Trouble:
Recently one of our readers Miku reported a problem, whenever he tries to rename any file, he gets a warning message saying:
“If you change a filename extension,the file may become unusable. Are you sure you want to change it?”
Warning can be seen in snapshot below.
This simply happens because when user tries to rename the file when the extensions of file are shown, he/she forgets to give the extension and gives only new filename. This makes the file to become un-recognized by windows (or any operating system).
Let’s see how can we solve it.
Fix:
The solution to this trouble is also very simple, lets see how we can fix it.
Method 1 :
The simplest way to fix such issue is to make the file extensions hidden. When you do that, windows will take care that the file extensions are not changed while renaming the file. To make the file extensions hidden, follow the below steps:
1. Open My Computer, go to Tools > Folder Options > View
2. Check the option “Hide extensions for know file types”.
3. Click Apply and OK.As seen in image below.
Method 2 :
Always provide the extension to the file explicitly as it was previously. For example if you want to rename a zip file from old name file1 to new name file2, make sure you rename the file from file1.zip to file2.zip. This means you have to type the extension manually.
We hope this helps to understand why the warning got flashed
Comments
I have pleased on the solution. It has cleared it all thank you very much.
Eyob
from Ethiopia
>>This simply happens because when user tries to rename the file when the extensions of file are shown, he/she forgets to give the extension and gives only new filename.
It’s rather narrow minded reason.
I need tho change extensions somteimes, not just to rename a file forgetting an extension. For example, to change *.ra to *.rar
So your solution is just for several users who didn’t get lucky to get a system with DEFAULT setting of not showing extensions for known formats.
Regards
such a simple tip, and work…. Thanks, saved me hours of head scratching!!
Great help! Thanks! Was losing valued graphics and picture files. A few clicks fixed things. Method one worked FAST.
thanks so much dude …. cHEERS
GEEZ that was getting so annoying. Thank you for solving my problem.
…I’m pretty sure I was living without renaming anything for at least 7 months.
Thanks for solving my file extension problem
I even went to MS site and could not provide the answer
thanks again
thank u so much for solving the problem i faced and clearing all my frustration. 😉
Thank you so much for helping me to get this problem solved…
Thanks a lot!!!
that’s no solution for me.
1. i always want to see which extensions my files have
2. as a coder i often create simple .txt files by a right click and rename it after my work to e.g. php, bat, cs, …
so i think there has to be a better way to disable the warning
thanks man it works….!
Thanx sooo much!!!
I have this problem also.
Whenever I rename my files I get these annoying error messages telling me I’m changing the extension.
I KNOW I’m changing the extension, it’s on purpose.
How do I get rid of these annoying error messages from appearing every time I try and change the extension?
simple solution…..nonetheless effective.
this kind of small solution can be clarified by these kind of forums is very good.
The workaround I use is a 3rd party tool which can automatically click a button on specified dialog – in this case the ‘Yes’ buttom for this silly warning window.
ya its very good
srmvel
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Thanks a million!I almost went to the extent of installing new OS for my computer.
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Simple easy and understandable. Thnx
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Thank you. This worked just as you said. Do you know why it happens though? After performing this fix I restored defaults to discover several settings on my computer have been changed.
Could it be a bug?
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i lost maney my photo problem of Rename . thank.
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but
I don’t know what is file extension and how to provide it
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thnks……
I agree with stretch and Vaer…this is not helpful if you actually need to 1) see your file extensions and 2) need to change them often
Has anyone found a solution to keep this message from popping up where you are still able to see your file extensions and when you need to change them for legitimate reasons and are very aware that if the file extension is incorrect the file will be unusable?
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damn!!… tnx so much dude, i was so stressed of this isue, i think it was coz the auto setings of other viewer on my machine, tnx a lot again ———-SOLVED———
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this is not a “fix”, it is for people who know nothing about computers. For those of us who are programmers and create their own file extensions, and need them always on, and need to change file extensions with F2 hundreds of times daily, can you PLEASE provide a way to turn off this annoying confirmation dialog box in windows xp?
thank you soo much!!
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This solution does not work. Clearly, all the people replying “yay, this worked for me” are either shills, or just plain don’t understand what is going on.
If I want to change a file extension from .xls to .xlst (or whatever) windows pops up this window in an attempt to save me from myself.
I am an experienced programmer, and I know what I am doing. I don’t need to be saved from myself (I guess 99% of the rest of the world does need that protection.
There is NO WAY to disable this warning. Turning off seeing file extensions is a fix for a symptom, not the problem.
Clearly, the author of this post falls into the 99% because he doesn’t understand the issue. He is supplying an answer for a problem that was not asked.
I really wish idiots who didn’t know what they are doing would stay off help sites.
C.