saying they still had the problem. I did search my registry for the "dontrefresh" entry, but there is no entry of this in my registry.
For me, it has to do with using the libraries or not AND depending on whether they are sorted by date and in what order.
The problem always occurs when I use the detailed view , sorted by date, with the newest files on top. (and it does not matter if I delete an old or a new file, so no difference in deleting file 3 more down the list, or file 99 up higher in the list, the file will still be displayed after deletion) But only in library mode. When I just browse to the folder location directly, it does not happen at all. (The file will just disappear when deleted as it is supposed to, no matter what view I use)
It never happens with the same (library/date) view, but with the newest files at the bottom. So in other words, it happens under one certain condition only: Library mode, detailed view with newest files displayed first. But in that case it always happens.
With always and never I mean it is reproducible every time and it changes accordingly with this view: a deleted file will always still be shown under these described conditions and will never still be shown or displayed after deletion in any other view. I have tested this many times and there were no exceptions.
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Monday, July 18, 2011 12:10 AM
This problem seemed to start for me when I installed SP1. I am also having the added trouble that some programs that were fully functional previously are now not consistently working (itunes, rhapsody). Installing and uninstalling programs can often hang for long periods (sometimes it recovers/sometimes i get frustrated and stop it). I tried uninstalling SP1 and iddn't seem to make it better, maybe worse even?
Any suggestions?
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Monday, July 18, 2011 2:26 PM
Hello, I have the same issue on my brand new desktop PC running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bits with SP1. On the other hand, I have a laptop with same windows version and using the same settings that doesn't have this problem.
I never use the libraries and the problem even occurs on the desktop (where there is obviously no possibility of sorting by date and viewing by details).The issue happens rather rarely and I'm not able to reproduce it at will, when it happens the files get updated automatically after 10-20 seconds if I don't press F5. I've tried some of the tricks given here but none seems to have resolved the issue.
Maybe we should consider writing here our hardware configurations/settings (bios and windows)/attached devices/installed drivers and software in order to see if we can find a common cause for this.
Though, like many other said here, I guess the problem is more complex than expected. -
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 4:30 PMI have similiar issue and am watching this thread for a possible fix -- I am saving files to the desktop and the desktop will not auto refresh and show the file until I hit PF5 ( refresh ). When will MS step up to this problem and fix it ?!!!
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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 11:06 PMGotta love these threads where the majority of the replies are 'Yeah, I'm having that same problem, too...'!
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Thursday, July 21, 2011 6:27 PM
For me, the problem stopped as mysteriously as it started. Deleted objects now disappear to the Recycle Bin and newly created objects show up where they're supposed to. Heck if I know why.
Thanks to everyone for submitting your 'me too's'. That often helps to understand the circumstances under which a problem occurs, except maybe not the case here. That bolsters my theory that there is an underlying problem in the code that nobody from MS wants to talk about, possibly because it's not fixable or would take too much work to fix.
Or maybe they'll take a page from Apple's playbook and say something like: There's nothing wrong with our code; you're holding the mouse the wrong way.
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Thursday, July 21, 2011 10:43 PM
I just had this issue start yesterday. When I deleted a file in Windows Explorer the screen did not refresh. Even leaving it for 30 mins it did not refresh itself, I had to manually refresh every time.
I have had Windows 7 (Pro 64-bit) installed for 2 years and never encountered this problem until yesterday. Why it suddenly appeared I don't know. After trying various things mentioned in this thread (including re-indexing, which didn't work) the one that worked for me was to right-click on the Documents folder, select properties and Restore Defaults. It doesn't say what defaults are restored, but whatever they are they cured the refresh problem.
The fact that you can identify exactly when this issue started maybe valuable.
What changes occurred in the 24 hours before the problem started -- Windows fixes applied ?, programs installed ?, updates to drivers ?, new hardware ?
My problem is I don't remember exactly when it started --- if I did I could retrace my "steps" and maybe identify the culprit ...
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Thursday, July 21, 2011 10:44 PM
Gotta love these threads where the majority of the replies are 'Yeah, I'm having that same problem, too...'!
Very helpful of you --- do you have this issue ? -
Thursday, July 21, 2011 10:46 PM
For me, the problem stopped as mysteriously as it started. Deleted objects now disappear to the Recycle Bin and newly created objects show up where they're supposed to. Heck if I know why.
Thanks to everyone for submitting your 'me too's'. That often helps to understand the circumstances under which a problem occurs, except maybe not the case here. That bolsters my theory that there is an underlying problem in the code that nobody from MS wants to talk about, possibly because it's not fixable or would take too much work to fix.
Or maybe they'll take a page from Apple's playbook and say something like: There's nothing wrong with our code; you're holding the mouse the wrong way.
Hopefully your bliss lasts -- did u possible change anything to make the problem disappear ? I am thinking a good spray of RAID bug repellent might be helpful at this point ( lol ) -
Thursday, July 28, 2011 9:08 PM
Hopefully your bliss lasts -- did u possible change anything to make the problem disappear ? I am thinking a good spray of RAID bug repellent might be helpful at this point ( lol )
Alas, my bliss did not last long. The problem came back last night. I don't know what I did to cause it to come back.
And whomever does know is not talking.
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Monday, August 15, 2011 1:34 PM
The problem will come back and then go away, and then come back and then go away, for a few hours or maybe a day at a time. This is really silly. MS will never admit to this. Instead, it will be 'silently' fixed in the next version of Windows.
