I cannot rename photos or music on my computer!

I was trying to rename my music files and photos stored on my computer. When I try to rename the file, the error message pops up "If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable. Are you sure you want to change it?"

And if I say yes, it makes the file unreadable and unsalvagable. If I say no, then the file will not be renamed. I need some help! If you can help please email me email address removed - please keep all comments on the forum. Newt so that I can fix this as it is very crippling to my work. Thank You

 

Hi Ryan11405 and welcome to the forum

We like to keep all posts about a problem within a thread. Less confusing that way, all who want to help will know what has been said, and anyone with the same problem who runs across this thread will get an idea of how to fix theirs.

If you are trying to change the file extension, you will certainly get that warning. Your operating system uses the file extension to know what program is needed to run them.

Best practice when you rename is to retain the extension while changing the main name. For example

My Huge Photo with this horrible name of My Dog.jpg if renamed to MyDog.jpg should do fine but if renamed to MyDog , will give you a warning and the picture won't open unless you force it and sometimes not even then. Renaming it to MyDog.xyz will be even worse. However, renaming it again with the original .jpg extension should fix that.

 

When you changed the extension, you are changing the file type. Change the extension back to what it was, and the file should be OK. An extension (the last letters after the period) defines the file type. For example. SomemusicFile.Mp3
If you just want to change the name easy, go into Folder Options, click on View tab, then put a checkmark for 'Hide Extensions for Known File Types', then Apply then OK. Then you won't have this problem, as the extension will be hidden from you to change, and no more messages about this.

 

Ryan11405 - did any of that help?