Personal User Folder - Restore Missing Folder

How to Restore a Missing or Default Location of User Folders in Vista​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to restore a personal user folder if it has been deleted, in the wrong location, or is missing from your C:\Users\(user name) or Start menu location.

   Tip

If you have duplicate user folders instead, then you will need to backup the contents of the duplicate user folders, do OPTION TWO below, delete the duplicate folders, then you may need to restart the computer a couple of times first before the default location is restored.

EXAMPLE: Personal User Profile Folders

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EXAMPLE: Personal User Profile Folders Start menu Location

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OPTION ONE

Restore User Folders Using Folder Properties

NOTE: This can help restore the default location of a user folder. If it does not help, then use OPTION TWO below.

1. Right click on the user folder that you want to restore the default location for and click on Properties.​

NOTE: Do this from the C:\Users\(user name) location for the best results and not from the Start menu user folders.​

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2. Click on the Location tab. (See screenshot below step 3)​

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 TWO below in this case instead.​

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3. Click on the Restore Default button and click on OK. (See screenshot below)​

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4. If you get this, then click on Yes. (See screenshot below)​

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5. Click on Yes. (See screenshot below)​

WARNING: If you do not click on Yes, you will have two copies of the personal user folder in the main (user name) folder with one being as described in the NOTE under step 2.​

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OPTION TWO

Manually Restore User Folders with Reg File Download & Registry Editor

   Note

This is a more thorough method of restoring a user folder's default location, or restore missing user folders.

The reg files in the downloads below will restore the default values at this registry location below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

   Warning

If you have any duplicate user folders, or user folders that do not have a Location properties tab (Option One), then you will need to:

• Backup only the folder's contents to another location to be safe.
• Now proceed with the steps below

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1. Open your C:\Users\(user-name) folder. If the user folder is missing, then create a New Folder and rename it with the name below for that user folder.​

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User Folder	Rename with
Contacts	Contacts
Desktop	Desktop
Documents	Documents
Downloads	Downloads
Favorites	Favorites
Links	Links
Music	Music
Pictures	Pictures
Saved Games	Saved Games
Searches	Searches
Videos	Videos

2. To Restore Default Contacts Folder Location​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Restore_Default_Contacts_Location.reg​

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3. To Restore Default Desktop Folder Location​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Restore_Desktop_Default_Location.reg​

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4. To Restore Default Documents Folder Location​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Restore_Documents_Default_Location.reg​

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5. To Restore Default Downloads Folder Location​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Restore_Downloads_Default_Location.reg​

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6. To Restore Default Favorites Folder Location​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Restore_Favorites_Default_Location.reg​

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7. To Restore Default Links Folder Location​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Restore_Default_Links_Location.reg​

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8. To Restore Default Music Folder Location​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Restore_Music_Default_Location.reg​

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9. To Restore Default Pictures Folder Location​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

Restore_Pictures_Default_Location.reg​

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10. To Restore Default Saved Games Folder Location​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Restore_Default_Saved_Games_Location.reg​

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11. To Restore Default Searches Folder Location​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Restore_Default_Searches_Location.reg​

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12. To Restore Default Videos Folder Location​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Restore_Videos_Default_Location.reg​

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13. Save the .reg file to your Desktop.​

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14. Right click on the downloaded .reg file, and click on Merge.​

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15. Click on Run, Yes, Yes, and OK when prompted.​

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16. Open the Start Menu, then type regedit in the search box and press enter.​

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17. If prompted by UAC, then click on Continue (administrator) or enter administrator's password (if standard user).​

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18. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)​

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HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

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19. In the right pane of Shell Folders, right click on the user folder in the Name column in the registry (see table below) that you want to restore, then click on Modify. (see screenshot above)​

NOTE: If the Name entry in the table below is not there, then right click on a empty space in the right pane, click on New and String Value, and give it the name in bold below for that user folder.​

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User Folder	Name in Registry
Contacts	{56784854-C6CB-462B-8169-88E350ACB882}
Desktop	Desktop
Documents	Personal
Downloads	{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}
Favorites	Favorites
Links	{BFB9D5E0-C6A9-404C-B2B2-AE6DB6AF4968}
Music	My Music
Pictures	My Pictures
Saved Games	{4C5C32FF-BB9D-43B0-B5B4-2D72E54EAAA4}
Searches	{7D1D3A04-DEBB-4115-95CF-2F29DA2920DA}
Videos	My Videos

20. Type in the full default path (see table below) of the user folder, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)​

NOTE: Substitute User-Name in the full path with your user account name instead.​

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User Folder	Default Path
Contacts	C:\Users\User-Name\Contacts
Desktop	C:\Users\User-Name\Desktop
Documents	C:\Users\User-Name\Documents
Downloads	C:\Users\User-Name\Downloads
Favorites	C:\Users\User-Name\Favorites
Links	C:\Users\User-Name\Links
Music	C:\Users\User-Name\Music
Pictures	C:\Users\User-Name\Pictures
Saved Games	C:\Users\User-Name\Saved Games
Searches	C:\Users\User-Name\Searches
Videos	C:\Users\User-Name\Videos