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Wednesday, August 17, 2011 12:40 AM
You can be assured that this issue has been escalated, Microsoft is well aware of the problem and it is actively being investigated.
This issue has been going on for how many years? Microsoft has been aware of it for at least 2 years, yet nothing has been done. I can't believe I'm actually using Windows 7. I waited as long as I could for Microsoft to get the many bugs fixed, but that has not happened. Alas, what can a person do? Computers only last for so long, and when you buy a new laptop, its got Windows 7 pre installed.I did find a hopeful work around, that has thus far worked for me. This problem appears only to happen within libraries, at least that has been my situation, so far. Therefore, I transferred everything I had in "My Documents" over to a new folder on the root of the C:\ drive, and I don't have this problem in the new folder. Of course I did not add the new folder to libraries. I am also not indexing the new folder, as some reports indicate a possible relationship between indexing and this refresh problem. Hope this idea works for others too.
JMD
Note: If microsoft doesnt get on the ball, and start fixing Windows 7, my next computer will probably be an Apple! (And if this post gets deleted for saying that, then Microsoft has a problem with FREE SPEACH, as this post does at least offer a potential work around.)
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Wednesday, August 17, 2011 1:43 AM
Be careful what you threaten... Your IQ may not be low enough to use OSX Lion.
-Noel
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Saturday, August 20, 2011 10:49 PM
The reason that probably worked is that restoring the defaults resets the sorting for the folder back to by Name. If you then sort by Date Modified the problem instantly reappears.
For fun I opened the same folder via the root directory and also via Libraries. If I delete a file in the 'Library' version of that folder the file doesn't disappear, but it does instantly disappear from the other version of that folder that is open (the one I opened via the root directory).
Quoted from earlier post:
I just had this issue start yesterday. When I deleted a file in Windows Explorer the screen did not refresh. Even leaving it for 30 mins it did not refresh itself, I had to manually refresh every time.
I have had Windows 7 (Pro 64-bit) installed for 2 years and never encountered this problem until yesterday. Why it suddenly appeared I don't know. After trying various things mentioned in this thread (including re-indexing, which didn't work) the one that worked for me was to right-click on the Documents folder, select properties and Restore Defaults. It doesn't say what defaults are restored, but whatever they are they cured the refresh problem.
- Edited by lindsrj Saturday, August 20, 2011 10:59 PM forgot quote
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Saturday, August 20, 2011 10:56 PM
Even funnier is when I delete a file from the root-originated folder window it of course disappears immediately, but remains in the Library originated folder window until I hit F5 in that window.
I also think it's strange that in the Libary originated version of the window that is sorted by Date Modified, sub-folders appear at the top of the folder listing, while in the non-Library version they appear at the bottom of the list.
You wouldn't think this would be so hard for MS to trace and figure out ...
- Edited by lindsrj Saturday, August 20, 2011 11:00 PM grammar
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Sunday, August 21, 2011 12:41 AM
You wouldn't think this would be so hard for MS to trace and figure out ...
It's not, I'm sure.But what IS happening is that at some point making positive changes to a released OS is no longer a desirable thing. Instead, allowing Windows 7 to continue to have this problem allows the Marketing people to tout its correction in Windows 8 (or whatever stupid name they come up with for it for the next release) as a big win.
I do hope they fix it for the next release, along with a lot of the other things, without breaking too many new things.
Let us never forget Microsoft is a business looking to make money, and they really, really want you and a billion other people to buy the upgrade when they make the next release.
-Noel
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Thursday, August 25, 2011 8:56 PM
A post I read in another forum here, about another intractable, annoying Windows 7 problem, tried to explain the way things are at Microsoft. Not to justify, just to explain.
The poster explained that once a version of Windows is released, it is considered a finished product and the development team immediately starts working on the next version of Windows. Changes or improvements to the current, released version of Windows are unlikely to be made, only security updates. No sense of the Japanese 'kaizen' (continuous improvement) at Microsoft.
That being the case, it's not likely that the topic of this thread will even be acknowledged, as that would beg the question "well then, why not fix it?"
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Thursday, August 25, 2011 11:53 PM
Well, to be fair, if they DID change the way things work (now for years since Win7 was released), think of the outcry from all the people who are used to and expect it to work just as it does. Frankly I'd hate it if the system worked differently every time I got a Windows Update. I'm sure I'd stop accepting them.
And I'd say the fact that we get Windows Updates all the time indicates they ARE actively working on continuous improvement.
-Noel
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Monday, August 29, 2011 6:45 PM
So, looks like this retarded issue is still not solved after all this time. This is not as simple as needing to press F5 to refresh Explorer window, after this happens, whenever an application tries to open an open/save dialog, it takes frickin FOREVER! It renders the computer essentially unusable, decreasing my productivity significantly. I thought I was going INCREASE my productivity by installing MS software; what happened to all the ads talking about it?
MS clearly does not care about its customers' experience, once they sell enough of a product. They should stop asking "Would you like to help us make our product better by being involved in our customer experience program" because we know that actually means "this way we can collect information about you for selling more stuff to you". If they really cared about making their product better, they would simply listen to people in these forums and fix the issues raised ASAP.
GT -
Monday, September 05, 2011 7:13 AM
Well, to be fair, if they DID change the way things work (now for years since Win7 was released), think of the outcry from all the people who are used to and expect it to work just as it does. Frankly I'd hate it if the system worked differently every time I got a Windows Update. I'm sure I'd stop accepting them.
