Weird File Explorer bug

Some Windows application place their desktop shortcuts into `Public Desktop` folders. When trying to delete such shortcuts from the desktop, Windows 11 generates the following error message



According to the message, it attempts to delete the file from my personal `Desktop` folder and complains that it "doesn't exist", when in reality it knows perfectly well that the file is located in `Public Desktop` folder



This issue did not exist in Windows 10.

P.S. This Windows 11 Pro installation has been sysprepped to relocate `Users` folder to `D:\Users`. But I don't think it's a factor in this issue.

There might be a "path" issue, the default folders in C:\Users\Public have names beginning with Public.

Berton said:

There might be a "path" issue, the default folders in C:\Users\Public have names beginning with Public.

Click to expand...

Not sure what exactly you are referring to. The "two part" structure of the public names in your screenshot (with space in the middle)? These names are actually "virtual". The real physical names for the public folders are simply `<drive>:\Users\Public` with no spaces in them.

Again, my screenshot shows that File Explorer is fully aware of the proper physical name of the file in the actual filesystem. But for some reason it is trying to use incorrect path when deleting the file. It is so dumbfounding because it is a very basic functionality, which worked fine in Windows 10 and, at the first sight, had no reason to change in Windows 11...