can you renamed a file extension in XP?

[kleinma]

Yes of course you can.

My question is this:

Is it possible to rename a file in windows XP when "hide extensions for known file types" is on (which it is by default)


The only 2 solutions I can think of are

1) do it from a command prompt
2) turn off the hide extensions feature, rename, turn back on

Is there any super simple way that anyone is aware of from the Windows Explorer shell?

[Greyskull]

i agree with your two solutions, but if you have lots of file extensions to rename then opt 1 wud be the most suited one imo using the ff:

ren *.originalextension1 *.newfileextension

something like that...if you are on that folder already...

[kleinma]

yeah I have an endless number of solutions I can come up with in my head that I know work. I was just wondering why the explorer shell interface doesn't let you rename an extension when hide extensions is off. It just seems weird to me.

[Greyskull]

my bad. i knw wat you mean nw.hehe... i agree, it is weird that you just can't change it when 'do not show file extensions are on'

[schoolbusdriver]

If you're dealing with file(s) with a predefined name and location, then a batch file (attrib, rename, attrib) would work. Otherwise, simple ? - no.

[mendhak]

It's to protect users like us from ourselves. I think it's safe to say that they've 'tested' this feature enough to prevent allowing such a rename from the windows shell. One of the first things that came to mind was to click on a file, press F2, then press Ctrl or Alt to see if the extension showed up. But I really can't be bothered to hide the extensions of known file types as it makes me cry at night.

[kleinma]

I agree mend that its a protection feature... one that numerous virus writters have expolited by sending emails with attachment: funnypic.jpg.exe

I never hide extensions, I never hide system files or hidden files either. I like to know everything thats going on if possible.

However it was just a customers PC I happened to be working with, where I needed to rename a few file extensions because they were copies and I was renaming their ext to .bak to fit into a backup renaming scheme they have going. Anyway its not a big deal, as I said, I know there are several workarounds that I could do faster than posting a message on here, I was just curious if there was any way I didn't know about directly from the shell.

Mend, calling F2 or any shortcut to rename the file does not populate the extension as part of the rename, it continues to hide it, so even if you give it an ext, its really just part of the file name, and the original ext remains (hidden).