Personal User Folder - Restore Missing Folder

Jimlad · Jun 22, 2010

Yes, I did understand the explanation on the creating folders and copying the backed up contents to the respective new folders: C:\Users\(user-name) folder.

However, I had expected to be told after you had reviewed my two screen shots that I should remove/delete some of the folders?

Also, as I said "What I need to know is what folders are a must have to make things function and in which partition they reside, so as to get my ‘B’ and ‘C’ partitions to talk to each other, if that makes sense." If it is a stupid question I would like to know it is. If not, I want to know if the primary sytem provided folders, at installation have some link/trigger to the OS and vica versa?

I feel the following problem is created by duplicate folders existing in both my 'B' & 'C' partitions. perhaps you could comment on if it is the cause and what I should do to correct it. See below
Currently if I choose to save a document to my personal folders, the system selects my 'C' partition and not my 'B' partition. I have to correct this each time??

Sorry if I am being a pain in the but but I do want to understand the basics of how the system interreacts between my 'B' & 'C' files and folders.

Kind regards and thank you

Jimlad

Brink · Jun 22, 2010

No, you're not being a pain. You're just just asking like you should when something is not understood.

You cannot move any folder other the the user folders of your choice to the B: drive. It would be best to only move either of the Music, Pictures, Videos, and Documents user folders from the C: drive to the B: drive if you like. If you have enough space on your C: drive, then it would be best to not move any user folders, and just keep backups of the data/files that you do not want to lose.

See this link for more on moving them to help:
User Profile - Change Default Location - Windows 7 Forums

The moved user folders have a mlink (like a shortcut) that keep them connected to the moved location and the Start Menu. These are not duplicate folders. They will still show up in the Start Menu, but will still actually be at the moved to location. This way you can access and save files to the moved user folders from the Start Menu, but everything will still be saved at the moved location.

Please let me know if you have more questions.

zildzicahmed · Aug 16, 2010

Dear friends,
The same happened to me, and I was able to restore the folder using the proposed methods. The problem is that I don't know how to restore my personal files that were in the folder. When I search I can find their shortcuts somewhere but they don't open and the only option left is to remove shortcut as well as the very last trace that my files are somewhere. The question is: can I actually restore my files from Downloads or are they permanently lost?

Thank you for your patience and time.
AZ

Brink · Aug 16, 2010

Hello Ahmed, and welcome to Vista Forums.

If you had originally moved the Downloads folder, then look at where you moved it at to see if there may still be a folder there that was used as the Downloads folder with your files in it.

If not, then you can also try the free programs Recuva and ShadowExplorer to see if they may be able to recover the files in the Download folder for you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

zildzicahmed · Aug 16, 2010

Dear Shawn,

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it. I tried a number of "undelete" programs on my files, immediately after being deleted and could not locate them. I had no idea how my Downloads folder went into hiding at the first place, I did not move it anywhere. After not being able to shell it from the Start menu I installed folder registry recovering program and got it back, but alas! empty. It seems to be worse than having deleted them, because with deleting there is at least some chance than you can get them back, but this way...nothing. They are not deleted but not there. I was able to export some shortcuts back into Downloads but when click on them is says:

"The item 'X.X' that this shortcut refers to has been changed or moved so this shortcut will no longer work properly. Would you like to remove it?"

None of the undeleting programs that I used ever found any of them. It is perhaps because they were not deleted in a regular way. I had no idea that these personal folder are so vulnerable. In an instance you loose everything. Is there anyway we can protect them from the inadvertent moving? At least a lesson is learned.

Thank you again.
Ahmed

Brink · Aug 17, 2010

Ahmed,

I'm not sure what may have caused the issue with you Downloads folder, but the best protection for your files would be to keep a backup copy of the files that you do not want to lose on another HDD or partition.

zildzicahmed · Aug 18, 2010

Thank you Shawn.

I learned a lesson. God bless you for your time and interest.
Cheers,
A

Brink · Aug 18, 2010

You're welcome Ahmed. I'm just sorry that you were not able to recover your files.

ilikefree · Aug 18, 2010

Shadow explorer doesn't look for deleted files it shows your Volume Shadow Copy
a copy of your files that Vista records at set intervals. It would be your best option.

Windows7x86Prof · Oct 21, 2010

I think, i need "Option Three" as mentioned above ...

But i cannot find "Option Three" - only "Option One" and "Option Two".

What am i doing wrong? :-O

Maybe i try describe my problem

I changed the location of several such user folders - with success, mostly.

But the last time, i changed something, it went wrong.
I tried to fix that on my own before i discovered this phantastic forum and topic :D

Problem one:

Beside other problems, i am now missing the C:\Users\Downloads directory and the corresponding link in my Favorites.

