Personal User Folder - Restore Missing Folder

Brink · Sep 2, 2009

Hello Neil, and welcome to Vista Forums.

If the icon for it is set to small, then this is normal. The Navigation Pane uses small icons as well and cannot be changed. The icon view will need to be set to medium or larger to have the arrow included in it.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Neil Thumpston · Sep 2, 2009

Hi Shawn! Thank you for your welcome and your prompt reply. I've tried re-setting the icon size but, as you say, the folder icons in the navigation pane are normally small. What seems abnormal is that for some of my folder icons (Musique, Images Favoris etc - by the way, this is a French version of Vista; I live in France) the larger icon above the status bar looks the same as its smaller counterpart in the Explorer tree but for the Desktop (Bureau) and Downloads (Téléchargement) folders - the two folders I've just replaced - they are not. I've attached a screenshot which should show you what I mean.

Brink · Sep 2, 2009

Neil,

This is normal. Since the icon is larger in the bottom "Details Pane" it will display it. When those folders have a small icon, then it will not display.

Neil Thumpston · Sep 2, 2009

Hi Shawn! You're right! I think what was bugging me about Explorer was that I'd also deleted the Links folder which meant I had no default Favourite Links in the Navigation pane. I've now restored the Links folder using the shell:Links command and all is well. Many thanks for your help. This is an excellent forum; I've learnt more here today than I have in a week anywhere else.

Brink · Sep 2, 2009

You're welcome Neil. You may be happy to know that in Windows 7 those small user fiolder overlays display for all the user folders with small icons now.

adamsept09 · Oct 16, 2009

Hi Shawn,

This is my first post here so please excuse my ignorance. I recently deleted my "Videos" personal user folder by accident while trying to delete a folder that was in it and can't seem to find a way of the videos/files/folders it had in it. I had about 17gig of data which I'd obviously like to find as it was only saved in that folder.

None of the files that were in the "Videos" folder appear in the Recycle Bin which was my first (and only) guess.

After reading your guide I tried to restore the folder but when I did so none of its contents were restored, I simply now have an empty "Videos" folder. The folder isnt really the issue though, its only the videos I care about.

I'm sure this is very straight forward but I am finding it very frustrating!

Thanks for your help,

Adam

Brink · Oct 16, 2009

Hello Adam, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You might give the free program ShadowExplorer a try to see if you may be able to restore the folder from that user folder.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

nemo007 · Dec 12, 2009

My documents folder keeps popping up and all of the default values are the same as in the screenshot under step 5, im confused please help!! thanks

Brink · Dec 12, 2009

Hello Nemo, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I'm sorry, but what do you mean by popping up?

Skyee · Dec 26, 2009

I read the Tutorial about the Personal User Folders. I followed the steps and I got my accidentally deleted Music folder back. Good thing I also have backups.

Thanks. Learned lots.

Brink · Dec 26, 2009

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

sk8ingperson · Jan 19, 2010

hi there, the tutorial works a treat, but i have a related problem that keeps happening over and over again when i add new music to the folder, for example, i have a backup CD of the MyMusic file from an old computer and sometimes i put songs from there onto my current computer and the folder icon goes yellow 'boring' icon, also happens occaisionaly when ripping a cd into the mymusic folder, and also when moving music from one location to another on my computer (for example the C: Downloads folder to Music - not illegally may i add

) or evn moving a loose song into a folder within Music. is there any way that i can make sure that the icons wont change next time i add music to this folder or move music around within it? it's really beggining to annoy me.
i used your shell folder tutorial to restore them but to have to keep on doing it is a chore!
Cheers, Sk8ingperson (Ian)

Brink · Jan 20, 2010

Hello Sk8inperson, and welcome to Vista Forums.

If this is not the same tutorial below that you meant, then you might see if it can restore the default user folder icon for it instead. If you are also copying a dektop.ini file into the C:\Users\(user-name)\Music folder, then that may be the cause.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/90705-personal-user-shell-folders.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

sk8ingperson · Jan 20, 2010

that was the tutorial i used to get the icon back to the default, but i dont understand why when i move music within the folder, or move music from somewhere else into the file it always turns the music folder yellow again. im not aware the desktop.ini file would be in a ripped music file, and copying and pasting a folder from one location to another should just move the mp3 files. im not explaining this very well, but i don't know how to word it so sorry if im being a pain

Brink · Jan 20, 2010

Not at all.

