Windows 10: Can't delete, move or rename .ogg files in Windows 10

Trying to rename results in file explorer crashing whilst moving or deleting is just perma stuck at 0%. File Explorer is stuck at "Cancelling" on move operations when i try to cancel it. I have tried everything that has been posted about this issue before and nothing works. I tried:- Uninstalling Web Media Extensions.- Tried updating Web Media Extensions.- Unchecking .ogg and .opus in Indexing Options.- Tried to delete in Safe Mode.I can easily install these files but do nothing else.

:)

 

Certain file types (.ogg, .ogx) take a full minute to rename or delete

Hello!

I've been struggling with this problem at least since September, now. I do a lot of audio work and I'm required to work with Ogg files quite a lot, but I've had to postpone any work related to them because of this. I'm not sure exactly when it happened (I can only say somewhere between July 22nd and September 23rd, the last time I successfully used an Ogg file and the day that I noticed this problem, respectively) and haven't been able to pinpoint any system changes in that time that might have caused it.

Certain file operations freeze up Windows Explorer when I use them on files with the .ogg and .ogx extensions, and only those files, as far as I can tell. Attempting to rename one causes Explorer to stop responding for a full minute before finally changing the name, and trying to delete one causes absolutely nothing to happen (Explorer doesn't even freeze) for a minute until the file is finally moved to the Recycle Bin. Restoring them from the Recycle Bin is the same as that. Making a copy (copy/paste) of the file actually works normally, even within the same folder, but then trying to rename or delete that file still takes a minute. Any other file extension works as it's supposed to and I can rename or delete them instantly, and I can even save an Ogg file with another extension (e.g. test.abc instead of test.ogg) and Windows will treat it normally, but, if I then rename it to have a .ogg extension, it'll start taking a minute to delete/rename it. Even more confusingly, if I take a file that isn't an Ogg file and give it the .ogg extension, Windows will treat it completely normally and be able to delete/rename it instantly.

The same thing happens with folders - trying to rename or delete a folder containing an Ogg-encoded file also takes a minute. This extends to files and folders made before I started having this problem.

I've tried deleting and renaming them through the command prompt and that gives the same result - cmd just doesn't do anything for a full minute before the file is finally altered, although it doesn't freeze. I have confirmed that the problem is not present in Safe Mode, but it is present during a clean boot as described in this thread: Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts

I'm honestly stumped on where to go from here. I've never seen a problem like this in all of my time using Windows since 95 and haven't been able to find any support threads anywhere with this particular problem - the closest that I've found is people having similar problems with all files, not just a specific file extension. I'd really appreciate any suggestions on what to do.

Windows 10 version: 1903 (OS Build 18362.476)

 

Certain file types (.ogg, .ogx) take a full minute to rename or delete

Thanks, again! I'm looking through Procmon right now. There's a lot of information there, so it might take a while for me to notice anything useful. At a cursory glance, I'm noticing that there are NotifyChangeDirectory operations related to the name changes with a duration of 70+ (I assume that the duration is in seconds) - I tested capturing renames of both .ogg files and other files, and the .ogg files have that huge duration (not unexpected, considering the nature of the problem that I'm having), and other files have a duration of 8-10. There are 44 pages of operations between the start of the rename and the end of those operations (far more when showing registry activity), so it's taking me a while to find anything relevant.

I tried making a new user account as you suggested, and the problem actually wasn't there in the new account. I suppose that, if all else fails, I could probably just make a new admin account and migrate everything to that? It'd be nice to find out what on Earth's going on, but at least I know that there might be a simple solution if I can't.

I've tried deleting and renaming from the command line and that still takes a long time, but thanks for the suggestion. These files don't contain embedded thumbnails, although I did also try clearing the thumbnail cache, just in case Windows was doing something weird with that and because it was showing up in a few different logs. No joy there, though.

 

Certain file types (.ogg, .ogx) take a full minute to rename or delete

Thanks for replying! I tried disabling shell extensions like in the guide (as far as disabling all non-Microsoft extensions) and that seemed to make no difference, unfortunately.

.ogg files are associated with Audacity. I've tried completely uninstalling it, but that also didn't make a difference. I just looked at Default Applications and .ogg isn't listed in there at all, though, oddly. Could that be related? .ogx files are associated with "Films & TV". On a hunch, I tried associating .ogg with another program (Foobar2000) and back to Audacity. The problem was still there both while they were associated with Foobar and when I associated them back with Audacity, but something slightly odd happened in the "default apps by file type" menu - .ogg appeared in there as it's supposed to be, but another one also appeared in there called ".ogg_auto_file", which isn't associated with anything. I can't find any information about this anywhere.

I've attached a few images - a screenshot each of Task Manager while renaming a file (note the "not responding"), changing the name back after renaming it (it didn't change to "not responding", but the "renaming" dialogue was present but not doing anything - "Time remaining" just said "calculating" the whole time), and one of Explorer as it normally is. I didn't notice any difference in any of the CPU/memory/disk/etc. columns. There's also one of the renaming dialogue from when I was undoing the rename of a file that I was testing it with, and the ".ogg_auto_file" thing that appeared in Default Apps.