An unexpected error is keeping you from renaming this folder. Error 0x80004005

[DJ-1701]

Has anyone else come across an issue where users create folders, but are unable to rename them?

 

This issue happens on shared drives and local even if the person has modify or full permissions. Files are unaffected, but if you rename a folder, even one you have just told to create then and there with the New folder name highlighted, it will refuse to rename. The message that comes up is as follows.

 

 

Rename Folder

An unexpected error is keeping you from renaming this folder. If you continue to receive this error, you can use the error code to search for help with this problem.

 

Error 0x80004005: Unspecified error

 

Rebooting the computer doesn't work, had the same issue over a year ago and reinstalling Windows did, but looking for a proper fix as this has come up on two devices now.

[DJ-1701]

Today I logged into one of the machines as a different low level user and was able to rename folders. Deleting the profile of the affected user and logging back on again the problem was gone. So this seems to be a profile specific issue not needing the reinstallation of the whole machine. I would still like to find the underline cause though rather than having to delete profiles if possible.

[BOOT]

Some Registry changes for customising\removing options from Explorer windows and hiding "Desktop" or "This PC" icons can cause issues like this.

New Folder, Rename, Drag and Drop etc errors. Not always every user either.

[DJ-1701]

Some Registry changes for customising\removing options from Explorer windows and hiding "Desktop" or "This PC" icons can cause issues like this.

New Folder, Rename, Drag and Drop etc errors. Not always every user either.

 

Interesting, I haven't made any changes on this front, but could be something got corrupted there. The only commonality I have seen on the two users I have seen recently is a redirection of the user folders.

[DJ-1701]

And for some reason, on the machine that I deleted the profile on, the problem has returned.

[DJ-1701]

Replaced both machines that had the issue with a new installation of Windows... guess what? Still an issue.

[clareq]

Do you use roaming profiles or UEV? Could something be following the user?

[DJ-1701]

Do you use roaming profiles or UEV? Could something be following the user?

 

Ironically no, they are local profiles. The only thing that roams with them are the OneDrive folders.

[clareq]

Does this help? They suggest a misconfigured redirected folder: https://superuser.com/questions/966603/unspecified-error-when-renaming-folders-in-windows-10

[DJ-1701]

Does this help? They suggest a misconfigured redirected folder: https://superuser.com/questions/966603/unspecified-error-when-renaming-folders-in-windows-10

 

Interesting, I will have a look when I get back there tomorrow, the machines do have folder redirection so could be a possibility as I recall one of them mentioning a long login time with folder redirection... many thanks.

[DJ-1701]

Well folder redirection appears to be working fine with no errors in the event log. Very strange...

[clareq]

Do you redirect My Documents? I've had issues in the past with a windows folder appearing in My Documents - usually because an update can't access Windows due to restrictions, so it puts the files in My Documents instead. If it's only happening to certain users, and it's not the install, it must be something they are carrying with them.

[DJ-1701]

Do you redirect My Documents? I've had issues in the past with a windows folder appearing in My Documents - usually because an update can't access Windows due to restrictions, so it puts the files in My Documents instead. If it's only happening to certain users, and it's not the install, it must be something they are carrying with them.

 

Yes, I do, my Documents is redirected to C:\Users\Username\One Drive - Name Of School Here\Documents and the folder loads fine and items get saved to it fine.

 

Strange I can't see any error for that in the Event log but gives me other items to search for to see if the machines or group policies have some restriction oddities, cheers.

[DJ-1701]

Darn thing has spread to 3 people now. As a couple of them have laptops I have asked them to try the laptops and see if that is causing issues as well.

[LewisJ97]

Having the same issue here. Currently testing stripping things out our redirection policies - will update soon and be checking back here for any news

[DJ-1701]

Well apparently the laptops are fine, so I changed one of the machines to get the exact same group policies... still an issue. Only difference I can think of is that DirectAccess is on the laptops, but that shouldn't mean anything.

[smazzy]

Having the same issue here. Currently testing stripping things out our redirection policies - will update soon and be checking back here for any news

 

For us, we've eventually tracked the cause down to an invalid folder redirect in GPO > User > Preferences > Windows Settings > Registry. We are redirecting the Camera Roll via registry key, and this was set to a location the users couldn't access or no longer existed. No errors for this were being shown in the event logs and folder redirection was all showing successful, so we weren't getting any clues as to what the problem was.

 

Why an errant folder redirect would break folder renaming across the board is anyone's guess!

Edited March 17, 2021 by smazzy

[round2it]

might not be related but do you have a hyperv cluster by any chance

 

My main user storage file server did this and the only way to fix it was move the vm to another node and reboot, so might be failing hardware

[DJ-1701]

Can't speak for others, but we have a HyperV server that has a file server on it, but the problem is this is effecting all folders and only seems to be for specific people on specific devices.

[DJ-1701]

Does this help? They suggest a misconfigured redirected folder: https://superuser.com/questions/966603/unspecified-error-when-renaming-folders-in-windows-10

 

Ok, this was actually it for me, I sillily only looked for folders that had been set to rename in Group Policy, as those where the only ones I knew of that were altered.

 

When actually looking in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders (Note: NOT Shell Folders, very similar but doesn't have the incorrect entry I found) at each entry one by one there was a malformed path for {31C0DD25-9439-4F12-BF41-7FF4EDA38722} (which is the unique ID for the location of 3D Objects.

 

After changing that, no issue... though I am still wondering what the root cause of the change was!

 

Many thanks @clareq!

[RobertEadie]

Ok, this was actually it for me, I sillily only looked for folders that had been set to rename in Group Policy, as those where the only ones I knew of that were altered.

When actually looking in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders (Note: NOT Shell Folders, very similar but doesn't have the incorrect entry I found) at each entry one by one there was a malformed path for {31C0DD25-9439-4F12-BF41-7FF4EDA38722} (which is the unique ID for the location of 3D Objects.

After changing that, no issue... though I am still wondering what the root cause of the change was!

Many thanks @clareq!

 

Thanks so much for this pointer. I had been redirecting some of my UserShell folders using RegEdit (OK, I should have learnt by now to be EXTRA cautious) and had misspelled %USERPROFILES%. (Actually it is %USERPROFILE% without the S!! With your pointer, I checked carefully, and now all working FINE.

Edited September 1, 2021 by RobertEadie