Personal User Folder - Restore Missing Folder

Jeff47 · Nov 22, 2008

OK, so your help on my previous issue was outstanding... and I'm back.

I installed a few new programs that (...I found out too late) automatically place items in the user folders. So, since I had moved the user folders to a new location previously, I now have duplicate "documents", "pictures", "games" and "music" folders and I cannot delete copy either of them.

I thought I had seen this issue somewhere else in this forum - but I can't find it now. Any advice on how to get rid of the duplicate user folders?

Thanks in advance ~ :D

Brink · Nov 22, 2008

Hello Jeff,

These duplicate user folders are only from the new programs that you had installed and are not really the real user folders.

You have two options on how to get rid of them depending on the new programs:

1. Change the settings in the new programs to have their save to folders changed to the new location of your user folders.

2. If the programs do not allow you to change the save to folder location, then you can only change the affected user folders back to their default location.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

ntaylor · Nov 24, 2008

I specifically registered on this forum to say thank you Shawn.

I've been struggling with this since I inadvertently moved my desktop location to an external hard disk, and with no Location tab no matter what I did, I just couldn't get my desktop location back to its default. The registry key entries did the trick.

I can't say I'm a great fan of Vista compared to XP. It seems to be "waiting" to trip you up in so many wierd and wonderful ways by comparison to XP.

However thanks again for taking the time and trouble to write up this tutorial. Fantastic!

Norman.

Brink · Nov 24, 2008

You're welcome Norman, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Shawn

Jeff47 · Nov 25, 2008

THanks Brink, I'll have to hunt through the new programs and see if I can manually change the save locations. Hope so since having my user files on another hard drive has already saved my bacon more than once.

Once again, thank you for the expert advice!

Brink · Nov 25, 2008

You're welcome Jeff. I hope that you are able to so that it will be easier to fix.

Shawn

bird123 · Nov 25, 2008

Restore Contacts Folder after moving to a new drive.

I moved my Contacts folder to another drive without first creating a folder on the new drive - moved to e: . I then moved it into a folder but can't find a way to make it green and also the contacts no longer show up in the user profile. I want the contacts on the user profile just mapped to the new drive location. Can you give me instructions to fix this

Brink · Nov 25, 2008

Hello Bird, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Can you change the Contacts folder you moved back to the default location of C:\Users\(user name)\Contacts by using Method One in this tutorial? If you can, you may need to restart the computer a couple of times afterwards to see it return back to the Start menu.

jedimasterkyle · Dec 9, 2008

Hi there, I just registered but I seem to have this same sort of problem with some of my personal folders

The other day, I decided to re-format my other hard-drive mainly because I wasnt using it at all and it had a bunch of old files that I wouldnt need again. So i reformatted it and then I moved my VIDEOS, MUSIC and PICTURES from C: to F: to free up space on my C: drive using the default location setting. But for some reason, When I changed the default location on pics, music and videos, the Icons in my personal folder changed to the yellow folders and I also somehow created a link to my F: drive in my personal folder. I have downloaded the video and picture registries and I have logged off and on and it has worked to an extent. The link to my F: drive is gone from my personal folder but my pictures and videos icons havent shown up yet.

I also didnt realize that when I changed the default location of my pictures and videos to the other hard-drive, Windows DVD maker would suddenly stop working properly. I now have to copy and paste the files I want to burn but I cant even save projects or browse for pictures to use as foreground and background.

So i guess my main question is how do I restore my default pictures and videos Icons in my personal folder but have their default location be my F: Drive?

Ok, so now I have a new problem. I restored (more or less) my videos and pictures files and moved all the files back so that the default location is c:. But now my "videos" folder is displaying as a "desktop" folder so I have 2 desktops in my personal folder. Heres a picture

I aplogize about the size of the picture but its the only way I know how to explain this. Does anyone have any idea how I go about in fixing this??

Brink · Dec 9, 2008

Hello Kyle, and welcome to Vista Forums.

To be safe temporarily copy anything you have in those folders somewhere other than in a user folder as a backup.