And I'd say the fact that we get Windows Updates all the time indicates they ARE actively working on continuous improvement.
-Noel
Ummm, Noel, that is the most ridiculous thing I've heard from an apologist or fanboi in a long time. This is a bug, not a feature or intended - if unfortunate - functionality. There is no possible code that can be relying on Windows working this way. So no, MS is not doing anything like continuous improvement with this problem. For an OS that is two years old to still have a serious problem that was identified in beta stage is simply inexcusable. It is exactly these kind of issues that make people seek out other platforms like OSX or Linux. -
Monday, September 05, 2011 5:25 PM
Call me whatever names you like, and I DO agree with you that this particular issue is a bug that should have been fixed, but it's VERY CLEAR Microsoft is following the general policy I described. They are simply weighing risk against benefit and making business decisions. Maybe things would be different if Bill Gates still had the wheel.
Some people point to the large number of Windows Updates as proof that Microsoft is failing to deliver quality, yet others think a complete new version that works visibly differently should be released piecemeal through even more and bigger updates. All this proves is that Microsoft just can't please all the people all the time.
-Noel
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Wednesday, September 07, 2011 1:59 PM
This is not about "pleasing" someone by providing something extra such as a new requested feature. This is a VERY SERIOUS BUG THAT CRIPPLES THE USE OF ENTIRE OS!!! So, it's like buying a car that does not start automatically when you turn the ignition key, but you have to pop the cables from below the steering wheel and short them. What you're saying is that the customer who bought this car spending his money should be happy with it, because the car starts one way or another, and that the company that makes this car cannot make all of its drivers happy. Sorry Noel, but this Windows issue is as retarded as this example, if not more.Microsoft just can't please all the people all the time.
-Noel
GT -
Wednesday, September 07, 2011 2:11 PM
You took my comment out of context. I was referring to how much maintenance Microsoft does on Windows after you buy it. Some think it's too much, some (like you) think it's not enough.
You seem to want to argue with me, when I am agreeing with you in principle. I strongly feel the Explorer update issue is a bug - it's just that, having worked in big software companies, for a long career, I can easily see why they don't fix it until the next major release.
Ever hear of the phrase "the devil you know"? They simply cannot fix this bug without taking the risk of breaking something - possibly even more critical to the operation of Windows for a billion users.
-Noel
- Edited by Noel CarboniMicrosoft Community Contributor Wednesday, September 07, 2011 2:13 PM
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Friday, September 09, 2011 3:32 PM
Well, after 2 - 3 days of googling and reading these threads, none of the fixes worked for me. It's kind of ironic. For the last 10 years, I've used pirated Windows software without issues, now I actually BOUGHT a copy of Win7 x64 and this pops up........it kinda makes me want to go back to the releases on trackers.
I know this isn't really constructive but I've bookmarked this page in the hope that someone, somewhere, will figure this extremely vexing problem out and post here. I don't know if it'll help but I've tried ALL fixes listed in this thread and the previous thread. I've even updated the BIOS to see if it was that. My system specs are (I don't think it matters, but everyone always asks anyway) : i7 990x, 12GB Corsair Dominator GT (3x4GB, Triple Channel), Asus P6X58D-E, Asus MATIX GTX580 Platinum, HDDs - 2TB WD SATA III, 2x3TB WD SATA II.
*EDIT* OK, I reinstalled Win7 and it's still doing it. NOTHING else is installed, not even updates yet. The only thing I can think of is, at least in my case, it's definitely SP1. It came with the disk so I can't even remove the damn thing.*EDIT AGAIN* Not sure how or why, but the problem disappears if I have the Win7 disk in my DVD drive.....
- Edited by PhantomTa2 Saturday, September 10, 2011 9:14 AM
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011 9:50 PM
That makes no sense as there both copies of Windows. Your problem sounds very strange and quite frankly like your joking. If a Reformat/Reinstall doesn't fix your problem then I suggest buying a new PC.Well, after 2 - 3 days of googling and reading these threads, none of the fixes worked for me. It's kind of ironic. For the last 10 years, I've used pirated Windows software without issues, now I actually BOUGHT a copy of Win7 x64 and this pops up........it kinda makes me want to go back to the releases on trackers.
I know this isn't really constructive but I've bookmarked this page in the hope that someone, somewhere, will figure this extremely vexing problem out and post here. I don't know if it'll help but I've tried ALL fixes listed in this thread and the previous thread. I've even updated the BIOS to see if it was that. My system specs are (I don't think it matters, but everyone always asks anyway) : i7 990x, 12GB Corsair Dominator GT (3x4GB, Triple Channel), Asus P6X58D-E, Asus MATIX GTX580 Platinum, HDDs - 2TB WD SATA III, 2x3TB WD SATA II.
*EDIT* OK, I reinstalled Win7 and it's still doing it. NOTHING else is installed, not even updates yet. The only thing I can think of is, at least in my case, it's definitely SP1. It came with the disk so I can't even remove the damn thing.*EDIT AGAIN* Not sure how or why, but the problem disappears if I have the Win7 disk in my DVD drive.....
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011 10:11 PM
Well I think thats an interesting piece of information re the DVD in the drive. If it is indeed reproducible as FIXED with the DVD in the drive, that is a clue and worthy of looking into. Personally at this point, I have gotten used to just hitting F5.
