Folder names in File Explorer don’t necessarily reflect the actual name of the directory. But why?
The Windows shell (desktop environment) allows for customizing several aspects of a folder’s appearance and behavior by creating a text file inside the folder to specify desired options. For example, folders are commonly displayed with a standard icon, but a desktop.ini text file allows for selection of a custom icon or thumbnail image instead.
The name of these configuration files comes from the filename extension INI, for initialization, used in the MS-DOS operating system and Windows after it.
That same text file can also be used to modify a folder’s display name to be shown on the folder icon label and title bar without actually changing the directory path.
But… why?
There are a few reasons one may do this. Historically, Windows has used desktop.ini to localize the folder names. On the drive it might be just “Documents”, but when you look at it, it references a string of text inside the shell32.dll file to retrieve the name it should display. Here’s an example from Windows XP, where the “Shared Documents” folder is actually just named “Documents” (the address bar of the folder betrays the real name, verified by the directory list in the command prompt). Although you can’t see it by default, Notepad is showing the contents of the hidden desktop.ini file that exists inside the documents folder, and inside that text you can see the referenced used to retrieve the display name.
Here’s the same thing from 20 years later: Windows 11 shows “Public Documents” for a folder that is truly just “Documents”.
This functionality is also used on network shares in clever ways. For example, my “My Documents” folder reflects a name of “Shawn’s Documents” when viewed from someone else’s machine. It’s really pretty slick.
The legacy OneDrive “groove” sync client also used this to label the folder for unsynced changes, while using a far shorter directory name of ODBA (whatever that means), as shown below. It’s interesting to note that OneDrive (modern client) will not sync desktop.ini files so customizations you make will not synchronize.
I use these to override the names on my local copy of SharePoint folders that sync via OneDrive. These folders here under “Teleflora LLC” all originally had “- Documents” appended to them. I used desktop.ini to shorten it to more manageable names I prefer to see:
I also customize my personal folders for some color and personality as you see below. Unlike changing the display name of a folder though, the icon can be set by simply right-clicking a folder, choosing Properties, then selecting an icon on the Customize tab. The necessary changes are made to the desktop.ini file for you automatically.
Here’s a short video of the process:
