Solved Favorite links in IE8 dialog window

Hi to everyone who reads this...

In Windows Explorer, in the navigation pane, I have some "favorite links", and when I use a dialog window, like "Open" or "Save As", those links are also visible.
No problems here.

But when I use IE8:IE7 and I have to save a dwnld to my disk there are only two links shown in that dialog window, instead of four like in Windows Explorer.

In Windows Explorer I have the following links:
(I've deleted/added some links manually)
- Desktop
- Computer
- * User Folder
- * and a link to my Data "D" partition --> Documents Folder, which I use to store dwnlds and stuff.

Now, I would appreciate it if somebody could tell me how I can add those two links with an (*) to the dialog window in IE8/IE7?

Thanks in advance for your time and advice,
best regards Carlo.

In IE8, click on File / Save As. There will be two sections on the left. One at the top for favorites and one at the bottom for folders. To add something to the Favorites list, just go to the Folders list and find the folder you want (in your case, first the User Folder and then the D: Drive Documents Folder - one at a time). Then click on it and hold the button down and drag it from the folders list to a blank area (an area between other favorites - where you want it to be since that's where it will henceforth appear) on the favorites list and release the button. It should have a small popup window indicating you are adding a favorite - if it brings up a large do you want to merge dialog box cancel it - you released on a favorite link instead of between them and you do NOT want to merge. That new location should now be included in the favorites list. I just did it for my Downloads folder and it worked like a charm.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

I give rep when I learn, but just repped you. Good advice.

Hi Lorien

Thanks for the help.
It was kinda silly of me to ask this, because I know how to do this in Windows Expkorer, same procedure.

But hey, I'm learning every day,... if I don't forget...
Oeps, almost forgot to tell you that your method worked like a charme...

It was my pleasure - glad I could help.

Even though similar in this case, Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer are quite different, so checking to be sure was a good idea. It only seems silly now that it was confirmed - but it could have been different - so I don't think it was silly at all. And we all learn new things every day - that's part of the enjoyment. Believe me, I too learn many new things every day. And just by asking, you've helped others who have the same question and now have an answer.

Thanks for the feedback and letting us know it worked - in case you haven't, I've marked it solved.

Good luck and best wishes!

Hi Lorien.

Don't mark this as solved yet, I reacted to fast, because I found something that doesn't fit.
For better understanding I'll put in some screenshots.
First some explanation.

In my profile folder (Master Admin) I can add some favorite links in the Links folder, and if everything goes well you should see them everywhere on the left side in Windows Explorer and dialog windows. So far so good.
I made a screenshot of a Save as dialog window in Paint, and on the left side (where the favorite links are), you'll see 4 links. And that is the way I want them to be.
But in that screenshot you'll see in the address bar that I have navigated to my Links folder (Koppelingen in Dutch), and there are only 2 links available.

So when I manually put Desktop and Computer to my Links folder the next time I try to save something in Paint (or anything else), I'll see that Desktop and Computer are shown two times. So I guess that Windows automaticly adds Desktop and Computer to dialog windows, and thats why I see them double in dialog windows, but not Explorer.

In Screenshots 3 and 4 I added Desktop and Computer to my Links folder and you'll see the result of that in a dialog window. Double links.
Hope you can make some sence in that...

Carlo,

Your problem is not with Internet Explorer, but with Windows Explorer, your User Profile (quite possibly the Links Folder), some other Vista Files, or something else (maybe even malware) - I'm not sure. The items in the Favorites come from the Links Folder - there is no default setting to include Computer or any other location in any of the dialog boxes or in Explorer. In theory, if you deleted everything from Links, they should all be empty.

First, with only 2 entries in Links, you're missing at least the desktop.ini file (which isn't a link but is part of the folder) - at least my folder includes that file. Go to Start / Control Panel / Folder Options / View and mark the button that says show hidden files and folders, uncheck the box to hide system files, and uncheck the box to hide extensions of known file types. Now examine that folder again and see if the desktop.ini file is there. I'd love to see it but I won't be able to understand it as it's in a foreign language I don't know. Are the two entries that are there the ones we just added to Internet Explorer and does desktop.ini now appear? I have absolutely no idea why under these circumstances those aren't the only two entries showing up everywhere (or why the others disappeared) - both in Windows Explorer and in the save dialog boxes. I tested it on my system and it added the Download Folder to the Links Folder and to all the dialog boxes and to Windows Explorer Windows but deleted nothing and adding to the Links Folder created no duplicates. Check the entire User Profile folder (and the sub-folders in it) to see if there is ANOTHER Links Folder existing (but maybe moved) - if so, the existence of two is almost certainly the cause of the problem and we need to find a way to combine them and make sure there is only one.