And for the record, the problem has persisted across reformat re installs for me as well.
To fix your problems by buying a new PC is the laziest way of fixing any problem. I would ask if you are a consultant with an attitude like that!
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011 4:33 PM
Yes, because spending £2500 last week is a really OLD PC *rolls eyes* The point was that WITHOUT SP1 the problem doesn't exist. When I install SP1, the problem magically appears......but yeah, I guess buying a new PC is the way to go.....
*EDIT* OK, seems I was wrong about SP1. I haven't got SP1 on this install and it's doing it again. Goddammit! This may seem like a small issue to some but it's a really annoying bug for me. I do alot of copying/moving/deleting/creating files and folders and to have to refresh each time is an unbelievable PITA
- Edited by PhantomTa2 Thursday, September 15, 2011 9:40 AM
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Tuesday, September 20, 2011 7:12 PM
This problem is now quite old. In reading all the advice and trying quite a few of them, it is clear that some underlying piece of operating system code breaks itself if given enough time. All kinds of actions appear to "re-set" this ill behavior, and so the problem may indeed not manifest itself for a while, but for most of us, it always returns to some degree or another.
The suggestions that the registry needs to be edited, or that key services need to be turned off, or that voodoo actions (such as opening a folder in the root - then deleting it) need to be taken are ludicrous. Here's why:
I have a brand new Dell system. The only installed software is the trial McAfee security package and some Dell goodies, such as DataSafe online backup. Literally right out of the box, my system does not reliably refresh the Windows Explorer view after a change is made. A few of the fixes suggested here appeared to work for a short while, then the problem reappeared.
I purchased the system with Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit. However, this operating system is broken to the extent that it can cause data loss. It is inconceivable that testing on a standard configuration such as mine did not reveal such a devastating bug. It is equally inconceivable that it has yet to be addressed by Microsoft.
I am a career Systems Programmer. I understand the complexities of integration and regression testing. I understand the difficulty of nailing the root cause of a bug that disappears and then reappears (apparently randomly). However, I don't get paid the amount that I get paid just to solve the easy ones, and neither do the programmers at Microsoft.
Microsoft is understandably not very transparent about where they are spending their development budget, but it's clear that Win 8 is getting a lot of attention right now, in spite of deadly problems such as this one remaining outstanding.
My main functionality with this box was to be file manipulation, on the order of thousands of files a day. I really, really need to be able to see what is actually in each folder and sub-folder. And, when Windows Explorer no longer has a file in focus, it needs to release that file so that other processes can manipulate it. Sadly, neither of these basic requirements are currently being met.
Some simple questions: Is this bug on Microsoft's radar? If it is, a MS rep needs to post this fact here so that their customers know that someone, somewhere, is actually going to do something about this, some day, and they can stop floundering around in the dark. If it isn't, how to we go about registering a complaint about an expensive software package that simply doesn't work as advertised?
Respectfully Submitted,
Don
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Tuesday, October 11, 2011 10:20 PM
I'm having the same problem - it's easily duplicated. I have a program that converts a wtv file into a wmv file in my C:\Temp directory (among other things). As such, the wmv file is continually being updated until it's completed.
I've found that even hitting F5 to refresh the screen does not refresh the screen. If I hit it several times then it will refresh. This is consistent behavior and it is the Windows 7 Operating System that is at fault. Microsoft changed things, and as is becoming more common, they are changing things that were perfect and making them worse.
This issue has been on-going and reported on this site since 2009. Microsoft has not addressed the issue and, quite frankly, doesn't care. Microsoft's only interest is in creating new operating systems that they can sell to you. They are not interested in actually repairing issues with existing products. Microsoft does not make any money from you when they repair an existing product - they make all their money when they sell you a new product (such as Windows 8).
This is nothing new - Microsoft has done this since their inception although when Bill Gates ran the company they tended to repair their products quickly when publicity was brought to their attention.
But folks, let's make something really clear - Microsoft does not care about you - period. If they did they would fix this issue that's been bothering their customers since 2009. That would require Microsoft to care about it's customers.
2009 and we're nearing 2012 and it's still not fixed. You tell me - does Microsoft really care about you?
By the way, this is not a bug or a flaw - it's behavior by design.
That's why they don't fix it. Someone down in Redmond decided that this behavior change was a good idea. In order for them to fix it that person would have to recognize that it was a bad idea. They won't do that. They are Microsoft and you are only a recurring revenue stream for them. That's all you are.
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Wednesday, October 12, 2011 3:19 PM
By the way, this is not a bug or a flaw - it's behavior by design.
While I agree with all the rest of what you've written, I'm not sure I agree with this one statement, Dave...
Trouble is, the behavior is not consistent. Given that Explorer updates DO occur, for some people, sometimes, it just seems unlikely that someone designed it to work intermittently on purpose.
Now, we have to keep in mind that things displayed in Explorer windows are not always local, nor is it always easy for the OS to know that they have been updated. One need only think about a folder on a distant server to understand this. So there is certainly more complexity under the covers in the actual implementation than we can see. Perhaps there is overmuch complexity because of the origins and history of Windows.
As one who consistently DOES NOT have this problem (with real folders on hard drives; I don't use Libraries), I have started to believe that the particular combinations of Shell Extensions and other software that people add to their computers along with, perhaps most importantly, the fact that each person uses their system a little differently must be responsible for the differences in Explorer behavior observed.
