Prevent Windows Explorer to use "LocalizedResourceName" when renaming file or folder from Search result

Question

Maybe this is only on localized version of Windows, I don't know.

If you rename a folder while in a Windows Search result window, instead of renaming the file, it will create a desktop.ini file and add a LocalizedResourceName variable with the new name instead.

As a result, there will be a discrepancy between the real folder name and the displayed folder name in Windows Explorer.

I spent hours tonight trying to find a solution, and then trying to delete desktop.ini files in a specific folder recursively without success.

So, here I am, asking for help. Is this a bug or not ?!

1. Is there a way to prevent Windows Explorer to edit the desktop.ini file and rather rename the actual filename ?
2. If this is a bug, why can't I find more people complaining about it ? Is there something wrong with the machine I get this issue on ? And if so, how to troubleshoot this ?
3. How to get rid of desktop.ini files as a workaround ? I tried Powershell, I tried Unlocker and LockHunter. I tried the many things including del /f /s command. Everything fails because Windows is protecting these system files.

Note that in the past, on the same machine, and on Windows 10, I tried to fix this looking after Windows Search. Without success. I even ended up moving the index files and trying different set of permissions. Could it be related ? (Why ?!)

Hope someone can help. This drove me really mad.

Answer 1

I am seeing the behavior the OP describes.

1. Test folder with two subfolders:

   

2. Rename #1 via file folder:

   

3. Result of step #2:

   

4. Search: kind:Folder:

   

5. Rename #2

   

6. Result of step #5 (note the attribute change and unchanged file system folder):

   

7. Contents of desktop.ini in #2:

   [.ShellClassInfo]
   LocalizedResourceName=Ordinary Folder II -Renamed
   

---

As I (and seemingly others) were unaware of this behavior, I don't know of any fix". The workaround suggested by @John, exiting search before renaming, seems the best short-term bet.

You don't need to delete the desktop.ini files to have the folders display their filesytem names, clearing the ReadOnly attribute for the folder will prevent processing of the desktop.ini file. This PowerShell snippet will recursively clear the attribute for any folder that contains a desktop.ini file (starting with the current working directory):

gci desktop.ini -Recurse -Force | ForEach{
    $folder = Get-Item $_.DirectoryName
    $folder.Attributes = $folder.Attributes -band -not [IO.FileAttributes]::ReadOnly
}

And this will set the attribure for same:

gci desktop.ini -Recurse -Force | ForEach{
    $folder = Get-Item $_.DirectoryName
    $folder.Attributes = $folder.Attributes -bor [IO.FileAttributes]::ReadOnly
}

Answer 2

clearing read only did not work for me. i created a script to scan for mismatched folders and optionally delete the offending desktop.ini: https://gist.github.com/eyaler/2ad37a7edd04f1a4ce339047ce5feabd