Solved Moved Documents Folder to User Profile Folder

V

VistaPuppy

New Member
HELP! I've accidentally moved my Documents Folder into my user profile folder by mistake and now i have a mess. :( basically I now have a folder that goes something like this: c:\users\documents\ and it contains a duplicate of everything that was already in the desktop\username\documents folder except now I can't rename or delete my user profile folders...ad I don't have a restore point to go back to :( what can I do? any help would be very much appreciated please!! Thanks!!
 

My Computer

System One

You could try to open another user account. I think that would be a possible way to solve your problem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
Hello Vista Puppy, and welcome to Vista Forums.

This may be able to help you fix this:
  • Backup anything in the "Documents" folder(s) that you do not want to lose to another location.
  • Delete all instances of the "Documents" folder.
  • Restore the default location of the "Documents" folder using Method Three in this tutorial (click on link).
  • Restart the computer. It may take a few times or a bit for "Documents" to return to it's default "C:\Users\(user-name)\Documents" location.
  • When it does, copy the backup contents back into your "Documents" folder.
Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Thanks for the suggestions. I've tried to delete the extra copy of the documents folder that is appearing under what used to be the user profile but it comes up with an error saying I can't delete it due to privledges. I am logged in as the administrator and have full privledges so I guess there's another reason. I did notice though, that as I was deleting files from the Documents folder they were also deleting from what used to be the user profiles' folder, so i'm thinking that maybe when I moved the folder it hasn't actually duplicated it but has somehow renamed / recreated / merged with the user profile folder (I said "yes" when asked to move all the files from the old location to the new location - it did come up with another message and I think this is what I did wrong - I answered "yes" and it probably should have been "no" but I can't remember what the warning was!!)?

If I use windows explorer I can drill into the following and see exactly the same files / folders:

(1) desktop\lynne
(2) c:\users\documents (if you look at the properities it says the file name is lynne, but it says documents)
(3) c:\users\documents\documents

I've made a right mess :( Thanks for your help!!
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

Go ahead and restore the default location to see if that may allow you to remove any duplicates after the restarts.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Brink said:
Go ahead and restore the default location to see if that may allow you to remove any duplicates after the restarts.
Click to expand...

Ok, followed the tutorial and after the restart I now have two Documents Folders under the username and desktop\username (the new one is empty - the original one still has all the folders in it from previously and I still cant delete it).

So, to try and clarify what I did to begin with:

(1) wanted to move My Documents folder FROM c:\My Documents TO c:\users\lynne\My Documents
(2) created new folder in new location
(3) right clicked on old location folder / properties / Location / Move & selected (so I thought) the new location
(4) believe I actually selected c:\users\
(5) clicked "yes" when asked to copy all files from old location to new location
(6) clicked "yes" again when warned that I was moving to a system folder (or something like that)
(7) ended up with all my user folders / files and my Documents files and folder all being merged and renamed "c:\users\Documents" - if I click on Documents fron the start menu I actually go to c:\users\documents\documents.

Does that help?
 

My Computer

System One

I would make sure that the "Guest Account" is turned OFF and delete all but your main account.

Then change your Document properties to C:\Users\Lynn\Documents.

Also, try going into User Accounts and change your account name.

Also, right click the desktop, select personalize, click "Change Desktop Icons", uncheck "User's Files", and Apply.

Then re-check the "User's Files" and Apply.

This might reset it to the way it was.
 

Attachments

  • doc properties.jpg
    doc properties.jpg
    79 KB · Views: 34
  • Icons.jpg
    Icons.jpg
    67 KB · Views: 216

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire T180 - Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 2.4 GHz (single core)
    Motherboard
    Chipset - nVidia MCP61/nForce 430 GeForce 6150SE
    Memory
    R.A.M. - 3072 MB DDR2 PC2-5300 (333MHz)/667 = 2(1024 MB), 2(512 MB)
    Graphics card(s)
    XFX GeForce GT 240 {1GB DDR3, 550 MHz GPU, SM 4.1, dx 10.1}
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek HD Audio ALC888
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer AL1706 LCD 17"
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 1024
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi 160 GB SATA, Partitioned into C: and D:
    Internet Speed
    Rogers Hi-Speed Express (10 MB/s download, 512 kb/s upload.
    Other Info
    AVG Internet Security
Thanks all for your suggestions. I've ended up creating a new user profile, copying everything over and deleting the old one. Seems to have worked a treat. Problem solved, and lesson learned :) CHeers!!
 

My Computer

System One

You're welcome VistaPuppy. We're happy to hear that you got it sorted. :)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Glad that I was able to be of some help. Sometimes, the most obvious solution is the best.

Return often, to both use our expertise and to share yours.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top