For example, I always start Explorer windows afresh via an icon on the desktop that runs a separate copy of Explorer.exe, and I have set the option to run Explorer windows in a separate process, and I close the windows when I'm done. Is it because I'm most always using freshly started copies of Explorer that I don't see the update problems?
-Noel
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Thursday, October 13, 2011 12:28 AM
I don't know - I'd have to save that you're making excuses for Microsoft.
Consider this, all was well with Windows 2000, Windows XP etc. So all was well. I first noticed this issue with Windows 7. I notice it on all machines of that era and that includes Server 2008 R2. So for me, this occurrs on all modern Microsoft Operating Systems whether a clean install or not. I have many of these machines and they all do it. It's not just my workstation. Judging by the enormous volume of posts about this issue both in this thread and in others I'm not the only one complaining.
The fact is, with IE9 (64bit) this thread takes so long for IE to open that IE tends to want to shut down due to a 'script that is taking to long to execute'. Could this be yet another issue rearing it's ugly head? Ironic isn't it. Microsoft's inability to address this issue has highlighted not just a failure within the company but also an issue with their latest browser....
But the bottom line is this, if File Explorer always worked well, over the last 3 Operating Systems, until Windows 7 then to me it's very simple - Microsoft introduced another new 'feature'. This 'feature' has been causing people to complain about it since 2009 and Microsoft has done nothing about it.
To me it sounds like Microsoft made up their minds, and who cares what the customer thinks?
I reach that conclusion because this issue has been around since 2009 and it has not been addressed no matter how many people complain about it. That sends me a very clear message - Microsoft is being careless, more specifically, Microsoft could care less about their customers in this regard.
You can theorize about mapped network drives etc but this issue was not present in 2000, ME, XP, etc. It did all of a sudden apear in Windows 7.
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Thursday, October 13, 2011 3:53 PM
Consider this, all was well with Windows 2000, Windows XP etc. So all was well.
I'm sorry to say that's simply a wrong assumption.
Your experience with those older systems must have been limited. One need only have worked with any kind of networking with XP - especially if a network was extended across a WAN - to have seen cases in all those old versions where manual F5 refresh was required. It's simply NEVER been perfect.
Those older systems just didn't have arbitrary "Libraries" functionlity tacked onto Explorer. I don't use Libraries in Windows 7 because I simply have no use for another arbitrary way to organize things - I create folders on the hard drive to organize things. In the functionality that remains beyond Libraries seems to work passably well for me.
I'm not making any excuses for anyone. I agree that Explorer should ABSOLUTELY ALWAYS WORK in every condition.
But I *am* telling you that there are ways to configure and use Windows 7 where refresh problems just aren't seen. I'm running the same Windows 7 install I put in in January 2010, and I have simply never seen any failure to refresh. But hey, if you'd rather just complain rather than try to get your current system to work as well as possible, I fully understand.
-Noel
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Thursday, October 13, 2011 4:09 PM
"Your experience with those older systems must have been limited. One need only have worked with any kind of networking with XP - especially if a network was extended across a WAN - to have seen cases in all those old versions where manual F5 refresh was required. It's simply NEVER been perfect."
I completely agree with this statement. The whole reason I am subscribed to this thread is because this problem is a constant problem for me every single day. I work with Windows XP through a small business network of 20-25 workstations. Every file downloaded to the desktop, does not refresh and I download hundreds of files per day. These files can be downloaded or transfered from either the internet or from another workstation.
This is not a "Windows 7 only" problem nor is it a "Libraries only" problem. This is buried deep within windows networking as far back as at least Windows XP SP2.
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Thursday, October 13, 2011 4:46 PM
Baromian, you have a different issue obviously. This bug was NOT in windows XP. Most probably, your issue is either 1) you do not have "auto arrange icons" ON, and the downloaded file to your desktop (which is a retarded place to download files anyways) is appearing "off screen" for you. simply clicking arrange icons should bring it back. or 2) you have active X content enabled or web desktop or whatever it was called which may interfere with refresh 3) you have some kind of 3rd party software doing this (antivirus maybe?).
Please do not spread mis information. And also PLEASE people, stop whining about M$!!! All these rants are super pointless and do not fix the issue or help in any way.
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Thursday, October 13, 2011 6:20 PM
And also PLEASE people, stop whining about M$!!! All these rants are super pointless and do not fix the issue or help in any way.
I always get a kick out of it when people take a public stance against accountability and call it whining - especially in light of what's going on in the world today....
Nevertheless, Windows 7 is not an open source Operating System. You are not going to be able to address the underlying design issues because you can't 'adjust' the code. That is up to Microsoft - not you.
Ultimately what this means is that the only way a problem at the design-level is going to be addressed will be if the people who wrote that code and created this new functionality revisit it and fix the things they broke.
Yesl, that's right, they broke it.
There I go again, trying to pin down where the problem came from and what can be done to solve it.
Whoooops - that's getting dangerously close to actually forming an action-point that would lead to solving the problem for everyone - we can't have that!
Perhaps if we all get together and think warm and happy thoughts - this will fix the problem?
I don't know when customer satisfaction, accountability or problem-solving became 'whining' but I can tell you this - the moment well-intentioned but woefully misguided people come in and try to remove accountability from the table is the point where nothing will ever get done because you've just excused bad behavior and rewarded mistakes.
By all means, let the people who created this problem off the hook and see how far it gets you in your quest to 'fix the issue'...
