Bug: Windows Vista deletes folder instead of selected file!

All Replies

• Saturday, November 29, 2008 12:40 AM

  Moderator

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  Yury_M

   

  I tried and could not re-create this 'bug'?

   

  Could you provide a more detailed description or a website that describes this bug in detail.

   

  If you want to report a bug to Microsoft, you can use the following link.

   

  Speak to us at Microsoft, Report a bug:
  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/gp/contactbug

   

  Hope this helps.

  
  If this post helps to resolve your issue, click the Mark as Answer button at the top of this message.
  

  ---

  Ronnie Vernon
  Microsoft MVP
  Windows Desktop Experience

   
• Tuesday, December 02, 2008 6:15 AM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  How to re-create this bug: open Windows Explorer. Click on any folder containg other folder. You will see the folder you click appears selected. The subfolder inside it is not. Select subfolder. Now click on arrow near parent folder to expand it, but not on the folder itself. You will see that subfolder still looks like selected. Press Del and you will see Explorer try to delete parent folder, not selected subfolder! The bug is that subfolder looks like it is selected though actually is is not. If you have Recycle bin activated you will be able to restore deleted files, but you have no chances to resore them on attached memory cards which does not have recycle bin. I lost a lot of images, documents and videos this way. Windows must be more predictable concerning that serious things like file deletion.

   

  Other popular scenario: when I use notebook with touchpad and move mouse around folders I accidentally click on parent folder (pouchpad may cause left mouse click besides cursor move function). I do not take attention to it, nothing lets me know about it. But when I click del button Windows try to delete parent folder, but not last selected folder, though subfolder still looks like it is selected.

   
• Tuesday, December 02, 2008 6:16 PM

  Moderator

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  Yury_M wrote:

  How to re-create this bug: open Windows Explorer. Click on any folder containg other folder. You will see the folder you click appears selected. The subfolder inside it is not. Select subfolder. Now click on arrow near parent folder to expand it, but not on the folder itself. You will see that subfolder still looks like selected. Press Del and you will see Explorer try to delete parent folder, not selected subfolder! The bug is that subfolder looks like it is selected though actually is is not. If you have Recycle bin activated you will be able to restore deleted files, but you have no chances to resore them on attached memory cards which does not have recycle bin. I lost a lot of images, documents and videos this way. Windows must be more predictable concerning that serious things like file deletion.

   

  This is not exactly what happens when I follow your instructions.

   

  When I click on the subfolder inside of the parent folder the subfolder turns blue, showing that it is the currently selected folder and the parent folder selection color turns gray.

   

  I then select the arrow, beside the parent folder (not the folder). This expands the parent folder, turns the parent folder blue and the subfolder selection color turns gray. This shows that the parent folder is the current selection.

   

  The important thing is the 'color' of the selection.

   

  Question: In the Recycle Bin properties, do you have the "Display delete confirmation dialog" option enabled? If this is enabled, you will always get the "Are you sure you want to move xxxxxx to the Recycle Bin?" popup dialog.

   

  It's important to have this option enabled for the reasons that you describe here.

   

  Other popular scenario: when I use notebook with touchpad and move mouse around folders I accidentally click on parent folder (pouchpad may cause left mouse click besides cursor move function). I do not take attention to it, nothing lets me know about it. But when I click del button Windows try to delete parent folder, but not last selected folder, though subfolder still looks like it is selected.

   

  This has always been a problem with any brand of Touchpad. I always disable this "touch to click" function.

   

  Hope this helps.

   

  
  If this post helps to resolve your issue, click the Mark as Answer button at the top of this message.
  

  ---

  Ronnie Vernon
  Microsoft MVP
  Windows Desktop Experience
   
• Tuesday, December 02, 2008 8:58 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote
  I see no difference in color between 'active' selected and 'inactive' selected folders. They both look gray for me. Be honest my monitor is not perfect, but I see very distinctive difference when it comes to Windows XP on the same monitor. I see distinct bright blue color of selected folder and I've never failed deleting wrong folder in Windows XP, though I work with it about 5 years. Windows Vista makes me delete wrong folder several times for last 4 months!

