Vista - folder structure??

I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in understanding
how all the folders are linked together.

in the left hand explorer pane i see:

desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon called
'documents'.

if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my videos'
and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)

even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my documents'
with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.

these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of documents
folders in the left pane....

if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are traditional
yellow folders and not green icons.

by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
tree????

the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change the
default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever one it
is!

i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on the
start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it all
gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this folders
contents to the new location"?

somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all over
the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default settings'
for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
messed up.

i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the problems. i
want the following:

d:\my documents
m:\my music
p:\my pictures
v:\my videos
t:\temp files

i have had the arrangement on XP for four years but cannot fathom it on
vista.

i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.

can anyone shed any light on this????



thanks.

Hello,

Vista has renamed the documents and settings folder to "Users", maybe that's
why you are having problems?

--

Have a nice day,

Jonathan Yaniv
Microsoft Windows LiveT Butterfly Expert

Visit the ButterflySays Blog at
http://spaces.msn.com/ButterflySays/

"Rat_uk" <ratty@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:5AECB322-B189-4F58-803F-CE504FB324E1@microsoft.com...
>I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in understanding
> how all the folders are linked together.
>
> in the left hand explorer pane i see:
>
> desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
> expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon called
> 'documents'.
>
> if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my videos'
> and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
> shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)
>
> even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my documents'
> with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.
>
> these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of documents
> folders in the left pane....
>
> if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
> settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
> even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are
> traditional
> yellow folders and not green icons.
>
> by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
> tree????
>
> the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
> pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change
> the
> default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever one
> it
> is!
>
> i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on the
> start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it
> all
> gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this folders
> contents to the new location"?
>
> somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all
> over
> the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default settings'
> for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
> messed up.
>
> i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the problems.
> i
> want the following:
>
> d:\my documents
> m:\my music
> p:\my pictures
> v:\my videos
> t:\temp files
>
> i have had the arrangement on XP for four years but cannot fathom it on
> vista.
>
> i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.
>
> can anyone shed any light on this????
>
>
>
> thanks.
>
>

"Rat_uk" <ratty@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:5AECB322-B189-4F58-803F-CE504FB324E1@microsoft.com...
>I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in understanding
> how all the folders are linked together.
>
> in the left hand explorer pane i see:
>
> desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
> expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon called
> 'documents'.
>
> if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my videos'
> and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
> shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)
>
> even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my documents'
> with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.
>
> these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of documents
> folders in the left pane....
>
> if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
> settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
> even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are
> traditional
> yellow folders and not green icons.
>
> by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
> tree????
>

Turn off "Show hidden files and folders" and things will look a little
cleaner ;-)

OK. With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you did on XP. It is now
found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents and Settings' (quite an
improvement, I think). It has subfolders named AppData (normally hidden),
Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Pictures, Saved
Games, Searches and Videos.

Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.

You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are seeing.
Their names corespond to the the old XP user folder structure. They "point'
to the coresponding new user folder in Vista. They are created so that
software that was coded with the XP folder structure in mind would be less
likely to 'break'

So, if a program goes looking for:

"C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Music"

The 'Documents and Settings' junction found under 'C:\' points to:
'C:\Users'

The 'My Documents' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Documents'

The 'My Music' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Music'

So a program that went looking for the Music folder assuming the XP location
still ends up in the proper folder.

On a fresh install, the UserName folder found on the desktop mirrors the
content of 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. If you use the 'Move' option found on the
'Location' tab of a user folder AND move all the files within that folder,
the original folder is deleted and will no longer appear under
'C:\Users\<UserName>'. But an icon for the folder will remain in the
'Desktop\<Username>' folder, because uses the Namespace to display the
redirected folders -- similar to the way control panel no longer exists as a
file system folder, but is displayed in a similar fashion.

So the UserName folder on the desktop displays the union of the contents of
'C:\Users\<UserName>' and the users 'special' folder collection. If a
'special' folder points to a folder that physically resides under
'UserName', display of duplicate icons is supressed. But if you don't elect
to move the contents with the folder, Vista will not delete the original
folder. So you now have an 'ordinary' folder named Documents remaining
under UserName, as well as an icon that points to your new location. These
are the 'duplicates' you are seeing.

