Windows 10: Problem copying customized folders

Hi everybody.
I have a problem copying customized folders.
Before Windows 10 correctly copied customized folders from a disc to another or inside the same disc. Now, when I copy a customized folder, the customized look goes lost.
I e a practical example below.

1. Open Local Disc (C) and I create two folders. Let's call them "Folder 1" and "Folder 2"




---


2. I right click on "Folder 1".
A menu appears. On this menu, I select "Properties".






On "Properties", I select "Customize". Here I have the chance to change the look of my "Folder 1".






I choose a look of my choice ( any is ok ).






---


3. Now my "Folder 1" looks different from "Folder 2"





---


4. I COPY the "Folder 1".





I open the "Folder 2" and I PASTE my "Folder 1".
What do I get?






"Folder 1" without the previous customization. Why??? It is wrong. I'm copying something. It must be copied as it is.


---


5. I delete the copy.
I exit "Folder 2" and go back to Local Disc (C).

I left click click on "Folder 1" and, keeping clicked, I move it inside "Folder 2".
I open "Folder 2" and I find my "Folder 1" with its customized look. ( !!!! )





---


6. Now I open Local Disc (D).
So I have opened : "Folder 2" ( that contains my customized "Folder1" and Local Disc (D).
I left click on "Folder 1" and, keeping clicked, I move it in Local Disc (D).
ATTENTION : this time "Folder 1" will not be really "moved" from "Folder 2" to Local Disc (D), but copied.
Well, the result is bad again : the "Folder 1" is copied in Local Disc (D) without the customization.






So, it is rather clear that something is wrong when the folders are copied.
How to solve?

:)

 

folder icons reverting to default when copied issue

There is an ongoing bug in Windows 10 Anniversary Update version 1607 that is known in current builds where copies or moves of folders over different partitions causes the copied folders to lose their attributes (such as "+r" or "+s"), which are needed for
customized icons for folders to work.

Affected folders can be fixed using the "attrib +r <folder>" command in a console/command prompt window for a single folder (if the folder contains spaces, enclose the folder name in double quotes, ", eg: attrib "New Folder" +r).

After using this command for the copied folder, assuming that folder contains the hidden, system desktop.ini file, the referenced custom icon for the copied folder appears on refresh.

Here are some informative threads on this:

Folder attributes/customization lost on copy or move in Windows 10 1607 (Anniversary Update)

[BUG] Windows 10 AU folder personalized settings are not copied!!

also see:

Folder attributes/customization lost on copy or move in Windows 10 1607 (Anniversary Update)

Copying Folders with Custom Icons Not working on Windows 10 Anniversary Update

Problem copying customized folders

 

Customized folder icon disappears after COPYING the folder to another drive

See my
detailed bug report on TechNet and if possible, do add your voice to the thread.

 

Noted that if I set a folder picture or icon, (and don't hide system files) desktop.ini appears in that folder.

The desktop.ini file is present in the copied version of the folder, but the copied folder appearance is default. That is, the desktop.ini file is present, but not expressed.

I also noted that if you copy that folder, then move it to the same destination, there's no notification that the folder already exists. Further, the copied and moved folder appears as default.

If, having customised a folder, I delete it and then create a new folder in the same place, the new folder has same desktop.ini in it- the same picture/icon. Only by manually setting the customisation to default can I eliminate that.

(Noted that there have been several reports of customisation being lost in copy to external drives).

How do you solve it? I don't know.

 

Hello,

I have the same exact problem and do not know of a solution.
I formatted my pc and the problem seemed to be gone but yesterday the windows updater updated my pc and today I saw I had the same problem again.
What could it be?

Best regards,
DDC

 

Hello again,
Just talked to Portuguese Microsoft who told me that this was done by purpose by Microsoft with the newer updates. I am currently on version 1607 and my friend who has 1511 doesn't have the problem. They told me that they did that by option but didn't told me why. I am guessing neither the Portuguese Microsoft knew why.
It seems that there is no fix by Microsoft regarding the personalization of folder icons.