   

  Note also that in Windows XP only name of the inactive folder is gray but not icon, in Vista both icon and text are gray of active and inactive folders that hinders active/inactive folder recognition.

   

  Do not you think it would be good idea to differentiate active and inactive folder more clearly and distinctly, e.g. the way it XP does?

   
• Tuesday, December 02, 2008 11:13 PM

  Moderator

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  Hi

   

  I see no difference in color between 'active' selected and 'inactive' selected folders. They both look gray for me. Be honest my monitor is not perfect, but I see very distinctive difference when it comes to Windows XP on the same monitor. I see distinct bright blue color of selected folder and I've never failed deleting wrong folder in Windows XP, though I work with it about 5 years. Windows Vista makes me delete wrong folder several times for last 4 months!

   

  Are you using the 'Aero' Theme?

   

  I am using Aero and the color seems fairly distinctive. Here is a screenshot.

   

  Selected Folder:

  http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa86/rvmv/SelectedFolder.jpg

   

  Do not you think it would be good idea to differentiate active and inactive folder more clearly and distinctly, e.g. the way it XP does?

   

  I don't think that comparing the XP UI applies here. Vista has a completely different user interface and display model. Although some people have a difficult time when they first switch to a new OS, it soon becomes second nature once they use it for awhile.

   

  I think the most important thing here is that you make sure that the Recycle Bin prompt is enabled, like I mentioned in my lasy message. This way, when you click that Delete key, you will see exactly which folder will be deleted with no surprises.

   

  Hope this helps.

   

  
  If this post helps to resolve your issue, click the Mark as Answer button at the top of this message.
  

  ---

  Ronnie Vernon
  Microsoft MVP
  Windows Desktop Experience
   
• Wednesday, December 03, 2008 6:09 AM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  Ronnie,

   

  I'm glad for you, but what do other people to do who do not have such a good sight or such a good monitors or video card drivers? Yes, I use 'Aero' Theme. For me colors in your picture look about the same. Ok, if I get them closer and watch more intently I see left selected folder has weak blue tinge, but in normal life I can not recognize it. In WinXP I see selected folder without problem. Beleive me it is not matter of habits, Windows XP actually do this job much better. I know Vista has a completely different user interface but that is no excuse for Vista.

   

  About recycle bin: As I already said, there is no recycle bin in attached memory card, so I had all me files deleted immediately as I pressed Del button.

   

  BTW other case: select parent folder on left pane, move mouse to any child folder but but do not click on it. You will see child folder under mouse cursor become highlighted bright (blue on your monitor). Parent folder become look inactive. But if you press del button Windows try to delete parent inactive folder. This confound users. Is it normal behaviour?

   

   

   
• Saturday, December 13, 2008 1:59 AM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote
  I have this same problem a lot on one of my PCs with an overly bright monitor. The gray highlight looks almost exactly like the blue highlight. I suppose I could fuss with the brightness/contrast, but that's inelegant and makes the rest of the screen look awful.

  
  

  Is it possible to change the colors for the selected file and/or inactive file? Even if it means toying with the registry, I'm all for it! Additionally, I can barely see the pale blue highlight that shows which file you have the mouse hovered over. Surely those aren't the colors we're stuck with for all eternity?
   
• Monday, August 03, 2009 5:40 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  Ronnie,

   

  I'm glad for you, but what do other people to do who do not have such a good sight or such a good monitors or video card drivers? Yes, I use 'Aero' Theme. For me colors in your picture look about the same. Ok, if I get them closer and watch more intently I see left selected folder has weak blue tinge, but in normal life I can not recognize it. In WinXP I see selected folder without problem. Beleive me it is not matter of habits, Windows XP actually do this job much better. I know Vista has a completely different user interface but that is no excuse for Vista.