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Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:57 PM
Probably a moot point pretty soon anyway... Microsoft seems to be moving Windows away from the desktop and Explorer and on to 48 point fonts and one oversimplified app per screen.
That said, I haven't seen Explorer fail to update in Windows 8 DP either. Doesn't mean much; I think I must scare it into working properly.
-Noel
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Thursday, October 20, 2011 2:13 AM
Hi All!
Even if I'm new to this forum, I'd say It seems we're all givin' up on this issue...
Anyway, I may be wrong but reading this looong discussion I couldn't find anyone reporting some info I've been able to collect today. So I find myself willing to contribute, for what it is worth...
SCENARIO:
We are in a small business organization, we have about 10 workstations, 3 network printers and one server, basically a file server with Linux-Based NT users and group management.
The server has Linux on it, and works fine (Zentyal 2.2, aka Ubuntu 10.04 server conveniently repackaged for SB).
We have 10 workstations, 9 of them have Windows XP Pro 32Bit SP3, one of them (a total newcomer) has Windows 7 Pro 32Bit. All workstations have been correctly added to the SAMBA domain provided by the server (let's call it REDPIXEL).
THE PROBLEM:
the problem shows itself clearly... on the server we have a "data" share, which we all access by the following path (I simplify as much as I can):
\\server\data
Note that the user (let say john.doe@REDPIXEL) should provide credentials to access the share (it is not public). Anyway, being the workstations joined to the samba-provided NT Domain, John Doe does not actually need to type his credentials to access the share, he just authenticates himself at the OS login.
Well... XP Workstations work fine... whereas Windows 7 shows the refresh problem (need to manually push F5 to view newly created folders, renamed names, deletions and so on...)
After I formatted and reinstalled Win7, the problem was gone. Short after, as soon as I added the workstation to the domain and logged in as "REDPIXEL\john.doe", the problem was there again!
I tried a lot of combinations (tried just about anything you all suggested to try) and noticed the following:
REPEATABLE BEHAVIOUR:
if I log in to the system using a local account (one that does not exist on the domain server) and then navigate to \\server\data, I am obviously prompted for credentials and, given john.doe and the password, I am able to use the share without any problems. Refresh works fine, no problem!
Then, If I log out and back in using a domain user account (john.doe for example) I notice the problem is back there!
Then again, If I MAP A NETWORK DRIVE to the \\server\data share, call it drive S, I can actually access the share thru S:\ without any problem. Anyway, the problem remains if I use the UNC path \\server\data.
I then tried this:
1) Opened an explorer window showing the contents of \\server\data
2) Opended another explorer window showing the contests of S:\
3) Created a file \\server\data\mytest.txt in the first window: the file won't show unless I press F5.
4) At the same time (step 3), S:\mytest.txt is correctly shown in the second instance of explorer.
So, I think it has something to do with the way Windows/Windows7/Whatever handles different ways of referring to resources (UNC Paths, Letter-Mapped Drives, Subst, Libraries, and so on).
Interestingly, If I log back in with the local account (not john.doe) and I access the share via \\server\data, it asks me for credentials and then it allows me as john.doe to access the share without any problem. BUT, if instead of using explorer to access the share and authenticate, I use the command line:
net use \\server\data /user:john.doe
the command completes successfully, I get my access to the share, but the BUG comes up!
I've also tried:
net use \\server\ipc$ /user:john.doe
same thing... I can access the share via explorer, but the bug persists.
the only way I can get that share to work fine is by logging in with a non-domain (local) user which does not exist on the server (thus triggering authentication prompt) and accessing the share via the explorer UI like \\server\data. Then, after presenting myself as john.doe, I can use the share without any problem, EVEN IN NEW ADDITIONAL INSTANCES OF EXPLORER.
At this point, I'm stuck... If I could fix this I may have worked for some glory, but since I can't fix this and nobody pays me for trying hard with magery... I think I'll wipe seven and stick to XP. That because I'm stuck... I mean, my dear customer is stuck and will probably revert to XP under my advice... because personally I am not stuck at all... I use Ubuntu and, despite some nerdishness, it definitely seems to serve better than that Seven stuff!
Hope someone's able to help with this odd Windows 7 bug. I mean, maybe in this world there's someone not as lazy as I am, after all...
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Tuesday, November 08, 2011 6:43 AMOK so its a bit late. Was never sure about libraries but must have been using them when the problem was noticed since it doesn't happen if I use a 'direct' path to the same directory. So for now its solved. Either don't use libraries OR do as I did which seems to work for now anyway. OK back to libraries at the top level. Select all then go to ORGANISE/”folder and search options”/View Hit reset folders and now delet works from here as well. Hmmm lets see if it lasts through a few restarts said the cynic.
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Tuesday, November 08, 2011 6:46 AMI went to Libraries/organise/"folder and search options"/View and "RESET Folders". Working so far
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Wednesday, November 09, 2011 4:08 AMDidn't work for me.
