Think I collapsed the Windows 10 space-time continuum
July 20, 2017 3:27 PM Subscribe
I just managed to paste a folder into its own subfolder and all the folders and subfolders disappeared. How do I fix this before I turn off my computer?
Long story short, I copied a folder of fonts intending to paste them into a subfolder elsewhere, then somehow managed to copy the parent folder of the subfolder I was heading into, then pasted it into the subfolder. I said yes to the confirmation box asking if I wanted to use my admin powers to do this because I still thought I had the folder of fonts in memory. When I realized my mistake, I tried to undo it, but I guess I had already put something else into memory.
If I look at the directory listing for the parent folder where the folder I borked used to be, I can see my folder in the command prompt window. Its subfolders are also listed, but now they're at the same level as the folder I accidentally pasted. That folder is not visible in the Windows 10 File Explorer, though, even though I have it set to show hidden folders.
I ran the chkdsk command but it didn't find any problems. Also tried looking in the recycle bin, %appdata% and %temp% to no avail.
Long story short, I copied a folder of fonts intending to paste them into a subfolder elsewhere, then somehow managed to copy the parent folder of the subfolder I was heading into, then pasted it into the subfolder. I said yes to the confirmation box asking if I wanted to use my admin powers to do this because I still thought I had the folder of fonts in memory. When I realized my mistake, I tried to undo it, but I guess I had already put something else into memory.
If I look at the directory listing for the parent folder where the folder I borked used to be, I can see my folder in the command prompt window. Its subfolders are also listed, but now they're at the same level as the folder I accidentally pasted. That folder is not visible in the Windows 10 File Explorer, though, even though I have it set to show hidden folders.
I ran the chkdsk command but it didn't find any problems. Also tried looking in the recycle bin, %appdata% and %temp% to no avail.
This post was deleted for the following reason: poster's request -- cortex
That… should not have been possible. Have you tried running a search across your entire filesystem for one of the files in the folder, then opening the folder the file resides in from the search results listing, and then moving everything in there to a new, not-fucked-up folder? That's my first thought. Windows hopefully still knows how to find the files, even if the directory system is kinda broken and you can no longer get there the normal way.
But something either went badly wrong or else you are somehow mistaken about what happened, because Windows definitely should not have let you do that, even as an administrator.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 6:01 PM on July 20, 2017
But something either went badly wrong or else you are somehow mistaken about what happened, because Windows definitely should not have let you do that, even as an administrator.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 6:01 PM on July 20, 2017
I believe it is highly unlikely but I suppose not impossible that you could have unintentionally created an NTFS reparse point (symbolic link or directory junction).
I only raise this point to ask if this was on an NTFS drive, and also in case it makes anyone else more Windows 10 knowledgeable than me think of an explanation.
posted by forthright at 6:26 PM on July 20, 2017
I only raise this point to ask if this was on an NTFS drive, and also in case it makes anyone else more Windows 10 knowledgeable than me think of an explanation.
posted by forthright at 6:26 PM on July 20, 2017
If it's Windows 10, it's almost certainly an NTFS drive.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 6:46 PM on July 20, 2017
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 6:46 PM on July 20, 2017
Yeah, I've had no end of weirdness with fonts and the Fonts folder in Windows 10 (How is it still not better than it was in, like, Windows 98?) and I would recommend the technique Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The suggested, and then Aleyn's idea if that doesn't work. The stuff is still there, it's just that you need to get at it sideways.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:40 AM on July 21, 2017
posted by Rock Steady at 9:40 AM on July 21, 2017
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If you can see the folder(s) you want from the command line, you should be able to move them using the command "move [folder_to_move] [path_to_destination_folder_to_move_to]" (e.g. "move myfolder c:\a_different_folder\"). If you say you can't see them from Explorer, even though you can see them in the command line, they might've gotten their file attributes or permissions messed up, or if they were moved to a special system folder (like the fonts folder), Windows may be hiding them because it is a special folder (in which case moving them out should fix your issue).
posted by Aleyn at 4:06 PM on July 20, 2017 [1 favorite]