21. Close Regedit.​

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22. Open an elevated command prompt.​

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23. In the elevated command prompt, Copy and Paste the command below for the user folder icon that you want to restore to default. (see table below)​

NOTE: This will set the user folder attributes back to default. You can Copy and Paste these to make it easier for you. ​

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User Folder	Command
Contacts	attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Contacts /S /D
Desktop	attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Desktop /S /D
Documents	attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Documents /S /D
Downloads	attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Downloads /S /D
Favorites	attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Favorites /S /D
Links	attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Links /S /D
Music	attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Music /S /D
Pictures	attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Pictures /S /D
Saved Games	attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\"Saved Games" /S /D
Searches	attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Searches /S /D
Videos	attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Videos /S /D

24. Close the elevated command prompt.​

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25. Open the Start Menu, then Copy and Paste the Shell command (see table below) in the search box for the User folder that you want to restore, and press Enter.​

NOTE: If this opens the missing personal user folder(s), then you are done and can skip step 26 and go to step 27 instead.​

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User Folder	Shell Command
Contacts	shell:Contacts
Desktop	shell:desktop
Documents	shellersonal
Downloads	shell:downloads
Favorites	shell:Favorites
Links	shell:Links
Music	shell:My Music
Pictures	shell:My Pictures
Saved Games	shell:SavedGames
Searches	shell:Searches
Videos	shell:My Video

26. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to finish restoring the user folder location.​

NOTE: Sometimes you may need to restart more than once for the changes to be applied.​

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27. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg file(s) if you like.​

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28. If you have any duplicate user folders left, or user folders that do not have a Location properties tab (Option One), then you will need to:​

• Delete all duplicate user folders without the correct default C:\Users\(user-name)\(user-folder) path (see step 20) and user folders without a Location properties tab.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Fix a Personal User Shell Folder Displayed as a Standard Yellow Folder Icon in Vista
• How to Change a Personal User Folder Location in Vista
• How to Prevent or Allow User Profile Folders Location Change in Vista
• How to Change the Default Location of a User Profile in Windows 7 and Vista

 

[Jeff47]

OK, so your help on my previous issue was outstanding... and I'm back.

I installed a few new programs that (...I found out too late) automatically place items in the user folders. So, since I had moved the user folders to a new location previously, I now have duplicate "documents", "pictures", "games" and "music" folders and I cannot delete copy either of them.

I thought I had seen this issue somewhere else in this forum - but I can't find it now. Any advice on how to get rid of the duplicate user folders?

Thanks in advance ~ :D

 

[Brink]

Hello Jeff,

These duplicate user folders are only from the new programs that you had installed and are not really the real user folders.

You have two options on how to get rid of them depending on the new programs:

1. Change the settings in the new programs to have their save to folders changed to the new location of your user folders.

2. If the programs do not allow you to change the save to folder location, then you can only change the affected user folders back to their default location.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ntaylor]

I specifically registered on this forum to say thank you Shawn.

I've been struggling with this since I inadvertently moved my desktop location to an external hard disk, and with no Location tab no matter what I did, I just couldn't get my desktop location back to its default. The registry key entries did the trick.

I can't say I'm a great fan of Vista compared to XP. It seems to be "waiting" to trip you up in so many wierd and wonderful ways by comparison to XP.

However thanks again for taking the time and trouble to write up this tutorial. Fantastic!

Norman.

 

[Brink]

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

Shawn

 

[Jeff47]

THanks Brink, I'll have to hunt through the new programs and see if I can manually change the save locations. Hope so since having my user files on another hard drive has already saved my bacon more than once.

Once again, thank you for the expert advice!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Jeff. I hope that you are able to so that it will be easier to fix.

Shawn

 

[bird123]

Restore Contacts Folder after moving to a new drive.

I moved my Contacts folder to another drive without first creating a folder on the new drive - moved to e: . I then moved it into a folder but can't find a way to make it green and also the contacts no longer show up in the user profile. I want the contacts on the user profile just mapped to the new drive location. Can you give me instructions to fix this

 

[Brink]

Hello Bird, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Can you change the Contacts folder you moved back to the default location of C:\Users\(user name)\Contacts by using Method One in this tutorial? If you can, you may need to restart the computer a couple of times afterwards to see it return back to the Start menu.

 

[jedimasterkyle]

Hi there, I just registered but I seem to have this same sort of problem with some of my personal folders

The other day, I decided to re-format my other hard-drive mainly because I wasnt using it at all and it had a bunch of old files that I wouldnt need again. So i reformatted it and then I moved my VIDEOS, MUSIC and PICTURES from C: to F: to free up space on my C: drive using the default location setting. But for some reason, When I changed the default location on pics, music and videos, the Icons in my personal folder changed to the yellow folders and I also somehow created a link to my F: drive in my personal folder. I have downloaded the video and picture registries and I have logged off and on and it has worked to an extent. The link to my F: drive is gone from my personal folder but my pictures and videos icons havent shown up yet.