> the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
> pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change
> the
> default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever one
> it
> is!
>
> i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on the
> start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it
> all
> gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this folders
> contents to the new location"?
>
> somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all
> over
> the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default settings'
> for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
> messed up.
>
> i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the problems.
> i
> want the following:
>

For all of these, the transition will be smoother if you elect to Move the
contents. If you're nervous about a move, back up the files to a third
location beforehand.

> d:\my documents

Use the Location tab from the 'Documents' folder

> m:\my music

Use the Location tab from the 'Music' folder

> p:\my pictures

Use the Location tab from the 'Pictures' folder

> v:\my videos

Use the Location tab from the 'Videos' folder

> t:\temp files

Right-click on the 'Computer' icon found on the desktop or Start Menu &
select 'Properties'. On the 'Advanced' tab, click the 'Environment
Variables...' button & edit the 'TEMP' & 'TMP' variables.


> i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.
>

As mentioned above, moving the contents allows the original to be deleted &
you shouldn't see duplicates.

> can anyone shed any light on this????

Hope I just did


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

this is great. thanks.

when you say, 'use the location tab in the documents folder' do you mean the
green icon under C:\Users\steven\Documents?




"Keith Miller MVP" <k.miller79@no.spam.verizon.net> wrote in message
news:Oz8aJPKWHHA.896@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> "Rat_uk" <ratty@nowhere.com> wrote in message
> news:5AECB322-B189-4F58-803F-CE504FB324E1@microsoft.com...
>>I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in understanding
>> how all the folders are linked together.
>>
>> in the left hand explorer pane i see:
>>
>> desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
>> expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon called
>> 'documents'.
>>
>> if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my videos'
>> and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
>> shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)
>>
>> even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my
>> documents'
>> with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.
>>
>> these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of documents
>> folders in the left pane....
>>
>> if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
>> settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
>> even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are
>> traditional
>> yellow folders and not green icons.
>>
>> by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
>> tree????
>>
>
> Turn off "Show hidden files and folders" and things will look a little
> cleaner ;-)
>
> OK. With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you did on XP. It is now
> found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents and Settings' (quite an
> improvement, I think). It has subfolders named AppData (normally hidden),
> Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Pictures, Saved
> Games, Searches and Videos.
>
> Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
> folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.
>
> You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
> Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are seeing.
> Their names corespond to the the old XP user folder structure. They
> "point' to the coresponding new user folder in Vista. They are created so
> that software that was coded with the XP folder structure in mind would be
> less likely to 'break'
>
> So, if a program goes looking for:
>
> "C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Music"
>
> The 'Documents and Settings' junction found under 'C:\' points to:
> 'C:\Users'
>
> The 'My Documents' junction found there points to:
> 'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Documents'
>
> The 'My Music' junction found there points to:
> 'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Music'
>
> So a program that went looking for the Music folder assuming the XP
> location still ends up in the proper folder.
>
> On a fresh install, the UserName folder found on the desktop mirrors the
> content of 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. If you use the 'Move' option found on
> the 'Location' tab of a user folder AND move all the files within that
> folder, the original folder is deleted and will no longer appear under
> 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. But an icon for the folder will remain in the
> 'Desktop\<Username>' folder, because uses the Namespace to display the
> redirected folders -- similar to the way control panel no longer exists as
> a file system folder, but is displayed in a similar fashion.
>
> So the UserName folder on the desktop displays the union of the contents
> of 'C:\Users\<UserName>' and the users 'special' folder collection. If a
> 'special' folder points to a folder that physically resides under
> 'UserName', display of duplicate icons is supressed. But if you don't
> elect to move the contents with the folder, Vista will not delete the
> original folder. So you now have an 'ordinary' folder named Documents
> remaining under UserName, as well as an icon that points to your new
> location. These are the 'duplicates' you are seeing.
>
>> the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
>> pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change
>> the
>> default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever one
>> it
>> is!
>>
>> i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on
>> the
>> start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it
>> all
>> gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this folders
>> contents to the new location"?
>>
>> somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all
>> over
>> the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default settings'
>> for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
>> messed up.
>>
>> i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the problems.
>> i
>> want the following:
>>
>
> For all of these, the transition will be smoother if you elect to Move the
> contents. If you're nervous about a move, back up the files to a third
> location beforehand.
>
>> d:\my documents
>
> Use the Location tab from the 'Documents' folder
>
>> m:\my music
>
> Use the Location tab from the 'Music' folder
>
>> p:\my pictures
>
> Use the Location tab from the 'Pictures' folder
>
>> v:\my videos
>
> Use the Location tab from the 'Videos' folder
>
>> t:\temp files
>
> Right-click on the 'Computer' icon found on the desktop or Start Menu &
> select 'Properties'. On the 'Advanced' tab, click the 'Environment
> Variables...' button & edit the 'TEMP' & 'TMP' variables.
>
>
>> i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.
>>
>
> As mentioned above, moving the contents allows the original to be deleted
> & you shouldn't see duplicates.
>
>> can anyone shed any light on this????
>
> Hope I just did
>
>
> --
> Good Luck,
>
> Keith
> Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
>