   

  About recycle bin: As I already said, there is no recycle bin in attached memory card, so I had all me files deleted immediately as I pressed Del button.

   

  BTW other case: select parent folder on left pane, move mouse to any child folder but but do not click on it. You will see child folder under mouse cursor become highlighted bright (blue on your monitor). Parent folder become look inactive. But if you press del button Windows try to delete parent inactive folder. This confound users. Is it normal behaviour?

   

   

  Also, none of the previous windows explorers had this kind of behavior when using the plus sign (arrow on vista) to show the subfolders. For instance, i could have a file selected, and press de + sign on the parent folder to show the subfolders, but that didn´t select the parent folder, whatever files i had selected would still look as they were selected, and more important, they would still be selected. Why MS developers thought it was a good ideia to select the folder even though you´re only clicking on the arrow (or + sign), and keep the file that you previously selected shown like it is still selected but with slightly different color?WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS?? is it a joke? it make things confusing even for veterans for what?  Damn dumb decision
   
• Wednesday, August 19, 2009 7:39 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote
  I've come across this issue as well.  Vista 32bit SP1
  
   
• Thursday, November 26, 2009 2:29 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote
  I have the same issue in Windows 7.
  
  The worse, i regularly use SHIFT+DEL, when I think, I'm sure what I'm doing, and it was no problem in XP or prior... It is very annoying, that explorer selects the folder, when i open it by the arrow or + sign.
  
  Is there any way, to disable this behavior???
   
• Thursday, November 26, 2009 3:23 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  This is not exactly what happens when I follow your instructions.

  When I click on the subfolder inside of the parent folder the subfolder turns blue, showing that it is the currently selected folder and the parent folder selection color turns gray.

  I then select the arrow, beside the parent folder (not the folder). This expands the parent folder, turns the parent folder blue and the subfolder selection color turns gray. This shows that the parent folder is the current selection.

  The important thing is the 'color' of the selection.

  
  

  ---

  Ronnie Vernon
  Microsoft MVP
  Windows Desktop Experience

  Sorry for another post by me, but i'm actually sorting my files, and I've just figured out, when it comes to this bug.
  
  Re-Creation:
  

  • You need a folder at any location and a subfolder inside it.
  • Go into the subfolder by selecting it on the Navigation Pane or double clicking on it in the Main file window. (makes no difference)
  • Go back to the upper folder by selecting it on the Navigation Pane.

  What you get:
  

  • The upper folder is selected in Blue color on the Navigation Pane
  • The subfolder is selected in the same Blue in the Main file window.
  • In fact the parent folder is selected, so if you press del, the parent folder will be deleted.

  The problem:
  

  • In the Main file window, the file icons sometimes much larger (Medium Icons or Large Icons view), and it is visualy confusing, that the large Blue selected item in the centre of the screen is not the actual selection.
  • Strange that if you click on the Parent folder in the Navigation Pane again and again, the sub-folder still looks like it was selected. But if you select it in the Main file window, than click back to the Parent folder on the Navigation pane, the sub-folder's selection is grayed out, as it should be. It shows me, that it is not a design concept but a bug in windows explorer.
  • It is even more in-consequent, since if you go back to the parent folder by clicking on it in the Breadcrumb Bar instead of the Navigation Pane, the sub-folder is selected in the same blue, but now it is your actual selection, as it should be.

  OS info:
  

  • Windows 7 Version 6.1 Build 7600

  
  It is some kind of problem Microsoft should sort out in an update soon, am I right?
  
   
• Friday, December 25, 2009 4:54 PM

   

   
  

  1

  Sign In to Vote

  Actually Grapestain, it's more general than that. 
  
  suppose the folder   C:\folder1\folder2\folder3\...\folder98\folder99   is selected in the navigation pane (contents visible in main pane)
  clicking any ancestor folder "folderN" (where N is a number from 1 to 98) in the nav pane results in:
  
  (a) folderN is displayed in blue (selected & focused) in the nav pane.  It is in fact the current selection.
  (b) folderN+1 is displayed in blue (selected & focused) in the main pane.  It is NOT in fact the current selection.  It should be grayed (or better yet, not highlighted at all).
  
