The folder name was listed in File Explorer with just plain four dots `....`. When I tried opening it, I came into some kind of endless rabbit hole loop where I opened the exact same folder again and again - I could do this endlessly. Showing the path like `C:\ExamplePath\....\....\....\....\....`, etc. It was hanging my TypeScript compilation in one specific project. It took me more than a year before I found this folder and its related problems, because it was rooted deeply in nested folders. I never expected an issue like this, so I never looked for it. I couldn't delete the folder the normal way because of the special name. In the end, I could remove it by using the command line and deleting the parent folder with `rd /s /q path`. Afterward, I tried to create the folder again but was unable to do so with both File Explorer and the command line. In my 20-plus years of using Windows I have never seen this bug before, so I can imagine that it would really be an annoying and confusing problem for amateur users. Does anyone know how this could have happened and how to reproduce this issue? **Update** For people who are interested: this path was located deep within a TFS folder. So probably TFS uses the bypass method @grawity explained (*"Various file managers, archivers, etc"*) Did I stumble on a rare TFS bug?