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What does a blue filename in Windows Explorer mean?

I have an external hard disk. When I plug it in a system running Windows XP.. all the folder names and even the file names contained in hard disk are seen in blue color. When I plug it in a system running Windows 7, it does not happens so.

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marked as duplicate by Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007, Sathya Feb 20 '12 at 8:06


Can you post an image? I don't quite understand what you mean. –  elclanrs Feb 20 '12 at 6:18
Related question: superuser.com/questions/301690/… –  goldPseudo Feb 20 '12 at 6:38

2 Answers 2

up vote 9 down vote accepted

It's possible that you're dealing with compressed files, and the two Windows computers just have different configurations for how to display them.

Windows XP, as well as Windows 7, will by default display compressed files in blue and encrypted files in green, while files which are both uncompressed and unencrypted are displayed in black. This is easily configurable in Folder Options, which is accessible in Windows 7 as follows:

Control Panel
  -> Appearance and Personalization
    -> Folder Options
      -> View
        -> Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS Files in Color
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I was working on my edit while you posted your answer. Our answers our identical, screenshots aside. +1 for being 'first'. :P –  iglvzx Feb 20 '12 at 6:42

By default, Windows Explorer represents compressed files and folders as blue. It may be that your configuration between Windows XP and 7 is different. This particular setting is found under Folder Options > View > Advanced settings > Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color.

Windows XP:
folder options

Windows 7:
folder options

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