Regarding the notification, it can be solved easily. Just open a folder go to File on top left then Change Folder and Search Options (this is a translation from Portuguese don't know if it is displayed this way on English windows). After that it should open a window with 3 separators on top. Chose the second one and then in advanced options uncheck the following: hide lists merge conflicts (again, this is a translation, don't know if it is displayed like this in English Windows). After completing this steps it should apear confirmation box every time you copy a folder to a destination with a folder with the same name as the one you want to copy.
Hope it helped.
Best regards.

 

Well done.. I'm surprised you managed to get useful info from MS- albeit their design decision appears inappropriate and confusing.

 

It was not a very clever decision. I had all my folders personalized and now if I want to move them say to OneDrive or dropbox, they lose all customization. Time will tell if they fix this or someone manages to find a solution.

Best regards,
DDC

 

Haven't tested the below but worth a try in case it works
Create a new folder
- Unhide system files via the folders options
- Choose your desired icon and put it in that folder (set it to hidden)
- Customize your folder with that icon
- Open that folder and locate the hidden file "desktop.ini"
- Modify it with Notepad as follows:
[.ShellClassInfo]
IconResource=youriconname.ico,0
This absolute path will force the system to locate the icon in the same folder

Another possibility mentioned elsewhere is this
drop the icon in the folder you want to customize, create a Desktop.ini file by copying a known functional one albeit with the path to the chosen Icon, set the attributes of the Windows folder using a CMD line run with admin priv's
attrib +r "C:\Windows"
then set the icon and the desktop file to hidden. F5 to refresh should do it

 

Was just discussing this issue on another forum. What I've discovered is that the problem stems from how 1607 treats folder attributes such as +R and +S (either of which must be set for a custom icon via desktop.ini to work properly). 1511 retained +R or +S on copies of a folder or when a folder was moved on the same or to a different partition. 1607 however works in only 1 out of the 4 cases - copying (no matter the partition) causes the attributes to be lost, and moving the folder to a different partition also results in the same. Only moving a customized folder on the same partition maintains its attributes (and thus its custom icon).

[Note that if the icon is stored inside the folder itself, desktop.ini must be using a relative path to it obviously.]

I'd love to know the reason for this absurd change. Seems like a bug to me to be perfectly honest. Wish there was some way to get in touch with the people responsible for Win Explorer in order to get a proper explanation, or better still a bug fix in a future update.

 

This has been annoying me too !
There is this other topic about it on Windows TenForums, posted 22 Aug,
Permanent Custom Folder Icon Problem

But -
1 quick way I found to copy and paste to external hard disk and keep your folder icon customization is to
download the free & simple program - FastCopy - FastCopy

"It runs fast and does not hog resources, because MFC is not used."
This bypasses any bug that cause the folder icon to not show after copying.

You just drag the folder to be copied into the Source box
and write or type the external hard disk letter or drag the external hard disk folder into the DestDir box.
Then click Execute.
It will copy and paste your folder & save you folder icon customization. *Biggrin

You can also copy bulk folders by selecting a few folders and drag them into Source box the same way as 1 folder.

 

Many Thanks for this useful response which proposes a solution.

 

i've found an easier work around for the problem. zipping folders seems to protect the customizations. just zip the folders and extract them

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it but it does not work on my computer unfortunately. When I unzip the folder it loses its icon.

 

I noticed there's no answer to this yet.

For a folder to show customization changes, it must be marked as read-only. Explorer doesn't let you change the folders read-only attribute, it only changes the files within the folder. However, attrib does let you do it. I added it to my right click Explorer menu.

Create a file with the .reg extension, and put the following text into it, save it and double click it (or enter the info by hand if you're familiar with regedit).

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\readonly]
@="Set folder re&ad only"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\readonly\command]
@="attrib +r "%1""

Then right click a copied folder and select the set read only menu item. Now, sometimes it won't change the icon immediately. Restart of Explorer usually works, although a refresh (F5) sometimes is enough. Sometimes though a reboot fixes it too.

Andy