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Thursday, November 17, 2011 12:30 AMI've got the same problem with libraries. I'm running Windows 7 Professional, with all of the latest updates and patches installed. It started about 10 days ago for no apparent reason - no new hardware/software/drivers had been installed and I hadn't made any changes to system settings. I also tried using System Restore to roll back to a few days before it started happening, but it didn't work. Here's some more info in case it helps anyone at MS (if they're even looking into this, lol) to diagnose the problem: - My PC has 2 physical hard drives in it. The first one is partitioned into C (Windows and apps) and D (data). The second drive is E (data). I have 5 libraries set up, 4 of which only contain folders from partition D. The 5th library only contains folders from drive E. The issue with having to manually refresh only occurs with the 4 libraries that contain folders from partition D. The 5th library that only contains folders from drive E works as intended and no manual refreshing is required. If I reset the 4 affected libraries to the default, the refresh problem disappears. As soon as I add my own folders to any of the libraries, the refresh problem immediately returns. I have tried various things to fix it. Running chkdsk, rebuilding indexes, deleting the libraries entirely and recreating them, plus numerous fixes suggested in threads like this one. Nothing has helped. I've now had to scrap using libraries altogether and return the old XP way of doing things with folder shortcuts.
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Friday, November 18, 2011 5:36 PMYes This new Knowladge my life IT Thanks brother..
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Friday, December 09, 2011 8:10 PM
My Win 7 Home machine does not have the previously specified Reg Key.
All of the other suggested solutions simply don't work.
A Search on DontRefresh turned up nothing.
I, too, have spent numerous hours attempting to figure this out.
Obviously, Microsoft has no intention of fixing this.
If it wasn't for QuickBooks I'd go to Ubuntu right now.
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Monday, December 12, 2011 6:13 PMOn Friday 12/9/11 I updated the first instance of the dontrefresh key as you did and for the same problems. Rename of a file on the desktop does not work unless I hit F5 and dragging a file to and from the desktop does not show or remove the file as it should without F5 etc.... all that points to a refresh that is not working. I used my computer over the weekend and all was working fine. This morning, Monday 12/12.11 I noticed the files were again not refreshing etc.. All the same problems. I checked the registry and all dontrefresh keys are set to 0. This is absolutely ridiculous. I am having other problems related such as screen sharing being slow. You might not think that is related but after I fixed this, screen sharing was perfect so I am convincing this is not simply a desktop refresh issue. My mail sometimes does not refresh when I delete and that too worked fine after my change on Friday.... Don't be fooled, this is not just a desktop refresh issue, it impacts many other programs running on your machine and MS needs to address this urgently please...
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Monday, December 12, 2011 6:26 PMThe way I see this is that the problem has been reported and occurring for over 1/5 years. Someone must have the answer and the group in this forum thread were pretty adventurous in trying everything they could find. So I ask, is there anyone who has figure this out and we either missed it in this thread or it was not posted.. I thing we have all tried the DONTREFRESH key trick and checked the user settings to assure they were set to notify. This is just crazy. Please help.
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Monday, December 12, 2011 10:05 PM
How are you even opening this thread? At 400+ responses it's grown beyond the ability for most browsers to see it.
I opened a thread on the Windows 8 forum asking if anyone's seen this problem on Windows 8. I got some responses but they turned out to be something different, and the poster deleted them all.
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsdeveloperpreviewgeneral/thread/614405b0-f761-439d-bacb-9950e303df43So far, it looks as though no one actually has seen the specific problem noted in this thread with Windows 8.
Perhaps my prediction in the thread above is coming true - that Microsoft has fixed this. Wouldn't that be something!
-Noel
- Edited by Noel CarboniMicrosoft Community Contributor Monday, December 12, 2011 10:07 PM
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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 2:01 PM
Looks like a different problem, Ed, though possibly serious.
You might want to describe the steps you took to get that to happen.
-Noel
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Thursday, December 15, 2011 2:03 PMI have had this exact error happening all the time, along with every other description in this post. I'm just a home user that maintains my own computers because of a tech background from years ago. I think I'm a good representation of the average windows residential user who uses their computer all day, every day, for various needs and doesn't really do anything technically with the system (even though I can when I need to, most users don't have that background.) But I'd rather not - just like a non-tech person would rather not.
These glitches probably sound silly to worry about if you're Microsoft, because...come on, what's the big deal about hitting F5, it's right there - right? Wrong. It affects my ability to view with instant accuracy what is or isn't in a folder when moving at a normal, busy, gotta-get-my-work-done pace - so repeated F5s slow me down incredibly, if my automatic mind even pauses to remember I have to do it.
Each "little" Windows programming inconvenience or "necessary hiccup" that one encounters with their Windows OS may very well seem petty when thought of all on its own within a whole of everything else working perfectly. That is where Microsoft makes it's mistakes in customer service; they don't realize each user is having dozens of these little petty annoyances and they all add up to a whole lot of things working imperfectly which means big loss of time or unnecessary mistakes. I have a Win 7 x64 system on a desktop and a laptop. As of today, I experience all these problems constantly and I'd like to bill Microsoft for my time lost due to correcting mistakes made by my not realizing the folders/files I'm viewing might not be accurate. If this were the only daily stupid glitch I was dealing with, it would still be enough to complain. But alas, as we all know, we can each add at least 10 - 15 more various "dammit" glitches that compound our time loss and headaches. Whining? I'm surprised there isn't a mob storming the gates of Microsoft!- Edited by bunnislippers Thursday, December 15, 2011 2:07 PM
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Sunday, December 18, 2011 6:50 PM
I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (all up to date patch-wise) and have been experiencing this auto-refresh failure problem for some time now. I decided to post today because it's just happened again for the millionth time and I'm very tired of it. Apologies if what follows has been said already, but I have some quirks to add to this which I've noticed.