I also didnt realize that when I changed the default location of my pictures and videos to the other hard-drive, Windows DVD maker would suddenly stop working properly. I now have to copy and paste the files I want to burn but I cant even save projects or browse for pictures to use as foreground and background.

So i guess my main question is how do I restore my default pictures and videos Icons in my personal folder but have their default location be my F: Drive?

Ok, so now I have a new problem. I restored (more or less) my videos and pictures files and moved all the files back so that the default location is c:. But now my "videos" folder is displaying as a "desktop" folder so I have 2 desktops in my personal folder. Heres a picture

I aplogize about the size of the picture but its the only way I know how to explain this. Does anyone have any idea how I go about in fixing this??

 

[Brink]

Hello Kyle, and welcome to Vista Forums.

To be safe temporarily copy anything you have in those folders somewhere other than in a user folder as a backup.

Now, delete the folders that are not correct, and restore the default locations for them using either option in Method Two. You may need to restart a couple of times afterwards to have everything restore back to normal.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[kmarston]

Hi Shawn

Thank you, I used method 3, download favorites folder.
This installed favorites in the correct place.
I then removed my old favorites, restart, all fine.
Kev

 

[Brink]

You're welcom Kev. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

Shawn

 

[Foghorn]

Ok. I was mere minutes from wiping my drive and starting over and you saved me in the knick of time. I'm ALMOST there.

I have thousands of documents. Until Vista, I always created a folder for the year and made that my documents and NEVER moved files to it. I just started each year fresh. This year I set up a new Vista box on the 31st and everything went sour on the 1st when I created my 2009 year.

So, thanks to you, I understand what's going on with the shell command and have gotten most of the mess straightened out and most of my work restored, except for one little nagging issue.

I used method three and used the provided reg file, then manually verified with regedit. I've also done a dozen reboots.

The remaining issue is in Explorer. If I go to Computer, C drive, Users, instead of my user name, it lists Documents with a blue icon. Then I click on documents and I have another documents. If I select properties it will show the path as c:\Users\username, but it displays Documents. Everything seems to work right, except for the display. I do a lot of screen shots so this is going to cause some confusion down the road.

If I go to the command prompt, the actual path is c:\Users\username. The "documents" label is for display only.

Any idea how to get this final aspect of this process corrected so the path displayed is Users\Username\Documents?

Thanks for a great tutorial. I've found this site to be a wealth of information. I hope to stay awhile.

 

[Brink]

Hello Foghorn, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You might see if you may be able to simply rename your user account back to it's original name or another name to sort this.

If not, then see if creating a new admistrator account and copying the C:\Users\(user name) files contents over to the new account. If it works and displays properly, then you can just delete the old account from within the new one.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Foghorn]

Thanks for the quick response.

Ok. So I renamed my account from Steve to Stephen and rebooted a couple of times. Didn't really change anything except in the start menu. From the command prompt, it's still c:\User\Steve, but from Explorer on the C drive, it still shows two folders under Users, Public and Documents. Under Documents it has all of my files. Properties for Documents shows it is really names c:\Users\Steve but navigating through Explorer, it consistently shows the path as c:\Users\Documents\Documents etc.

It's weird and making me nuts.

If I create new admin account, will it allow me to copy the entire contents of my current user folders over? I'm assuming then I'll need to reconfigure all the applications & settings for the new user (something I've spent the last two days tweaking).

Things seem to be working OK now, just displaying wrong. Where does Explorer get this name for display?

Thanks for you help. Always something weird.

 

[Brink]

If you copy only the contents from the old user account's C:\Users\(user name) folders into the same location in the new user account's C:\Users\(user name) folders, then you should not need to change to many settings again.

After you have created the new administrator account, you can copy them directly from that account. Before you delete your old account, double check to make sure that you have copied everything over from it that you have wanted to.

It appears that something has corrupted the name of your user account causing this. Not sure what though.

 

[Foghorn]

Well, I gave it a try. I appreciate your help. I created a new admin account, then logged into that account. The User folder properly displayed my user name. I logged back in as my original admin user and tried to copy my entire Users\Document (Username) folder into the new admin account. Twice it just stopped. It's a 60 gig folder anyway.

So, at this point, it appears to be working right, just displaying weird. I deleted the new user account. I'll either find the "fix" to this later or adapt to it. I've been living with microsoft quirks for almost 20 years. I'll manage.

I've gotta think the issue lies in the "current user" part of the registry somewhere. I'll just need to dig around.

Thanks.

Foghorn

 

[Brink]

Try from within the new account. Only copy the contents of the folders that you want instead of the whole thing to see if that helps.

 

[idocmib870115]

Much thanks !! I have been trying to get the music button on the start menu to work properly for weeks. Your tutorial was "right on" !! I'm not frustrated anymore!! thanks again

 

[Brink]

You're welcome idocmib870115, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Shawn