  That clearly is a bug - the main pane is painted as if it had the focus, and it doesn't.
  
  
  However, I ALSO have to add my voice to Yury_M's complaint:
  
  It might be by design, but the fact that the highlighted file in the main pane is not the current selection is confusing, even if the gray color mitigates this.  I've also been caught out by this, twice deleting important folders that I shouldn't have (worse - I shift-deleted them, and didn't look closely at the "Do you want to delete..." message, because I'm an experienced user, but I'm not used to Win7's nav pane).
  
  There are two things that greatly exacerbate this problem:
  
  (1) It's possible to scroll the nav-pane selection right off the screen, so that the only visible item that looks selected in the entire window is the gray-highlighted file in the main pane.
  
  (2) Normally you navigate the nav pane by clicking on a folder, which produces an audible click and changes the display in the main pane.  This reminds you "Oh, I'm in the nav pane now".  Usually it also means there's nothing selected in the main pane any more (except apparently when you navigate to an ancestor folder of the current folder... see (b) above).  However:  If you're working in the main pane, and move the mouse into the nav pane only to expand or contract the folder tree (via the little arrows), then the focus changes to the selected nav pane item, but the only cue you get that it's changed is the (subtle) color change.  There's no audible click, and no change of content or highlighting in either pane.  This is quite dangerous, as in this situation it's very easy to accidentally delete the parent folder of the file or folder you intended, as I discovered to my woe.
  
  
  ***  Mr Vernon, if I might make a suggestion?  ***
  
  I suggest that clicking the tree-view expand/contract arrows should NOT move the selection focus to the nav pane.
  
  The nav pane should recieve focus only when you actually click on a folder name (or icon).  That's in keeping with the existing fact that scrolling the nav pane doesn't give it focus either.  Intuitively, to me, doing a folder tree expand/contract is a lot like scrolling - I just want to look, not select!
  
  
  Who agrees with me?
  

  • Proposed As Answer by Dean101 Friday, December 25, 2009 5:03 PM
  •  
   
• Saturday, December 26, 2009 9:58 AM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote
  Hi! I totally agree with you except in this thing: (Corrected according to the next post by Dean101! )

  It should be grayed (or better yet, not highlighted at all).

  I find it usefull, to show the user wich folder was the previous one. Just imagine, that you have many folders with random names and you have to open each, do something in it, and return one level up, select the next one, and so on. It would be very difficult, if you would have to remember the name of the last folder. I think it is good, that you can see, which folder did you come from, but of course, it should be shown in gray, not in the selection color.
  

  • Edited by Grapestain Sunday, December 27, 2009 6:54 PM I have corrected my quote!
  •  
   
• Sunday, December 27, 2009 6:44 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote
  Hi Grapestain.  From what you said, I think you quoted the wrong part of my post... I think you meant to quote this:
  
  

  It should be grayed (or better yet, not highlighted at all).
  

  
  I see your point.  Certainly I agree it should be highlighted if you use BACKSPACE to move up one folder.  Windows XP had an "folder up" button in the toolbar that did the same thing.  But, since that's gone in Vista/Win7, if you don't want to use (or know about using) BACKSPACE for folder navigation, you'd have to use the nav pane... so... I concede, you are correct:  The folder at the top of the subtree you just came from should be selected when you click up the folder tree in the nav pane.  But (as you say), in gray, since the main pane no longer has focus in this case.
  
  
  (BTW, I realize I'm off-topic here, but the "up folder" button in XP was very useful.  Windows 7 restored the "new folder" button that was sorely lacking in Vista... I think they should have restored the "up folder" button as well!)
  