Now, delete the folders that are not correct, and restore the default locations for them using either option in Method Two. You may need to restart a couple of times afterwards to have everything restore back to normal.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

kmarston · Dec 20, 2008

Hi Shawn

Thank you, I used method 3, download favorites folder.
This installed favorites in the correct place.
I then removed my old favorites, restart, all fine.
Kev

Brink · Dec 20, 2008

You're welcom Kev. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

Shawn

Foghorn · Jan 2, 2009

Ok. I was mere minutes from wiping my drive and starting over and you saved me in the knick of time. I'm ALMOST there.

I have thousands of documents. Until Vista, I always created a folder for the year and made that my documents and NEVER moved files to it. I just started each year fresh. This year I set up a new Vista box on the 31st and everything went sour on the 1st when I created my 2009 year.

So, thanks to you, I understand what's going on with the shell command and have gotten most of the mess straightened out and most of my work restored, except for one little nagging issue.

I used method three and used the provided reg file, then manually verified with regedit. I've also done a dozen reboots.

The remaining issue is in Explorer. If I go to Computer, C drive, Users, instead of my user name, it lists Documents with a blue icon. Then I click on documents and I have another documents. If I select properties it will show the path as c:\Users\username, but it displays Documents. Everything seems to work right, except for the display. I do a lot of screen shots so this is going to cause some confusion down the road.

If I go to the command prompt, the actual path is c:\Users\username. The "documents" label is for display only.

Any idea how to get this final aspect of this process corrected so the path displayed is Users\Username\Documents?

Thanks for a great tutorial. I've found this site to be a wealth of information. I hope to stay awhile.

Brink · Jan 2, 2009

Hello Foghorn, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You might see if you may be able to simply rename your user account back to it's original name or another name to sort this.

If not, then see if creating a new admistrator account and copying the C:\Users\(user name) files contents over to the new account. If it works and displays properly, then you can just delete the old account from within the new one.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Foghorn · Jan 2, 2009

Thanks for the quick response.

Ok. So I renamed my account from Steve to Stephen and rebooted a couple of times. Didn't really change anything except in the start menu. From the command prompt, it's still c:\User\Steve, but from Explorer on the C drive, it still shows two folders under Users, Public and Documents. Under Documents it has all of my files. Properties for Documents shows it is really names c:\Users\Steve but navigating through Explorer, it consistently shows the path as c:\Users\Documents\Documents etc.

It's weird and making me nuts.

If I create new admin account, will it allow me to copy the entire contents of my current user folders over? I'm assuming then I'll need to reconfigure all the applications & settings for the new user (something I've spent the last two days tweaking).

Things seem to be working OK now, just displaying wrong. Where does Explorer get this name for display?

Thanks for you help. Always something weird.

Brink · Jan 2, 2009

If you copy only the contents from the old user account's C:\Users\(user name) folders into the same location in the new user account's C:\Users\(user name) folders, then you should not need to change to many settings again.

After you have created the new administrator account, you can copy them directly from that account. Before you delete your old account, double check to make sure that you have copied everything over from it that you have wanted to.

It appears that something has corrupted the name of your user account causing this. Not sure what though.

Foghorn · Jan 2, 2009

Well, I gave it a try. I appreciate your help. I created a new admin account, then logged into that account. The User folder properly displayed my user name. I logged back in as my original admin user and tried to copy my entire Users\Document (Username) folder into the new admin account. Twice it just stopped. It's a 60 gig folder anyway.

So, at this point, it appears to be working right, just displaying weird. I deleted the new user account. I'll either find the "fix" to this later or adapt to it. I've been living with microsoft quirks for almost 20 years. I'll manage.

I've gotta think the issue lies in the "current user" part of the registry somewhere. I'll just need to dig around.

Thanks.

Foghorn

Brink · Jan 2, 2009

Try from within the new account. Only copy the contents of the folders that you want instead of the whole thing to see if that helps.

idocmib870115 · Jan 3, 2009

Much thanks !! I have been trying to get the music button on the start menu to work properly for weeks. Your tutorial was "right on" !! I'm not frustrated anymore!! thanks again

Brink · Jan 3, 2009

You're welcome idocmib870115, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Shawn

Personal User Folder - Restore Missing Folder

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