On 2007-02-25 13:01, Rat_uk wrote:
> this is great. thanks.
>
> when you say, 'use the location tab in the documents folder' do you mean the
> green icon under C:\Users\steven\Documents?

No, right-click on the Documents folder and click Properties, then
you'll find a tab called Location. Use the Move-button to move the
folder to another location.

--
Erik Wikström

which documents folder?

there are green icons called documents, folders called my documents.....
which one is it??

this is all part of the confusion.


"Erik Wikström" <Erik-wikstrom@telia.com> wrote in message
news:uURUOiNWHHA.3568@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> On 2007-02-25 13:01, Rat_uk wrote:
>> this is great. thanks.
>>
>> when you say, 'use the location tab in the documents folder' do you mean
>> the green icon under C:\Users\steven\Documents?
>
> No, right-click on the Documents folder and click Properties, then you'll
> find a tab called Location. Use the Move-button to move the folder to
> another location.
>
> --
> Erik Wikström

can i delete the folder shortcuts that re-direct the xp installation?

i always manually install software and point it where i want it to go
anyway.

"Keith Miller MVP" <k.miller79@no.spam.verizon.net> wrote in message
news:Oz8aJPKWHHA.896@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> "Rat_uk" <ratty@nowhere.com> wrote in message
> news:5AECB322-B189-4F58-803F-CE504FB324E1@microsoft.com...
>>I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in understanding
>> how all the folders are linked together.
>>
>> in the left hand explorer pane i see:
>>
>> desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
>> expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon called
>> 'documents'.
>>
>> if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my videos'
>> and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
>> shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)
>>
>> even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my
>> documents'
>> with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.
>>
>> these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of documents
>> folders in the left pane....
>>
>> if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
>> settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
>> even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are
>> traditional
>> yellow folders and not green icons.
>>
>> by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
>> tree????
>>
>
> Turn off "Show hidden files and folders" and things will look a little
> cleaner ;-)
>
> OK. With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you did on XP. It is now
> found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents and Settings' (quite an
> improvement, I think). It has subfolders named AppData (normally hidden),
> Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Pictures, Saved
> Games, Searches and Videos.
>
> Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
> folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.
>
> You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
> Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are seeing.
> Their names corespond to the the old XP user folder structure. They
> "point' to the coresponding new user folder in Vista. They are created so
> that software that was coded with the XP folder structure in mind would be
> less likely to 'break'
>
> So, if a program goes looking for:
>
> "C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Music"
>
> The 'Documents and Settings' junction found under 'C:\' points to:
> 'C:\Users'
>
> The 'My Documents' junction found there points to:
> 'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Documents'
>
> The 'My Music' junction found there points to:
> 'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Music'
>
> So a program that went looking for the Music folder assuming the XP
> location still ends up in the proper folder.
>
> On a fresh install, the UserName folder found on the desktop mirrors the
> content of 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. If you use the 'Move' option found on
> the 'Location' tab of a user folder AND move all the files within that
> folder, the original folder is deleted and will no longer appear under
> 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. But an icon for the folder will remain in the
> 'Desktop\<Username>' folder, because uses the Namespace to display the
> redirected folders -- similar to the way control panel no longer exists as
> a file system folder, but is displayed in a similar fashion.
>
> So the UserName folder on the desktop displays the union of the contents
> of 'C:\Users\<UserName>' and the users 'special' folder collection. If a
> 'special' folder points to a folder that physically resides under
> 'UserName', display of duplicate icons is supressed. But if you don't
> elect to move the contents with the folder, Vista will not delete the
> original folder. So you now have an 'ordinary' folder named Documents
> remaining under UserName, as well as an icon that points to your new
> location. These are the 'duplicates' you are seeing.
>
>> the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
>> pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change
>> the
>> default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever one
>> it
>> is!
>>
>> i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on
>> the
>> start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it
>> all
>> gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this folders
>> contents to the new location"?
>>
>> somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all
>> over
>> the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default settings'
>> for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
>> messed up.
>>
>> i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the problems.
>> i
>> want the following:
>>
>
> For all of these, the transition will be smoother if you elect to Move the
> contents. If you're nervous about a move, back up the files to a third
> location beforehand.
>
>> d:\my documents
>
> Use the Location tab from the 'Documents' folder
>
>> m:\my music
>
> Use the Location tab from the 'Music' folder
>
>> p:\my pictures
>
> Use the Location tab from the 'Pictures' folder
>
>> v:\my videos
>
> Use the Location tab from the 'Videos' folder
>
>> t:\temp files
>
> Right-click on the 'Computer' icon found on the desktop or Start Menu &
> select 'Properties'. On the 'Advanced' tab, click the 'Environment
> Variables...' button & edit the 'TEMP' & 'TMP' variables.
>
>
>> i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.
>>
>
> As mentioned above, moving the contents allows the original to be deleted
> & you shouldn't see duplicates.
>
>> can anyone shed any light on this????
>
> Hope I just did
>
>
> --
> Good Luck,
>
> Keith
> Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
>

