Displaying folder extensions?

FujiwaraTakumi

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I'm not entirely sure where to put this because it's not really related to any problems that I'm having or any broken apps, but more just a usability issue with Explorer itself.

Does anyone know how to have folder extensions displayed? I find it a little ridiculous that the upgrade creates a Windows.old folder, but folder extensions are hidden by default. It's even more inane that if you accidentally type a period when renaming a folder, it will then take on that extension, which will subsequently disappear and no longer be editable.

Enabling view system files and folders as well as hidden folders and enabling showing of extensions for known file types does nothing. The only way I've found to view the extension that a folder has assigned to it is by right clicking and viewing its properties (Type: Folder (.randomextension)), or by viewing it in the command prompt.
 

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Check view, then check box in ribbon, show file extensions may help.
 

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No, none of the conventional methods seem to do anything. You can check and see for yourself by making a new folder and just attaching any extension to it.
 

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I must be missing something here, files have extensions but the last time I checked folders didn't?
 

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That's mostly true, there aren't many situations in Windows where a folder would gain an extension, and in past versions of Windows adding a .whatever would "change" the extension, but only to the extent of what the properties window says the file type of the folder is. What I've noticed with Windows 8 though, is that it actually adds an extension to the folder, then somehow hides that extension from everything other than the command prompt and properties window.

Lets take the folder that the upgrade assistant creates with your old windows folder. It puts your old windows directory into C:\Windows.old, which you would assume would appear as such, but instead you get two folders in the C drive named Windows. If you right click on each of them to view properties, one of them will read "Type: Folder" and the other will read "Type: Folder (.old)"

This is reproducable by adding .whatever to any folder, but only the first time. The first time you add an extension, it applies it to the folder then hides it, the next time you try to add an extension to the same folder, the folder behaves as you would expect (just appending .whatever to the folder name).
 

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    Windows 8 Pro (64)
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Um, if a folder has an extension its not a folder its a file? Sounds more like a glitch. Adding .old to the folder name just adds .old to the folder name. It's still not a file extension. It looks like Windows 8 treats it like a descripter when you go to properties. The thing is, it says Folder (.old) not File (.old). So my advice, for what its worth, is don't add .something to your folder names.
 

My Computer

System One

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    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
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It definitely sounds like a glitch, you are correct that something with an extension is a file rather than a folder. There is something in Windows 8 that is assigning extensions to folders, and is treating them as such. The extension becomes hidden and there is no way to access it other than the command prompt (you can't even edit it from the properties window) that I'm aware of (this is what I was looking for in the OP).

I mean sure, your advice is sound (however dumb it is that Windows 8 takes issue with appending a .whatever to your folder names), but that's not what I was looking for. I want to know how I can get it to either a) stop treating .whatever as an extension when it's in a folder name, or b) display the "folder extensions"
 

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System One

  • OS
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I don't know what to tell you. I did a clean install so I don't have a Windows.old folder. As a test I created one and the .old part didn't get hidden. I also created a test.old.bmp folder. The .bmp didn't get hidden either. I have windows set to "hide extensions for known file types". :confused:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
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    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
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    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
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    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
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    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
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    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
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I'm gonna have to ask a friend of mine who went through the upgrade rather than a clean install as well, and see if he can reproduce it.

Did you rename the folder to add .old, or did you name it test.old from the get go? What did the properties window say for file type?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro (64)
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    Custom
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    i7 2600k @ 5ghz
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    32gb G.SKILL Sniper 1866
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    SLI GeForce GTX670
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Yamakasi Catleap Q270 (x2)
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440 (x2)
    Hard Drives
    OCZ Vertex 4 - 256gb
    Western Digital WD Black 2TB
    Western Digital WD Black 2TB
    PSU
    ABS Majesty 1100W
    Case
    XCLIO Windtunnel
    Cooling
    Coolermaster V8
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    Logitech G110
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    Logitech G500
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I did both, the properties says Folder (.<whatever is after the last dot>)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Hello,

I'm not sure if this is still ongoing, but any folder can have a name.xxxxxx for a name. Anything after the dot is treated like an extension on a filename. So you can have Bob.001, Bob.002, Bob.home as FOLDER Names. I run Win8, and it will suddenly drop everything after the dot, so you wind up with three folders named Bob. If you have a space or underscore instead of a dot, this will not occur. I could never find a cause, it appears random. I did a restore to a few days earlier, and the issue cleared up - until it came back a few weeks later. If you do a DOS dir list, everything looks fine, it only shows up in Win (File) Explorer. If you check the folder properties, the full name is there and the folder type is listed as .XXX, with xxx being whatever is listed after the dot. If it is a network folder, the listing appears correctly when viewed from a different PC.

I know this doesn't help solve the problem, but it was correctly identified. BTW, changing the view file extension setting does not affect the folder view at all.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8
test 2009 contacts (2013_01_20 23_10_21 UTC) this is how mine look with the ()!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built Antec P-180B Case
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    Asus P5QPro Turbo
    Memory
    Kingston PC6300 4 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD5670
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