If that doesn't work (i.e., if you can't find another folder), do a complete search of your C: Drive for the/another Links folder (it may not be green like the other one but if it is named Links and contains shortcuts it is probably what we are looking for no matter where it might be). To search the entire C: drive in Vista go to Start / Search Box and type in ‘<filename> or <foldername>’. As you're typing you'll see two hyperlinks appear just above where you're typing and one will say Search Everywhere. Click on that. That will do a quick indexed search and bring up a dialog box. Click on Advanced Search. Click on the location drop down menu and find Drive C: and click on it. Check the box "include non-indexed, hidden, and system files (may be slow)." Then click on Search. You will now be searching your entire hard drive for the specified file. And yes, it's not a very efficient way of searching the entire drive for a file but that's how it's done in Vista. If you find it, open it and include a screen image in your next reply and tell me what it includes and exactly where it is located (the full folder path name - e.g., C:\Windows\System32\Fonts...).


If a second one doesn't exist and with the problem being what it is (it is NOT an Internet Explorer problem - that issue has been solved - this is something else that I'm not at all certain about and does not belong in this forum but where people who know more about this type of thing go to offer help), please repost your last question (your last post) with the screenshots AND answers to the questions above to the General Discussion Forum General Discussion - Vista Forums. You should be able to just copy and paste most of what you've already written though you will probably need to re-add the screenshots (and the other information and remove the initial comments about the problem being solved and directiing the question to me so anyone reading it isn't confused by that or fails to respond because they think you want me specifically). I will probably reply there as well but possibly not at first so that someone else (or several other people) will see and respond to it, but I'm hoping others also see it and reply to it with some suggestions as at the moment I'm a bit confused by the situation - I have several thoughts but unless there's a duplicate as noted above they're primarily just guesses at this point and I'm hoping for something a bit more concrete. If you don't get any replies after a while, I'll reply anyway and we'll do our best.


I hope this helps. If not, reposting should at least bring it to the attention of people who are more knowledgeable about and experienced with this type of issue (not this one specificially - that's pretty unique - but with Windows Explorer and profile and general Vista issues).


Good luck!

Hi Lorien.

It would surprise me if I have malware, because I use Kaspersky and Defender (fully up-to-date), and every week I do a seperate scan with MalwareBytes.

In the beginning of september I did a reinstall of my operating system, so I don't think there's damage there, and never used a registry cleaner or anything similar.
(sfc/scannow with elevated priviliges didn't resolve any issues either)

Yes, desktop.ini appeares in the Links folder.
This is the content of the "desktop.ini" file from my Master Admin Links folder.

[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21810
IconResource=%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll,-185
DefaultDropEffect=4
[LocalizedFileNames]
[email protected],-21816
[email protected],-9031
Recently [email protected],-32813
[email protected],-21790
[email protected],-21779
[email protected],-21770

If I'm right then those links shown in the .ini file are the default ones.
I find it weird that they don't show the links I added myself, maybe here lies the culprit... (?)

I searched C as instructed and it came up with 2 Links folders, one for my Master Admin (this is my standard account which I login with every day), and a Links folder for my Built-in Aministrator account. Which looks exactly as my Links folder of my standard account.

I agree that it's not a problem with IE, because Windows Explorer controls the dialog boxes, no matter where you are. (IE, Paint,...)

Thanks for the advice so far Lorien and I hope we can find a solution,
best regards Carlo

Hi Lorien

It's been a day or two since I contacted you, and I was just curious on how you're progressing with this topic.
Can you decipher what's in the .ini file?

Or any other clues that you might possibly have?

Regards Carlo

I have no leads. Adding new entries to the Links folder doesn't seem to affect the .ini file because the one I added didn't show up there either - so I'm not certain. I don't think that's the issue - but I honestly don't know what's causing this at the moment and all my research has turned up very little of use.

Actually, I'm waiting for you to repost this question/problem (from the point where you identified it as a Windows Explorer-related problem and including all the info and screenshots you provided here - I can't just move the posts or I would) in the General Discussion Forum as requested above where people who understand this issue better (this is the wrong forum for this type of issue and so the wrong people are looking at it and that's at least part of why nobody is responding) will take a look and perhaps we'll get a number of options and recommendations. At the moment, I'm a bit baffled by the problem and not quite sure what the best next step should be and that's the best way to potentially get more help from others who help here. If nobody else replies in a reasonable time, I'll post back with SOMETHING to try to identify and resolve the problem (and after others have replied, I'll contribute as well).

Thanks and good luck!

OK, thanks Lorien for your adequate help, and I'll post my topic in another forum.

Best regards Carlo