On 2007-02-25 13:48, Rat_uk wrote:
> "Erik Wikström" <Erik-wikstrom@telia.com> wrote in message
> news:uURUOiNWHHA.3568@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> On 2007-02-25 13:01, Rat_uk wrote:
>>> when you say, 'use the location tab in the documents folder' do you mean
>>> the green icon under C:\Users\steven\Documents?
>>
>> No, right-click on the Documents folder and click Properties, then you'll
>> find a tab called Location. Use the Move-button to move the folder to
>> another location.
>
> which documents folder?
>
> there are green icons called documents, folders called my
> documents..... which one is it??
>
> this is all part of the confusion.

The green on, under C:\Users\<username>\, these are the only one that
metters under Vista. It seems like you have upgraded from XP since you
have the "My *" folders, if I were you I'd try to get rid of them. Start
by moving the folders under C:\Users\<username>\ to wherever you'd like,
then copy the contents of Documents and Settings to this locations and
then remove Documents and Settings.

--
Erik Wikström

Read my original reply more carefully. 'My Documents' is not really a
folder -- it is a junction that points to 'Documents'

Bottom line is this: If the Properties dialog for the folder has a tab named
'Location', it is one of your special user folders.

If the 'General' tab of the Properties dialog shows 'Type: File Folder' and
'Target: <blank>', it is a junction which points somewhere else.

If the 'General' tab of the Properties dialog shows 'Type', 'Location',
'Size', etc., it's an ordinary folder.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

"Rat_uk" <ratty@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:54C91E19-A214-4F04-8E3D-9F4460B1B046@microsoft.com...
> which documents folder?
>
> there are green icons called documents, folders called my documents.....
> which one is it??
>
> this is all part of the confusion.
>
>
> "Erik Wikström" <Erik-wikstrom@telia.com> wrote in message
> news:uURUOiNWHHA.3568@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> On 2007-02-25 13:01, Rat_uk wrote:
>>> this is great. thanks.
>>>
>>> when you say, 'use the location tab in the documents folder' do you mean
>>> the green icon under C:\Users\steven\Documents?
>>
>> No, right-click on the Documents folder and click Properties, then you'll
>> find a tab called Location. Use the Move-button to move the folder to
>> another location.
>>
>> --
>> Erik Wikström
>

It's not about where the software is installed -- it's about how & if it was
coded to access user's special folders. 'Nice' programs ask the OS: "Where
is this user's music folder?". 'Bad' programs assume they know the
location.