Therefor, using "shell:downloads", opens nothing.

The registry entry contains:

{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}
%USERPROFILE%\Downloads

And i rebooted several times, including and excluding new logins.

But nothing changed so far.

Could anybody point me to the above mentioned "Option Three" that i cannot find in this whole topic.
Maybe it was deleted on accident?

Most interesting:

Out of frustration, i re-created the C:\Users\<USER>\Downloads directory - and suddendly, it HAD the "Location" tab!

Something that did not work previously.

Anyway, it still has one strange effect:

Changing the Location of that new directory to the real place where my downloads are sitting, it did not change the name of that real directory from "LATEST_DOWNLOADS" to "Downloads".

Regulary, when i change the location - for example for "My Music", it also changes the name of the target directory!
For example from "MY_MUSIC" to "My Music", the regular name.

This did NOT happen with this new "Downloads" folder - it still is named "LATEST_DOWNLOADS".

:-O

And even more interesing, even if i created a this new "Downloads" folder in C:\Users\<USER>, it is NOW missing!
Contrary to "Pictures", "Videos" and "Music", which DO exist there, even when they are now moved to a new location - the "original" folders are still there.
But not the "Downloads" folder!

I think, that may be related to the fact, that the above three folders are used as Libraries, while "Downloads" is just a "regular" folder?

Any idea?

Brink · Oct 21, 2010

Hello Windows7x86Prof, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Since you have Windows 7 instead of Vista, you will need to do all of OPTION TWO in the tutorial below for Windows 7 instead at our sister site www.sevenforums.com .

User Folders - Restore Default Location - Windows 7 Forums

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Windows7x86Prof · Oct 21, 2010

Thank you very, very much

Brink · Oct 21, 2010

You're most welcome mate.

Lorien · Nov 15, 2010

The tutorial says:

NOTE: If you do not have a Location tab, then this is not the correct user folder and is only a normal folder that has the same name as the user folder. You will most likely need to use OPTION THREE in this case instead.

But there is no Option Three. Did you mean to refer them to another tutorial like Personal User Shell Folders and/or Personal User Shell Folders - Move Location instead? I have someone in a thread stuck on this step and I suggested going to the first tutorial I posted here instead of ignoring it and just doing Option Two - but I'm not 100% certain if that's right.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Brink · Nov 15, 2010

Hello Lorien,

Sorry, I had missed that part when I updated the tutorial last. It should be for OPTION TWO in this tutorial instead. I had combined OPTION TWO and OPTION THREE when I updated it last to make it a more thorough option instead.

Lorien · Nov 15, 2010

Hi Brink,

Thanks for the clarification. I've amended my reply in the other thread to provide the correct instruction.

He REALLY hosed his shell folders but good trying to move them like they were normal folders and then compounded the problem by creating new folders with the same name (but normal folders) and putting them where the shell folders were supposed to be and then moved all the contents. What a mess!!! Thank heavens for this and your several other tutorials on the subject which I'm certain will eventually resolve the problem.

EDIT: It solved his problem - and he wanted to thank you. Here's that post: http://www.vistax64.com/browsers-ma...ning-windows-adressbook-file.html#post1300026.

Buck72106 · Dec 26, 2010

Where do I start? Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I worked on this problem until 3am this morning. I gave up. System restore would not fix this problem about the multiple desktop folders. I could not get them to delete without makeing more folders, it was crazy. I was just about to use my 7 months old back up, when I found your web site. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Shawn; you tha man!!! (I am new and just incase your not a man, you know what I mean.)

Brink · Dec 26, 2010

You're most welcome Buck, and welcome to Vista Forums. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

rsibs17 · Nov 10, 2011

Hey Brink,

It's almost been a year since the last post, so I hope you are still checking this thread. I am having a somewhat related issue. I moved My documents to a storage disk (my L drive) and now I am trying to get them restored to defaults, by right clicking on Documents in the start menu and going to Properties/Location tab but when I try to do so, I get an error that reads "Failed to build the list of regular subfolders under “L:\System Volume Information” Access is denied." Any idea how to get around this? Would manually changing the reg paths for Documents, Music, Pictures, etc...move all the files with it? Would I encounter permissions problems when trying to edit the registry? I am the administrator account, so I am not sure why I am encountering permission problems to begin with. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Brink · Nov 10, 2011

Hello Rsibs, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Using OPTION TWO in the tutorial would be your better choice to restore your Documents folder. If you get a access denied message while doing it, then take ownership of the Documents folder on your L drive, and set it's permission settings to "Allow" your user account "Full Control". Afterwards, try OPTION TWO again.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Personal User Folder - Restore Missing Folder

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