  
  ---------------------------
  
  
  The part of my post that you quoted wasn't specifically about moving up the folder tree, it was a (different, more general) complaint, initially made by Yury_M above, that using a fairly strong gray highlight in the main window misleadingly suggests to the user that the gray-highlighted file is the current selection.  This is particularly true if:
  
  (a) The actual (currently) selected folder in the nav pane is scrolled out of view,
  (b) The user is using large icons or thumbnails, which makes the gray-selected item in the main pane much more prominent with respect to the highlighted nav pane folder, and
  (c) The gray vs. blue highlight colors appear similar to the user.
  
  
  In XP the gray was very pale and the blue a very bold, solid color - there was no confusing them.  In (the default color scheme of) Vista/Win7 they're both pale and graduated, and while that's pretty, it's also not as obvious to notice when the color changes from one to the other - that's essentially the substance of Yury_M's initial complaint.  Note that this is somewhat subjective, and varies from monitor to monitor as well; and Laptop/LCD monitors sometimes do funny things with colors, especially when not viewed straight on.
  
  
  Note that if my suggestion (from my last post) was adopted, (a) would be much less of a problem, since the only way it would normally happen would be if the user clicked on either the (already) current folder or an ancestor of it in the nav pane, and then immediately scrolled (or expanded) the selection offscreen, without returning focus to the main pane in between... in which case they'd know they're "in" the nav pane.
  As things are currently, (a) would generally happen when focus is returned to the nav pane without a selection change - either by clicking on the nav pane's white background, or on an expand/contract arrow.  That's why I don't think that doing either of those things should give focus to the nav pane.
  
  I hope that's clearer?
  
   
• Saturday, January 09, 2010 2:51 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote
  Hi Mr Vernon,
  
  I'd like to hear your thoughts on my proposed solution (below, near the bottom), if you have the time...
  (or at least to know that someone at Microsoft has read it?)
  
  
  Thanks,
  
  -- Dean
   
• Friday, May 21, 2010 4:30 AM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  Having deleted yet another folder "accidentally" for the umpteenth time in our new, very-well-RE-thought-out Windows Explorer design, I came across this post in a frustrated search to revert Windows Explorer functionality back to pre-Vista days.

  This is not an answer; the question, in fact, should have been: why/who decided to change the SOP of Windows Explorer whereby highlights are only shown in either the tree or file navigation pane - thereby clearly defining which pane gets the "SHIFT-DELETE" or "DELETE" key press?

  Counter argument says that it is better to "clearly show" which folder in the tree we are in, which, while is an improvement, now muddies the waters when it comes to pane focus. If Microsoft really wants to improve, look at some of the competition - xplorer2, for example.

  I stand by Dean101's and GrapeStain's posts.

  Similar to the "new", "improved " Office 2007 ribbon bars, if Microsoft wanted to change something, please give the option to revert to older, proven, trusted methods (don't get me started on the stupidity that is the fixed ribbon bars in 2007).

  I do hope Microsoft realises that not all their users are Apple-like stupid.

  Will the OP please not mark this as an "answer" (if at all possible to revert)?

   
• Saturday, October 16, 2010 5:24 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  Vista have bug of deleting the parent folder if we delete the top folder inside a folder....

  It is almost reproducible...

  It happens in both case do a delete or a shift delete ....

  And I am using NTFS Undelete free application to get the files back......

   

  Happened to me a dozen of times still i mistakenly do shift delete and get into a loop....

   

  Dont know any solution exists....

   

   

   

   
• Sunday, November 28, 2010 11:32 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  This is definitely a bug, or bad design - you pick - and it NEEDS to be fixed.

  I have deleted folders on network drives - no recycle bin! - many times due to this strange selection thing.

  I am positive I have the sub folder or file selected and when I hit delete and confirm - the whole folder is gone...

  This is a REAL problem - not just a few people accidentally deleting the wrong folder! The selection is WRONG!
  I have been using Windows 7 for approx. 6 months and this has happened to me many times - I tried changing the way I select folders and started double-checking the Are you sure?... question box, but it happened to me again this morning! It's just not right - definitely a bug.