Theoretically, if all your software is well behaved, you can delete the
junctions. This is at your own risk -- how well do you know the coding of
the programs you install? It's not a point of no return, however -- you can
always recreate the junctions (and make your own if you like the idea) using
the 'mklink' command from a command prompt window.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

"Rat_uk" <ratty@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:6E158D63-8603-4166-8239-A5730C67B8DE@microsoft.com...
> can i delete the folder shortcuts that re-direct the xp installation?
>
> i always manually install software and point it where i want it to go
> anyway.
>
> "Keith Miller MVP" <k.miller79@no.spam.verizon.net> wrote in message
> news:Oz8aJPKWHHA.896@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> "Rat_uk" <ratty@nowhere.com> wrote in message
>> news:5AECB322-B189-4F58-803F-CE504FB324E1@microsoft.com...
>>>I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in
>>>understanding
>>> how all the folders are linked together.
>>>
>>> in the left hand explorer pane i see:
>>>
>>> desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
>>> expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon
>>> called
>>> 'documents'.
>>>
>>> if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my
>>> videos'
>>> and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
>>> shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)
>>>
>>> even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my
>>> documents'
>>> with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.
>>>
>>> these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of
>>> documents
>>> folders in the left pane....
>>>
>>> if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
>>> settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
>>> even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are
>>> traditional
>>> yellow folders and not green icons.
>>>
>>> by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
>>> tree????
>>>
>>
>> Turn off "Show hidden files and folders" and things will look a little
>> cleaner ;-)
>>
>> OK. With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you did on XP. It is now
>> found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents and Settings' (quite an
>> improvement, I think). It has subfolders named AppData (normally
>> hidden), Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music,
>> Pictures, Saved Games, Searches and Videos.
>>
>> Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
>> folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.
>>
>> You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
>> Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are seeing.
>> Their names corespond to the the old XP user folder structure. They
>> "point' to the coresponding new user folder in Vista. They are created
>> so that software that was coded with the XP folder structure in mind
>> would be less likely to 'break'
>>
>> So, if a program goes looking for:
>>
>> "C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Music"
>>
>> The 'Documents and Settings' junction found under 'C:\' points to:
>> 'C:\Users'
>>
>> The 'My Documents' junction found there points to:
>> 'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Documents'
>>
>> The 'My Music' junction found there points to:
>> 'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Music'
>>
>> So a program that went looking for the Music folder assuming the XP
>> location still ends up in the proper folder.
>>
>> On a fresh install, the UserName folder found on the desktop mirrors the
>> content of 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. If you use the 'Move' option found on
>> the 'Location' tab of a user folder AND move all the files within that
>> folder, the original folder is deleted and will no longer appear under
>> 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. But an icon for the folder will remain in the
>> 'Desktop\<Username>' folder, because uses the Namespace to display the
>> redirected folders -- similar to the way control panel no longer exists
>> as a file system folder, but is displayed in a similar fashion.
>>
>> So the UserName folder on the desktop displays the union of the contents
>> of 'C:\Users\<UserName>' and the users 'special' folder collection. If a
>> 'special' folder points to a folder that physically resides under
>> 'UserName', display of duplicate icons is supressed. But if you don't
>> elect to move the contents with the folder, Vista will not delete the
>> original folder. So you now have an 'ordinary' folder named Documents
>> remaining under UserName, as well as an icon that points to your new
>> location. These are the 'duplicates' you are seeing.
>>
>>> the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
>>> pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change
>>> the
>>> default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever
>>> one it
>>> is!
>>>
>>> i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on
>>> the
>>> start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it
>>> all
>>> gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this
>>> folders
>>> contents to the new location"?
>>>
>>> somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all
>>> over
>>> the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default
>>> settings'
>>> for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
>>> messed up.
>>>
>>> i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the
>>> problems. i
>>> want the following:
>>>
>>
>> For all of these, the transition will be smoother if you elect to Move
>> the contents. If you're nervous about a move, back up the files to a
>> third location beforehand.
>>
>>> d:\my documents
>>
>> Use the Location tab from the 'Documents' folder
>>
>>> m:\my music
>>
>> Use the Location tab from the 'Music' folder
>>
>>> p:\my pictures
>>
>> Use the Location tab from the 'Pictures' folder
>>
>>> v:\my videos
>>
>> Use the Location tab from the 'Videos' folder
>>
>>> t:\temp files
>>
>> Right-click on the 'Computer' icon found on the desktop or Start Menu &
>> select 'Properties'. On the 'Advanced' tab, click the 'Environment
>> Variables...' button & edit the 'TEMP' & 'TMP' variables.
>>
>>
>>> i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.
>>>
>>
>> As mentioned above, moving the contents allows the original to be deleted
>> & you shouldn't see duplicates.
>>
>>> can anyone shed any light on this????
>>
>> Hope I just did
>>
>>
>> --
>> Good Luck,
>>
>> Keith
>> Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
>>
>