Why do I have identical files in one directory, in Windows 7?

Question

I just rebuilt my system after a new Power supply fired my CPU, MBD, Video card & a Blu-Ray drive.

During all this I had to restore Windows from a backup (sector copy).

All seems well, but today I went into Sample Pictures (by accident) and was clicking out of it when my eye caught something weird - Several files had identical names!

Here's what I have so far:

1. Chkdsk shows no errors, drive is fine. Obviously rebooted. I always have Windows showing extensions, and Hidden files (doesn't apply here, none are hidden).
2. The files are: (all are .jpg) Chrysanthemum, Desert , Hydrangeas, Jellyfish , Koala , Lighthouse , Penguins , and Tulip. Rest of them show single names, so not all dups. Stranger & Stranger.
3. If I single click, twice, on the names (like you would to rename) one will highlight the first part, but if I do that to the second copy it highlights the whole name including EXTENSION! Ex:Tulip.jpg on 1st, Tulip.jpg on second. Second one's the "dup". Win7 normally only highlights the first part, not the extension.
4. The names are identical. Not almost, no hidden characters, identical.
5. If I "Open a Command Prompt here" and do a DIR, the names show properly! So the 8.3 names are right, but Windows is showing them wrong.
6. They will re-sort properly if I change the view, with two Tulips next to each other.
7. Opening Properties shows the same name for both, but, if you look at Details it shows the proper info - Camera, taken date, etc.
8. If I open them, like in Irfan Viewer, they show fine with the proper name. I thought - "must be pulling the 8.3 name" but the names are long, like Chrysanthemum.
9. If I switch to Large Icons, the thumbnails show different pictures with the same name under it! Ex: Tulip (#2) is really Waterfall, but shows the name Tulip.

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So my question is:

How is it possible to have identical files, with the exact same name, in the same directory? And what could have caused that?

Answer 1

It's probably an issue with localization. There's a desktop.ini file in the C:\Users\Public\Pictures\Sample Pictures folder, that has some lines like these

[LocalizedFileNames]
Chrysanthemum.jpg=@%systemroot%\system32\SampleRes.dll,-101

The 8 files you listed in your question are the ones that are listed in my copy of this desktop.ini file. So my guess is that when you restored from backup somehow the localization cache got 'messed up'. List the content of your desktop.ini in your question and the language of windows (I'm guessing English) please.

Answer 2

From what I recall in Windows 7, the Libraries are something particular, which regroups the content from several folders. They do not behave like your regular folder.

In your particular case, it is highly possible that you have in there images from "all users", and your main account, with the same names.

It doesn't explain why you would have different pictures for something supposed to be "Tulips", but it could justify the possibility to have files with the same names.

Answer 3

It's quite possible with your repairs/fixes that the original files were corrupted/rebuilt/recovered by any 1 of the tools used (particually a sfc or windows reinstall).

It may well just be that folder that's affected, but it's certainly worth checking others!

If you don't want them - delete away! They're more than safe enough to remove.