Vista: Deleted %PUBLIC%\Desktop\ folder. Can not install software as a result.

R

Ratchet1

Member
I am posting this for a friend of mine, (hereafter referred to as "Bob").

As stated in the thread title, Bob deleted the following folder:

%PUBLIC%\Desktop\

Bob told me that the above folder was located at the root level of the C drive, (C:\).

The above folder was approximately 19 G in size. Bob deleted said folder to free up some space on his hard drive. Thereafter he had the below problems, all of which happen consistently.




  • Every time Bob tries to install any new software, (application software, games, etc.), he gets the following error dialog:
Error 1606.​
Could not access network location %PUBLIC%\Desktop\.

​
  • When creating a new folder, Bob can not give it a name. Every time Bob tries to name a new folder, Vista keeps forcing the name of the newly created folder to be "New Folder".

  • Can not install any new software. The "Error 1606" dialog happens each time.

  • Can not uninstall most existing software, "Error 1606" dialog happens each time.

  • Win Explorer gets flaky sometimes. Warm boot clears this condition.

  • The Print Screen key, (a.k.a. screen dump key), does not work.



Exceptions To The Above:


  • All software that was installed prior to Bob deleting said folder works OK.

  • Windows Update works OK. No error messages, etc..



It should be pointed out that the only account on Bob's laptop is the top administrator account. That is why Bob was able to screw up his laptop so bad. Had he created an account for daily use, and left the top admin account only for admin work, he would not have been able to mess up his laptop so bad.

I told Bob almost a year ago to create an account for daily use due to the above reasons, but my lecture to Bob was not heeded. Bob has been using his Vista laptop for too long under the top admin account. All of Bob's games, application software settings, etc. are under the top admin account. Migrating everything over to a normal user account at this point would be extremely difficult.



Bob researched his problem with Google. Here is what he told me he got:


  • Per a MS Knowledge Base, (MSKB), article, Bob tried running MS Fix It. Said tool did not work.

  • Somewhere it was suggested to Bob that a total re-install of Vista was required. (Sorry, Bob did not tell me where he saw this. It might have been MSKB).



I myself have spent SEVERAL hours looking on the Internet for solutions to this, including, but not limited to:

Microsoft TechNet Forums
Microsoft Answers
Microsoft Support

Windows 7 Forums

Tech Support Guy
Tech Support Guy Forums

Vistaheads

Wikipedia



Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, and I am going to forward the URL of this thread to my friend Bob who has the sick laptop. I told Bob to lurk and/or join in on this thread.

THANKS!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
Here at the system specs for Bob's computer.


HP/Comaq Presario CQ60 Notebook

Vista Home Basic SP2

RAM: 2 G

Hard Drive: 138 G
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
Here is a thread you folks may want to look at:

Vistaheads> Vista Home Basic Error 1606 %PUBLIC%\Desktop\

All of the symptoms the above user had are the same as my friend's laptop. He said that he solved his problem by doing what the below MS Support article said to do.

You receive an "Error 1606" error message when you try to install or remove a Microsoft program

I read the above article. It seems as if it addresses problems associated with the Win Registry, NOT physically deleting the %PUBLIC%\Desktop\ folder, (like my friend Bob did).

The above MS web page MIGHT possibly be the fix that Bob tried to get his laptop straightened out. (Use MS FixIt. If that fails, then manually edit the Registry. If that does not work, do other steps, etc., etc.). Anyway, Bob did both of the procedures in said MS article. Both procedures failed. All of the previously listed problems remained on Bob's laptop.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
I am posting this as an FYI for anybody that is green like me on the innards of Vista. I am referring to the below thread on PC Magazine's Forum:

PC Magazine Discussions - Lost Vista Desktop Shortcuts

The item to zero in on is a reply made by user gwolking on 08-04-2009, 6:27 AM. Said reply explains what the "Personal Desktop folder" is. Nice explanation. Said explanation is the thing that helped me. (But other than said post on said thread, it does not directly address the problem on Bob's laptop).

Like I said above, just an FYI.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
User MunkiBr started the below thread on Vista Forums. He appears to have done the exact same thing my friend Bob did:

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-file-management/179737-how-reinstall-public-desktop.html

In a reply user barman58 said:



firstly I'm not sure if this will work enter

Code: 
 shell:public\desktop
into the start menu search bar and press enter, and It should recreate your missing folder. If the folder exists (like on my set up), it takes you to the folder and standard function for special shell folders is to create them if they do not exist
Click to expand...
The above sounds simple enough, but his statement at the beginning of his reply, "firstly I'm not sure if this will work", does not make me feel too comfortable.

