there's this bug in one of these plugins that basically makes all files unable to rename?

In file explorer you can rename anything, and when I open one of these plugins which all open automatically from each previous project it stops being able to. the action doesn't happen and it just doesn't start a type window of the name.
If I use everything void tool, I can rename in there, but this doesn't help when I am trying to organize folders. the only choice I have right now is to restart my computer when this happens

I have honestly no clue what to do, and too many plugins to narrow it down at the moment.
I've tried resetting the file explorer inside of task manager, but that doesn't do anything, or it doesn't fix the problem.

 

Can't you just open your DAW in "safe mode"? You can't rename files which are already in use by the system. So usually there is a keyboard shortcut for your DAW that will let you open it with none of your plugins loaded. Or maybe your DAW has a crash log like Cubase does.

That will get you to the plugin manager without stuff already loaded. Then enable a big bunch of them. 50 at a time, or whatever makes sense based on the number of plugins you have to test. Then open the DAW with just those enabled. If your problem happens, you have it narrowed down to the ones you just tested. And if not, disable those and do another batch of them the same way. It will not take you very long to find it, compared to putting up with it.

Remember that *.dll or *.vst and *.vst3 in find/search files in Windows will work with that wildcard and find any plugins with those extensions. On Mac we do this whole thing sort of backwards. We take all the plugins out of the folder and test by putting them back in batches. It's the same but with a little tweak of the process. It's easier for us to move entire content of plugins folder and then just put them back. Same thing.

 

Don't tell us you are on Windows 7

 

This isn't exactly a detail rich post, is it? Small little details left out, such as OS version, DAW, Interface, steps taken, recently installed new software, etc etc. Is there already a known problem that causes this?

 

If any files or folders are in use by the system, you can't rename them in another process anymore. Other than that, do you run your DAW as administrator? If so opened files might be opened under a user that the normal explorer can't handle anymore because it runs under the normal system user. So if the files are not released properly that might cause problems.