27

Normally when you do a file operation in Windows Explorer then Explorer refreshes itself. So I delete a file, and it's gone.

But since yesterday when I for example delete a file, the file entry doesn't disappear. It only disappears when closing and reopening the folder, or when pressing F5. What could that be?

2
  • And you are deleting the file using Windows Explorer as well? And did you restart your computer since you have that problem?
    – Arjan
    Nov 14, 2009 at 15:31
  • I had similiar problems after i installed "SuRun". It had to do with "fast user switching" and explorer.exe running in different user contexts. Did you install any software recently?
    – user204920
    Mar 7, 2013 at 5:40

9 Answers 9

10

I suggest you have a look at this thread in the Microsoft TechNet forums. This may be related to a known issue with Windows 7.

3
  • 7
    To save you the trouble, I went and reviewed the whole (gigantic) thread. I'm having this issue myself. The conclusion of the folks in there as well as the MS person was that it's a bug in Windows 7 that they were able to reproduce. There's some button-mashing solutions that seemed to work for a few people like deleting the icon cache or resetting folder views. Worth a try, though none of that worked for me so far.
    – scobi
    Dec 30, 2009 at 18:42
  • Another thread on the issue.. social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-GB/w7files/thread/…
    – scobi
    Dec 30, 2009 at 18:45
  • 1
    Resetting the folders worked for me (at least the error hasn't occurred since) Thx for the link.
    – SealedSun
    Feb 18, 2010 at 14:38
4

For me it was caused by an unreachable network drive.

As soon as I deleted it from Network Places, the problem went away.

1

I've also struggled with this problem, and I've found a workaround from here.

This edit has been added by soandos: The post suggests that you install Classic Shell from sourceforge.net. You can set the right pane auto-refresh like this: Start > All Programs (or Programs) > Explorer Settings > Navigation Pane > Always navigate to the selected folder
Answer by Ciove: The above is only partially true and, in my mind, doesn't solve the problem satisfactorily. See my comment below for details.

Classic Shell has also classic XP Start menu, if you want it.

1
  • Comment to edit of soandos: The Always navigate to the selected folder -option works ONLY if you navigate by clicking the folder with mouse. If you navigate with arrow keys or by typing the first letter(s) of the folder name, the option DOESN'T WORK. This will result to a situation where in right pane pane you don't see the content of the folder you have selected.
    – Ciove
    Jan 22, 2013 at 13:02
1

SYSTEM: Windows 7 SP1 32bit

SYMPTOM: Files deleted in the "Documents" folder of the user (working with Admin rights) "Libraries" did not disappear immediately, but only after a subsequent refresh of the folder view.

SOLUTION: Right-click on the "Documents" folder, select "Properties". Under "Optimize this library for:" (translated from Spanish, sorry if not entirely correct) change "Documents" to "General elements".

4
  • This doesn't address the problem asked Mar 7, 2013 at 5:13
  • @Luke How do you figure? It looks fine to me.
    – cpast
    Mar 7, 2013 at 5:24
  • Sorry, didn't read fully... comment redacted Mar 7, 2013 at 6:17
  • This worked for me. File manipulation worked fine for me, it just randomly stopped refreshing itself after doing a file operation. Doing this made it refresh itself again. FWIW: I am on Windows 8.1. So I guess this problem never truly went away. I do have an SSD, which the mega thread above mentions. So it could be related to that. Jan 19, 2014 at 21:04
0

I found another article saying that the effect appears as soon as you open any Windows Explorer window. I tried this out and it really depends on the Windows Explorer on my machine.

Once a Windows Explorer has been opened, file changes are not being refreshed. To kill this effect, I have to close ALL explorer.exe processes and start only one through the Task Manager. Refreshing then works fine until you open another Windows Explorer window.

It seems like I have to use an Explorer alternative like Total Commander for file management. It really is unbelievable that Microsoft still hasn't brought out a patch; this bug seems to have been talked about around the web for over six months now.

0

Just to add another solution which has resolved my problem: http://www.winvistaclub.com/t46.html

It is a registry file to execute (safe mode: check the content before in case this site is not more reliable) but I think such solution should be provided by Microsoft. All the microsoft links / solution in technet, social etc... previously mentionned in this topic were not working for me.

Hope this can help some others.

0

Select your C drive in the Explorer and go into Organize/Folders and check the search options/View/Reset Folders option.

-1

There is a known problem for this in the Microsoft Knowledgebase for people who have disabled UAC, see Desktop items disappear after renaming them on Windows 7.

The only fix on that article is to switch UAC back on, or keep pressing Refresh or F5 when you make a change to a file.

2
  • 1
    This is absolutely not true. I have this issue despite always having UAC enabled.
    – Peon
    Oct 1, 2012 at 23:39
  • @Peon that doesn't make this untrue, that just means that you're seeing a different angle to the problem than Microsoft are posting about. There could be people who are having this problem who have UAC disabled and might be helped out by this. I'm definitely seeing it in an environment that has UAC disabled, and unfortunately can't do much about that due to legacy app compatibility.
    – GAThrawn
    Oct 2, 2012 at 8:38
-1

Just restart explorer.exe

  1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del
  2. Click Start Task Manager
  3. Click on Processes > find "explorer.exe"
  4. End "explorer.exe"
  5. Click File -> New Task(Run), and type "explorer.exe" and press OK
1
  • 1
    -1 This is more cumbersome than a simple refresh, and doesn't resolve the problem.
    – Joe M
    Jan 17, 2014 at 21:04

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .