Vista - Personal User Shell Folders - Move Location

Thanks Shawn...

Sorry to be a bit stupid about this but I think I'm still missing something...

If I move Documents, and an app creates its own folder using a C:\Users path then there will be e.g. C:\Users\UserJ\Documents\AppFolder.

Assuming the App or OS takes proper care of things "UserJ" should in fact be the same "Julian.myPC" as there is in my current Documents path - and there is then a new folder hierarchy where the user shell folders used to be, identical in structure but not actually the user shell folders...

And since the User Shell Folders are actually somewhere else now, why should there be any problem at all? Good apps continue to work through the %userprofile% path, bad apps use their own into C:\Users and I don't quite see how this leads to any conflict?

Don't suppose for Apps that insist on using c:\users there is anyway to create a folder shortcut or some other "junction" (to replace the actual folder) that then steers it back into the "correct" %userprofile% location... is there?

Or am I just being my usual over-complicated-completely-missing-the-point self?

Julian

Julian,

No, your not being over complicated at all. This whole business with junction points is a bit tricky as is. When you throw in changing the location and programs that use the old location by default, it gets even more trickier.

When you move the C:\Users\UserJ\Documents folder's defaul location, there will still be a Documents folder in the Start menu. It will just now be a shortcut (junction point) to the new location where it actually is now.

Any application that places it's own folder in the Documents folder, will continue to work no matter what. If it uses the %userprofile%\Documents path, then it should follow your Documents folder to it's new location without any problems. If it uses the C:\Users\UserJ\Documents path, then it may or may not follow the Documents new location. If not, it will simply just create a C:\Users\UserJ\Documents\appfolder to use. The only problem is that you will have two Documents folder in the Start menu that could potentially trick other programs in not seeing the new Documents folder location now because of the one created by the application.

The only way to stop a app from doing this is by uninstalling it, or if the app has a setting that you change manually to point the app to use the new Documents location instead. For example, Windows Live Messenger has a setting where you can have it place it's folder anywhere you like instead of just the default Documents folder location.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

OK, I searched the forum and cannot find an answer to this:

I've installed Vista Business x64 3 times and this problem has always occured. In all three installations I've relocated the desktop user folder to a hard drive root. In so doing, Windows seems to be unable to remember my desktop icon settings (always float left and become "medium") and my start menu doesn't show my "Show on Start Menu" icons (where IE and Mail are by default). As soon as I move the desktop folder back to it's default location this issue stops.

During the first two installs I thought it was because my original XP installation had the permissions for the drives (both the root I want for my desktop and the partition I made for Vista). However, on my most recent install, I flattened all the drives and repartitioned them using Vista itself, yet the problem still occurs.

I searched the registy for any keys matching "\desktop" to see if anything was still dependant on the original location, but nothing turned up. There's nothing else I can think of that would be causing this problem except a possible super-hidden file that isn't on my drive root.

Anyone have any ideas?

Hi DKqwerty,

Welcome to Vista X64 Forums.

I tested this by doing what you did and it works fine for me with the Desktop folder. The only thing is since the Desktop is being actively used by Vista, it will leave a second yellow Desktop folder in the Start menu for reference. Other than that the Desktop is effectively relocated to C:\.

Did you create a new folder in the C:\ location to use?

Shawn

Thanks for the response and the welcome.

No, I did not create a new folder in the drive root. And it's not C:\ that I'm making my desktop, it's E:\. I fail to see the need of the "New Folder" in your tutorial, it's a very redundant step. I simply used location tab to move my user desktop folder to "E:\". Everything about it works as it should (or should I say, as it did in Tweak UI for XP), including the alteration of the registry key as per your method 2. In the User folder, what was once the desktop folder disappears and is replaced with with a drive icon like in My Computer (histogram and all). I just fail to see why it can't save my desktop icon and start menu preferences only when I move the desktop, which isn't the location of those settings anyway. It's not a crippling scenario, so I don't mind it. It's just a pain in the ass, ya' know?

(Also, I didn't fully understand your comment about the start menu duplicating a desktop folder...there is no "desktop" folder in my start menu.)

DKqwerty,

I was referring to the User folder button on the right dark side of the Start menu opening as a menu item for where the Desktop folder is.

It may or may not be redundant to create a "New Folder" to select (not open) for the Desktop folder to take over, but it always worked for me using it that way. You might give it a try to see if it may help you. Hopefully it will.

Hell yeah! Service Pack Uno fixed the issue!! Thank you MS.
Thanks Brink for trying to help though.

EDIT: Well, it looks like I was wrong, SP1 did not fix my issues. However, after restarting the system after the update, the issues did not persist. It was not until my next self-initiated restart that the problem resurfaced. This leads me to believe that system updates must have their own unique shutdown protocol. Is there anyway to verify this or perhaps launch such a shutdown?

Your welcome DKqwerty. I'm just glad that your problem is fixed now.

Shawn

I did everything as described and something really weird happened:

1. I modified the "My Music" folder to E:\newfolder

Now, when I open the My Music folder, it suddenly a new user folder, so I have to user folders. I open my user (Filip) where all the documents, picture, music folder are. When I click on the My Music folder, all of the documents, pictures, hyperlinks folders etc. are also in the Music folder!

What happened and how do I get things back to normal?

Best

Filip

Hi Filip,

Welcome to Vista Forums.

It sounds like you accidently moved all these folders into that location somehow.

See if you can do step 5 in Method One to restore each folder's default location. If not, you will need to use Method Two to manually change each folder's location back to the default location in the registry.


Shawn