Don't copy option in Windows explorer not working

Hello all

I hope someone can help please. I have never seen a solution to this problem (in mutiple years and versions of Windows) and for the life of me don't understand MS would provide functionality that doesn't work by default. The picture below is the result of copying two folders with the same name with many duplicate file names in each. The conflict message below is thus exactly what I would expect to see. Upon coming across the first conflict explorer correctly displays the message below. Please see the picture below. If I tick "do this for all conflicts" having selected "copy and replace" it correctly and as I would expect does precisely that and replaces every file and adds any extra ones that don't exist already. However, if I select "don't copy" instead it does nothing rather than skipping all the existing files and just copying the missing ones. Thus meaning there is absolutely no difference between selecting "don't copy" and just hitting cancel. I have tried doing the same with the shift key held down, just in case, but it makes no difference. I would do it in powershell or another alternative to MS explorer but as the destination folder is on my mobile phone and consequently does not have a drive letter associated with it that is not an option. Is there a way around this that I have missed or does the option simply not work?

Many thanks in advance.

Regards,

Paul Lemonidis.

PaulLemonidis said:

Is there a way around this that I have missed or does the option simply not work?

What version and build of W10 are you on? For as long as I can remember this is the screen you should be seeing.



followed by this when you click 'Let me decide'.

Thanks for the quick response.

I am on the latest insider build of Windows 10 (18990). I have always had this problem. It is not a new thing I'm afraid to say. It has just become more of an issue for me recently.The stupid part is that if I select "copy and replace" instead it works correctly but with several thousand files it takes hours instead of a few seconds to just add a few additional files. I can even select copy manually with the do this for all conflicts unticked and it will prompt for each conflict but with several thousand files that is just not viable.

Thanks,

Paul.

PaulLemonidis said:

I am on the latest insider build of Windows 10 (18990). I have always had this problem. It is not a new thing I'm afraid to say....

Odd, I don't see why this should be different in the latest Insider build, I've just run up a VM of 1507, build 10240 and it worked they way I described back then.

What steps are you taking to do this copy? This is what I did: I select a group of files in File Explorer, right-click and select Copy. Then I navigate to a folder that may already contain some files, right-click and select Paste. The files that don't conflict are copied, then I get this message.

...the destination folder is on my mobile phone...

That may well explain this, I don't have a phone to test this scenario. Does it work as I describe if you do a test copy to a folder on your PC?