How does folder name translation work in international Windows 7 versions?

Question

I am running an Italian version of Windows 7. Some folders, such as C:\Users, appear as C:\Users when I run cmd and do an ls from the C: directory. However, when I use Windows Explorer, this Users folder shows up as Utenti. Also, when an install script installs to C:\Users and I go to Windows Explorer, I can click on C:\Utenti and still view the stuff.

Can anyone explain where this translation is configured and how it works at a deeper level, as this happens with most folders on the system which seemingly end up having two names in the Italian version of Window 7?

Thank you for any pointers or more in-depth information concerning the peculiarities of such mechanism.

Answer 1

The localized folders are actually symbolic links to their english counter parts. The original english folders are hidden system files. This way the user only sees the folders in their language but they are still accessible under their english names. This is a big plus of Windows Vista/7 because before if a script accessed C:\Program Files it was not usable under non-english versions of Windows.

You can show the hidden original english folders if you go to tools -> folder options -> show system files (or something similiar, out of my head).

Answer 2

As Felix Dombek mentioned in his comment, this is due to the desktop.ini, which can be found in your Users folder (and other folders as well).

This file is used by the File Explorer and the Shell to customize the appearance of folders. The LocalizedResourceName entry is responsible for the displayed foldername, which is used to determine the correct DLL and the stringID, the foldername should be loaded from.