Nobody replied on the above thread to say whether or not barman58's suggestion worked or not. I don't want to make Bob's problems worse than they already are. Would anyone care to comment on the above suggestion made by barman58?

The above thread is the only one I have found where it appears that a user did exactly what my friend Bob did. And the suggestion by user barman58 is the only solution that directly addresses said apparent problem.

But does the suggestion by barman58 actually work? How dangerous is it?

I know Bob should do a Win Restore Point before trying anything, but will that be enough to cover his butt if the above suggestion screws up his laptop even more than it is now? (And yes, I have told Bob to back up his data).
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
The below 7 Forums thread and the tutorial pages said thread point to are very nice:

Cannot find Public Desktop (Annoying!?)

But the only problem is that all of the above are for Win 7, not Vista. Is there a Win Vista equivalent of the above thread/tutorials, perhaps on Windows Vista Forums, (http://www.vistax64.com)?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
Please refer to the below thread on 7 Forums:

Solved BY MISTAKE,removed 'public folder' from library - Windows 7 Forums


The Win 7 user that started this thread "unintentionally removed 'public folder' from the 'libraries' section." The other members of Seven Forums told said user how to restore any/all of the public folders from the libraries said folders originally belonged to.
1)
What are these Libraries that exist in Win 7? Can somebody please explain this concept to me?

2)
Does Win Vista have this Libraries feature like Win 7 does?

3)
If the answer to the above question is yes, would this be the best route for my friend Bob to take to fix his laptop?

4)
If a Win Vista tutorial exists on this subject, can somebody point me to said tutorial on how to restore public folders from the Win Vista libraries?
​
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
richc46 said:
I would use system restore to correct the problem.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76905-system-restore-how.html
Click to expand...



richc46, thanks for helping!

The only problem is, Bob last did a Restore Point about 8 month ago or so, and he has installed A LOT of software on his laptop since that Restore Point was done. And it is some pretty heavy stuff, really harsh bloated resource sucking games, with lots of plug ins, stuff like that.

Another downside: Bob downloads tools that he sees on the Internet. (I know, big mistake)!


  • Registry cleaners
  • Free "Fix It 4 U" utilities
  • "Free to the first 100,000 people who download this" utilities

...and so on.

So I don't think a System Restore would do much good for this guy. It might make his situation worse.

Bob ordered the restore DVD-ROMs from HP and is waiting on them to arrive. But unfortunately, said DVD-ROMs have only one option: Wipe out the hard drive and install Vista from scratch. There are no repair options on said DVD-ROMs. And if he does that, he will loose his Wi Fi key, which he does not have written down or backed up at all.

I can tell him to do a System Restore from the Restore Point taken from 8 months ago. But to be honest he might better just do the wipe and complete re-install once he gets his DVD-ROMs. He is probably loaded with spyware from all the free junk he has downloaded off the Internet anyway. He has no spyware installed, and he is surfing, chatting and playing games on his top admin account 50+ hours / week. So he is probably pretty polluted.

As far as the Wi Fi key goes, he might have to beg his neighbor who is letting him free ride on her router for said key again.

Hopefully he will listen to me this time and stay away from all of that free junk on the Internet. Maybe some of you guys can tell him here about how that stuff sucks, etc..

Also, about how dumb it is to use the top admin account as a daily use account, etc..
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
By default a new restore point is made at least once a week. Check to see if there is current point.
 

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

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
richc46 said:
By default a new restore point is made at least once a week. Check to see if there is current point.
Click to expand...



That is awesome! I hope my friend has not turned off said default. I should be talking to him in a half day or so. I will ask him about it.

Also like I said, my friend is going to lurk this thread. So he will see your suggestion, etc..

Thanks richc46!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
richc46,

I talked to Bob and told him to either lurk or join this thread. I am still waiting for Bob to do so.

I read the http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76905-system-restore-how.html. I have used the Win Restore Point tool, (or whatever its formal name is), a few times in XP. The Vista version as portrayed in the above tutorial looks kind of similar.

In the mean time, some thoughts on your previous suggestion of using a Win Restore Point.

The trouble with Bob's laptop is that he deleted the %PUBLIC%\Desktop\ folder 2-3 months ago. And Bob does not remember the exact date that he did this. From post #1 of this thread I said:


The above folder was approximately 19 G in size. Bob deleted said folder to free up some space on his hard drive.
Click to expand...
This is what Bob did:


  • Bob saw the %PUBLIC%\Desktop\ folder on his hard drive.