  I am using Windows Explorer in Windows 7 Enterprise.

  Would someone from Microsoft PLEASE take notice and do something about this??? I am not rolling Windows 7 out to my staff with this bug. I'll end up spending my days restoring folders to our network drives. Luckily I run Previous Versions, but its not as good as a recycle bin, and I hate having to go to tape backups.

  ahhhhhh!!!

   
• Wednesday, February 23, 2011 3:33 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  

  NOTE ABOVE: SELECTED folder is highlighted gray.  Unselected folder (which I intended to delete) highlighted in BLUE.

  That is every flavor of wrong.

  Definitely needs to be fixed.
  
  Never used Vista, but have been hving this issue since I started on Windows 7 64-bit about a year back.

  "I don't think that comparing the XP UI applies here. Vista has a completely different user interface and display model. Although some people have a difficult time when they first switch to a new OS, it soon becomes second nature once they use it for awhile."

  Still not used to it, in Windows 7.  (Still prefer the XP interface, after a year.  Don't get me started on the non-graphical, counter-intuitive and downright buggy SEARCH 'feature'.)

  I, too, am accustomed to using SHIFT-DEL.
  
  I, too, have temporarily lost tons of files.  Was able to recover them.  But it's a true pain.  Can be easily caused when parent and child folders have same/similar names, as path information is not displayed in confirmation dialog.
  
  
  

   

   
• Sunday, March 27, 2011 1:35 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  @Franklyn

  Thanks for providing this screenshot. I just deleted 1.7 TB (!!!) worth of movies off my harddrive and it was pretty much the same situation like your screenshot shows.
  THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!
  I hope the data restore software I am using is able to recover those!

  MICROSOFT:
  This needs urgent attention! In my Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit version (classic mode) there is not even a difference between actice and inactive folder selection!
  On multiple monitor setups you might look at a folder, press the delete key and you might delete the complete wrong file/ folder!

  And no: I normally do not read the confirmation box, because since Win 95 this has never been a problem! I also often use Shift+delete and also delete large files which will not be stored in the recycle bin.

  With 4 (or more) explorer windows opened, they might be at opposite ends of my 2x 22" monitor setup and therefore accidental deletion becomes a real problem if the inactive folders stay highlighted in the same color!

   
• Tuesday, March 29, 2011 3:31 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  This is extremely annoying Microsoft. Yes, it's true that (Windows 7) in order to have the folder highlighted the same color as the sub-folder or file (in the right/main pane) you have to do some action on the parent folder last (i.e. shift-tab, click parent folder, or even! just expand the parent folder) ONLY the parent folder at that time should be highlighted. IN fact, when you do either the shift-tab, or expand the parent folder, the sub folder/file is still what's listed in the Details pane. But click delete and you're deleting the parent folder. You can't tell me this isn't a bug, especially since the details pane is not displaying what would actually be deleted.

  I just deleted Inetpub instead of a child folder (not the first time, but the most devastating to date). Yes, I know it asks me, are you sure you want to delete XYZ, but seriously, am I expected to read that thing every time just to make sure what I'm deleting is the one highlighted? Or rather the other one that's highlighted?

  Please make them different highlights Microsoft. Oh, and generally getting back most of classic view would be nice.

  ---

  Zeb
   
• Thursday, June 09, 2011 11:25 PM

   

   
  

  0

  Sign In to Vote

  MICROSOFT!!! Please listen!

  This IS a bug as it has happened to me many times since I started to use Windows 7.

  Stop saying that we are doing it wrong - it's a bug and it needs to be fixed!

  I now have nearly all of my staff on Windows 7/Server 2008R2 and this porblem has become more and more of an issue.

  Staff deleting whole folders in network drives instead of just the file they had highlighted!

  Please sort it out URGENTLY!

   

  I can't believe the responses in this thread saying that there is no problem here... unbelievable.