If you right click to create a new file, say a text one for example, the new file won't appear unless you press F5 afterwards. I noticed that if you don't hit F5, the new file is still there even though it can't be seen and is waiting for the user to type in a file name for it. If this new file is first in the list, it will properly take the name you type even though you can't see it. If it is not the first file in the list, one of the files that already exists in the same folder may be renamed to whatever name you type in instead of the new one that is supposed to, which given my example will show up as New Text Document.txt once you hit F5 afterwards. Where this could all be potentially dangerous if the user doesn't notice auto-refresh isn't working. One could easily end up moving/deleting the wrong file(s). I'm not sure what implications this may have in regards to damaging the file system as well, but I'm guessing it could be possible. This bug is something that Microsoft has sat around doing nothing about for two years now, which is unacceptable when considering it's potential severity.
Everything else the others here have already listed are what I've experienced too. For the longest time I've thought it was random, but someone mentioned Libraries which gave me an idea, and as a result I discovered something interesting just now. The bug happened while I was browsing one of my custom libraries (Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, and others). I decided to navigate to the actual folder location on my D: drive instead of the library version of it, and sure enough the bug went away. I then navigated back to the same folder in my library and the bug came right back. I'll experiment with this from now on to see if it happens every time without fail. If it does, it means this bug could very well be related to how the library feature is implemented in Windows 7. Hopefully this will narrow things down and give those responsible some idea of what code needs to be looked at.
Two other quirks I want to mention may also be related to this Windows Explorer bug. I used to have a problem where the view would change from details to tiles all by itself, and it was a random occurrence. This weird behavior disappeared at approximately the same time I started experiencing the bug this thread is about. The second quirk, which began appearing at the same time, involved opening a new Explorer window. I would scroll down using the folder view in the left pane and within a few seconds it would jump back to the top. This can be very annoying when the list is long due to folder trees that have been expanded. Might be related, might just be a coincidence. Either way I felt it was worth mentioning just in case it does turn out to be a clue towards what is causing auto refresh to fail.
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Sunday, December 18, 2011 7:11 PM
As this thread has grown VERY long and almost impossible to load in many browsers, may I suggest continuing it here:
Windows Explorer doesn't refresh when moving/deleting - Part 3
-Noel
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Thursday, January 26, 2012 8:30 PMOK Ronnie so you expect us to avoid the blame game? You escalated this thread almost one year ago and I've just spend hard earned cash on products that are a step backwards in efficiency and reliability. My XP with Office 2003 works quite satisfactorily with everything being quick and easy to find and use. What exactly would you like me to do if not "Blame Microsoft"? They are clearly incompetent and unprofessional in a way that would not be possible if they were not MIcrosoft> Why exactly should \i be expected to tolerate an almost two year old refress problem, a similar Outlook autocomplete problem just for starters - when My XP machine with Office 2003 had neither of those. Surely it's laughable for us to put up with being treated like suckers without saying anything about it? In the Uk for example MS and their products would come under the heading "not of merchantable quality" and become unsaleable. Why, why, why should I and tens of thousands of others have to tolerate this kind of treatment? Nobody told me this software and operating system was only partially working and that it would not be as good as something I already had. Etc, etc, etc
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Thursday, January 26, 2012 8:30 PMOK Ronnie so you expect us to avoid the blame game? You escalated this thread almost one year ago and I've just spend hard earned cash on products that are a step backwards in efficiency and reliability. My XP with Office 2003 works quite satisfactorily with everything being quick and easy to find and use. What exactly would you like me to do if not "Blame Microsoft"? They are clearly incompetent and unprofessional in a way that would not be possible if they were not MIcrosoft> Why exactly should \i be expected to tolerate an almost two year old refress problem, a similar Outlook autocomplete problem just for starters - when My XP machine with Office 2003 had neither of those. Surely it's laughable for us to put up with being treated like suckers without saying anything about it? In the Uk for example MS and their products would come under the heading "not of merchantable quality" and become unsaleable. Why, why, why should I and tens of thousands of others have to tolerate this kind of treatment? Nobody told me this software and operating system was only partially working and that it would not be as good as something I already had. Etc, etc, etc
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Saturday, February 11, 2012 8:41 AM
Disabling "Show hidden files" does not solve this issue.
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Friday, March 09, 2012 7:57 PM
I have had the same problem, tried several remedies mentioned by others, with no resolution. Finally, I got something to work for me--perhaps this might help others in the same situation:
Follow these instructions which discuss how to run the Windows Aero Troubleshooter.
When I ran this check, it discovered that my "Windows Desktop Manager" was disabled. The troubleshooter enabled this feature and now the symptoms (deleted files still appear, renaming files does not refresh, etc., etc.) all seem to be corrected.
- Proposed As Answer by Tom_in Tuesday, April 03, 2012 4:39 PM
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Tuesday, April 03, 2012 4:41 PM
Thanks it worked for me. I have win 7 professional 64 bit. Three weeks after fresh install this started appearing after running Aero troubleshooter the issue seems to have disappeared.I have had the same problem, tried several remedies mentioned by others, with no resolution. Finally, I got something to work for me--perhaps this might help others in the same situation:
Follow these instructions which discuss how to run the Windows Aero Troubleshooter.
When I ran this check, it discovered that my "Windows Desktop Manager" was disabled. The troubleshooter enabled this feature and now the symptoms (deleted files still appear, renaming files does not refresh, etc., etc.) all seem to be corrected.
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