  • Bob saw that said folder was taking up a lot of space.

  • Bob says to himself, "This folder is stupid, I don't know what it is and I don't want it. It is taking up too much space."

  • Bob then deleted said folder.

  • Bob promptly forgets about the above event.

The laptop still worked. Bob could still email, chat, surf, play games, and do YouTube. No big deal right? He did not actually realize he had a problem until he tried to install some new software. That is when the error dialogs started coming up.

Bob does not remember even what week or month he deleted the %PUBLIC%\Desktop\ folder. So how is he going to know which Restore Point to use? Note the below quote from the tutorial you told me about, the http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76905-system-restore-how.html :


Be sure to use a restore point dated before the problem started or it will not help you.
Click to expand...
Bob does not remember when he deleted the %PUBLIC%\Desktop\ folder. So that is a problem.




Here's another problem:

Let's assume that Bob did not change the default settings in the Vista Restore Point tool, (again sorry if I have the name of said tool wrong). The http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/122127-previous-versions-shadow-copy.html tutorial says this:


When System Restore is turned on (it is by default), Vista automatically creates shadow copies of any files that have been changed since the time the last restore point was made. Restore points are created once per day and before significant system events such as program or driver installation.
Click to expand...
I told Bob what you said in your post. Bob then said to me that the previous Restore Point automatically generated by Vista has probably been overwritten by now. And I think that is the reason why I decided to go a different route in fixing this problem when I first created this thread. (I forgot about this issue until I talked to Bob yesterday).

Any comments on what I said in this post would be welcome.

Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
So Bob can see this, I am including a couple of other "How To" tutorials from this forum that I stumbled upon that may, (or may not), help him:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/122127-previous-versions-shadow-copy.html
It should be noted from the perspective of Bob's laptop, there are a couple of problems with the technique in the above tutorial.



This is only available for the Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise editions of Windows Vista. For the other Vista editions, you might try this free alternative: ShadowExplorer.com - About
Click to expand...
Bob's laptop has Vista Home. So that rules out Previous Versions - Shadow Copy right there.

Even if Bob DID have Vista Ultimate, Business, or Enterprise editions, I don't feel too confident that restoring the %PUBLIC%\Desktop\ folder via the Previous Versions - Shadow Copy technique would work. In order to properly restore the %PUBLIC%\Desktop\ folder, the Win Registry and probably a bunch of other stuff would have to be restored also.

Just restoring the %PUBLIC%\Desktop\ folder will not be enough. Right? (Correct me if I am wrong).



http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/141820-create-recovery-disc.html
Before making any changes to Bob's laptop, it may be a good idea to create a recovery disc(s). I put the above link in this thread in case Bob will need it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
I have a question that is somewhat related to this thread.

Can somebody please tell me what the correct name is of the tool that creates Win Restore Points?

Is it System Restore?

Is it wrong to call said utility the "System Restore Tool" or the "System Restore Utility"?

Since MS has been trying to slowly migrate MS supplied utilities to a web based interface, it seems as if nobody refers to these software applications as tools, utilities, or applets anymore.

Somebody please clue me in on this.

Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Various. Plain Vanilla boxes with Linux & Win NT4. One proprietary CPU with Linux/Win XP.
    CPU
    Multiple CPUs. P2 to Celeron D.
    Motherboard
    Intel (mostly)
    Memory
    Varies with box. Range is 128 M to 2 G.
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated onto MB.
    Sound Card
    Integrated onto MB.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SVGA CRT: IBM, HP, etc.
Is it System Restore?
Click to expand...
Yes, no need to call it anything beyond that.
============================================

Here's my take on things:

At this point, it might be a good idea to prepare against a possible need to do a clean re-install of Vista.

Be sure that you have the means to re-install at hand, whether from installation discs or Recovery partition.

Back up personal files to an external hard drive or burn them to writable DVDs.

Then run this shell command:

shell:Common Desktop

If it returns the Public Desktop, great.

If not, do a clean re-install of Vista, and be done with it.

shell:Common Desktop -
Opens the Public Users Desktop folder location.
C:\Users\Public\Desktop
Easy Access to Vista System Folders
Click to expand...
 

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System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Compaq/SR5130NX
    CPU
    AMD AthlonTM 64x2 3800+
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE
Vista does not just keep one copy of the System Restore file that then gets continuously overwritten. I am not sure exactly what determines how many copies are kept but, for example, my system has 36 different copies dating back about a month. I use Windows Essential and a System Restore Point is created every tiem the virus definitions get updated (once a day), every time I do a Windows Update, etc.
 

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System One

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