Before you copy over the files into your C:\Users\(user-name)\Music folder, check to make sure that it does not have a hidden desktop.ini file in it. If it does, then delete it first. You would not want to move the C:\Users\(user-name)\Music folder around though. Doing so will cause this as well.

sassofalco · Jan 27, 2010

Personal User Folders - How do I clean up the mess?

As can be seen by the following 'snips', it is quite apparent that my User Folders are in a state of confused disorganisation, with some 'yellow' Folders and an unknown File string, obviously in places where they shouldn't be. I haven't a clue how I've managed to create this chaotic mess, a 'senior' moment perhaps!

What concerns me, is the rather large duplicated Pictures Folder that can be found at - C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\SendTo.. here;

Is this the 'usual' Folders setup?

I would like to know how to restore my Folders to some sort of 'normal', organised setup, and by what method I should apprioach it. Is there an Elevated Command that can be run to restore the Folders to a 'default' Windows layout?

Brink · Jan 27, 2010

Hi Tony,

Other than the folder with the long numbers in the top image, I see nothing wrong. It looks like you have your hidden system files (yellow folders) set to show. It looks like you or a program may have added the Google folder as well.

The recent items is just what you have opened recently. I did notice that the folder is named Recent instead of Recent Items with a icon instead of a yellow folder. You can do what is in the red warning box in the tutorial below to fix this.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/72816-recent-items-list.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

arpnm · Mar 11, 2010

Hello Brink,

Thanks for the detailed instructions and screenshots. My situation seems a bit different so the three steps you outlined did not work for me. Here's what I am seeing:

My individual User folder (APG) used to be located in my Users folder along with another user. I can see my User File (APG) in the start menu and directly under Desktop in Explorer, but it is no longer in my Users folder. When I right-click APG in the Start Menu or under Desktop, I cannot access the menu that offers Properties; my only options are: Explore, Open, Copy, Create Shortcut, Delete. I tried dragging it to the Users folder, but that doesn't work. I tried copying it there, but it will only place a shortcut there.

So the folder exists with all the usual contents inside and with the right icon, but I cannot copy or move it back to the Users folder or change its Properties.

I checked out all the steps in your tutorial anyway, just in case, and got the following results from your tutorial:

Step 1: I tried Shell:APG hoping that it would turn up. Nope
What else should I try here?

Step 2: When I right click the APG (User) folder under desktop, I do not get the menu I see in your tutorial. Only the option listed above.

Step 3: Download Method does not list a way for me to make my User folder accessible again, so I tried the Manual Regedit Method.

I followed the path you mentioned, but APG was not listed among the folders there.

Simply searching for "APG" from the start menu only turns up documents with APG in the title, but does not turn up the actual APG folder. It's frustrating to see it and to be able to open it but not be able to move it back to the Users folder. It's definitely making it harder to access my files during some processes. I'm not sure what I did to remove it from Users in the first place! Any additional tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

arpnm

Brink · Mar 11, 2010

Hello Arpnm,

If this has just recently happened, then you might see if doing a system restore at boot using a restore point dated before this happened may be able to fix this for you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

VistaGuy123 · Mar 14, 2010

I somehow lost the pictures folder and follows the steps on fixing it and it worked. however my Downloads folder was destroyed in the process: that is turned into a duplicate Pictures folder >_< Now if I delete either Pictures folder both get send to the recycling bin and the link on the start menu says it's an invalid location/ doesn't exist. I made a system restore point before attempting any retrieval of the pictures folder to begin with but I'm unsure if that would help. I have tried rebooting a couple of times as well as the log off/on but no avail.

Personal User Folder - Restore Missing Folder

Attachments

My Computers

New Member

Attachments

My Computer

My Computers

New Member

My Computer

My Computers

New Member

My Computer

My Computers

New Member

My Computer

My Computers

New Member

My Computer

My Computers

New Member

My Computer

My Computers

New Member

My Computer

My Computers

What bad, bad,habit?

My Computer

My Computers

New Member

My Computer

My Computers

New Member

My Computer