New File Renaming Bug Found in Windows Vista and Server 2008

Now that's an interesting bug which exists in Windows Vista and Server 2008. I found it today while renaming some files in Vista.

Without wasting any time, I'll tell you the exact steps to re-create this bug:

1. Disable "Hide extensions for known file types" option in "Folder Options".

2. Now open My Computer and navigate to a folder which contains at least one file.

3. Rename the file by clicking on the file and press "F2" or right-click on the file and select "Rename".

4. Windows will only select the name of file and the extension will not be selected. Select the whole text i.e. name as well as extension:

5. Now give it any name and make sure you change its extension. To make it more clear, in this example the file is "Readme.txt" and I'll rename it to "VG.MP3". So I'm changing its extension from .txt to .MP3

6. Now once you type the new name, don't press Enter. Click on empty area in Explorer to apply the new name, Windows will show confirmation dialog box:

7. Click on "Yes" button and see the bug:

As you can see in above screenshot, a strange selection rectangle will be created automatically from the point where you clicked in explorer to the "Yes" button location.

8. If you move the cursor, the rectangle will change its size:

9. To remove the rectangle, just refresh the window:

NOTE: The bug doesnt appear if you press Enter to apply the new name. You have to click in empty area to re-create the bug.

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This article was posted in Bugs Report, Windows Vista.

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9 Comments

Rahul Manekari (MW)

hello sir,
I hav tried it on my vista ultimate....
It appears sometimes but not every time...
VG

^^ It'll appear each and every time if you carefully follow each step. Remember, don't use keyboard keys while renaming the file. Use your mouse cursor for it as I have mentioned in the procedure.
DrSnap

WTF.
A similar thing hapened to me when i renamed a _folder_ from "OST" to "O.S.T."
BUT!!! now the folder i renamed as well as the folder containing this folder ARE EMPTY!!
A few GB of data just *whush* gone!! Can't find them in the recycling bin nor with the command line: files gone! Disabling the "hide system files" etc. doesn't help either.

Never mind a f**king selection rectangle it stole my data! a seveir bug to me!

Does anyone have any other suggestions as to where I could find my files again? pleeeease!

greets
: DrSnap
VG

^^ Now thats really sad and strange. Seems really a BIG bug.
CytoxX

That was nice to know.. ive seen that before but never found out what exactly that were causing it..
BloodShadow

The bug appears in Win S7even too.
DrSnap

it shows that windows is not improving..! it's still going down the ugly road.
well, left it behind me, that bloody useless stuff.
after about 10 years of fighting I switched to Mac now...
PhazerWolf

If you move the change extension dialogue box around it leaves trails. The underlying window isn't processing any messages from its message queue, hence, the pointer jump.

The last message the window received was the mousedown message, once the dialogue box has been cleared, the underlying window still thinks the mouse is in the mousedown state. Now the area from the original file to the point where the yes or no button was pressed is highlighted.

It just goes to show Microsoft developers do a lot of copying and pasting of code
Jack

I have encountered this bug on Vista x86 and WIn 7 x64, I have posted about in 2 different windows forums:

http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/index.php?/topic/27374-rename-bug/page__p__259194&#entry259194

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistafiles/thread/3ba10704-8814-4522-8abf-51d513b50fba

And I have sent emails to microsoft explaining exactly what the problem is. It is a very simple fix for them but they don't seem to care.