Personal User Shell Folders

How to Fix a Personal User Shell Folder Displayed as a Standard Yellow Folder Icon in Vista​

   Information

If you open your personal user folder in the Start menu or from C:\Users\(user name), and a user folder has a standard yellow folder icon instead of the special green folder icon, then this will show you how to restore the green folder icon for that particular user folder.

   Note

This usually can occur when the desktop.ini file in the shell folder is missing or incorrect, or the user folder has no read only attribute set to it.

EXAMPLE: Special Green Personal User Profile Folder Icons

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OPTION ONE

For the User Name Folder

NOTE: This is the User Name folder that appears in the Desktop folder tree view in Windows Explorer or the Start Menu.

1. Right click on a empty area of the desktop and click on Personalize.​

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2. Click on Change desktop icons in the upper left corner. (See screenshot below)​

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3. In the lower box, click on your User Name folder to highlight it in blue. (See screenshot below)​

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4. Click on the Restore Default button. (See screenshot above)​

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A) Click on Apply.​

NOTE: If it did not restore the default User Name folder icon, then proceed to step 5.​

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B) Go to step 6.​

5. Click on the Change Icon button. (See screenshot below step 3)​

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A) If not already in the top line, then click on the Browse button and browse to C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll.​

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B) Select the default User Name folder icon and click OK. (See highlighted in blue icon in the screenshot below)​

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6. Click on OK. (See screenshot below step 3)​

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OPTION TWO

For the User Folders in the User Name Folder

1. Verify that the user folder has it's correct default path in METHOD THREE here.​

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STEP ONE:​

Shell Command​

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2. Open the Start Menu.​

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3. Type in the Shell command (see table below) for the Personal User folder and press Enter..​

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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

4. This will open the personal user folder from it's location.​

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5. Close the personal user folder window.​

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6. Check to see if the personal user folder has turned back to the special green folder in the start menu.​

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A) If yes, then your done.​

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B) If not, proceed to STEP TWO below.​

STEP TWO:​

Replace Desktop.ini File for User Folder​

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7. Have Show hidden files and folders dotted and Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) unchecked in Folder Options.​

NOTE: For how, see OPTION TWO here:How to Hide or Show Hidden Files and Folders in Vista​

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8. Click on the download button below to download the User Folders.zip file, then click on Save and save it to the Desktop.​

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9. Right click on the User Folders.zip file (on Desktop) and click on Open.​

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10. Extract the same folder(s) for your user folder name with the standard yellow icon displayed to the Desktop.​

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11. Open the extracted folder and right click on the desktop.ini file and click Copy. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: This file is set as a hidden file. This is why it is faded.​

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12. Open the user folder that has the standard yellow folder icon displayed.​

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A) Right click on a empty area in the folder's window and click Paste.​

NOTE: If you are asked if you want to replace the old desktop.ini file, then click Copy and Replace. (See screenshot below)​

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B) Repeat step 11 for each user folder you need to fix.​

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13. Close all windows.​

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14. Open a elevated command prompt.​

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15. If prompted, click on Continue in the UAC prompt.​

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16. In the elevated command prompt, type the command below (see table below) for the user folder name you need to fix. (See screenshot below table)​

NOTE: This will set the user folder as Read-only. You can Copy and Paste these to make it easier for you. ​

WARNING: If you have changed the default location of your user folder, then you will need to type the full path of it's new location after attrib +r instead of the default %USERPROFILE% location below. For example, attrib +r D:\New location​

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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

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17. Repeat step 16 for each user folder that you replaced the desktop.ini file for.​

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18. Close the elevated command prompt.​

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19. Restart the computer, or logoff and login again for the changes to take effect.​

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20. Confirm that the folder icon is back to normal.​

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21. You can now delete the downloaded folders on the desktop and set your hidden files and folders settings back to normal in step 7 above.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Change a Folder Icon in Vista
• How to Use the Vista Shell Command
• How to Change a Personal User Folder Location in Vista
• How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Vista
• How to Restore a Missing Personal User Folder in Vista
• How to Fix a Public Folder Displayed as a Standard Yellow Folder Icon in Vista
• How to Change a File Extension Type Icon 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

 

[jillybean]

I did already try that, before I deleted the folders which still didn't show back up.. After using limewire I somehow have two download folders, none that have the icon, just a plain folder.... I give up

 

[Ojaser6]

Jillybean:

Try right-clicking the folder, click properties, go to the customize tab, and click change icon, click browse, and choose the file named imageres.dll. you should find the correct icon there.

if that works, please give me some rep points!

 

[Brink]

Jillybean,

Temporarily close the programs that are recreating the user folder. Backup your user folder contents to another location, then delete all of the sub folders in the C:\Users\(user name) folder. Do not delete the (user name) folder itself though.

Check to make sure that all of your user folders are set to the default location as per Option Three in this tutorial below.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/148461-personal-user-folder-restore-missing-folder.html

Restart the computer to apply.

 

[jillybean]

I dont have the option to browse the icons it just gives me choose file and then wants to to serch for where the file is located, where do i find the file named imageres.dll?

 

[jillybean]

Re: Personal User Folder - Restore Missing Folder

after trying this for a million times my user folders are all for the exact moment present with their nice icons!!! thanks Shawn for helping me!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Jillybean. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

 

[Nubleus]

Hi. I'm getting a "Parameter format not correct" error when i enter "attrib +r %USERPROFILE%\Music" into command prompt... Any idea as to why? I haven't changed the default location of the music folder and it was right in the registry.

Much appreciated.

Nub

 

[Brink]

Hello Nub, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Did you enter this in a elevated command prompt from step 8?

Shawn

 

[Nubleus]

Hello Nub, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Did you enter this in a elevated command prompt from step 8?

Shawn

Yup, sure did. Though when I paste it, there's an extra 0409 before attrib...

Nub

 

[Brink]

Nub,

Not sure what you mean by the 0409, but it should only have attrib +r %USERPROFILE%\Music typed or copied after the command prompt.

 

[Nubleus]

Yea it's odd... When i copy the "attrib +r %USERPROFILE%\Music" and paste it into command prompt, it pastes as "0409 attrib +r %USERPROFILE%\Music". I delete the "0409" so it's only "attrib +r %USERPROFILE%\Music", press enter, but still get the error.

 

[Brink]

Go ahead and restart the computer to see if the Music folder returns back to it's correct color afterwards.

 

[Nubleus]

Yep just did, again. 3 times... After logging on, I also get two notepad files automatically opening up. The files are named "desktop" and they're in my start up and both contain "[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21787" is that suppose to happen lol? What trouble for one icon... . And nope, unfortunately it's still the same old yellow icon.

Nub.

 

[Brink]

Nub,

It sounds like you got something more going on than said before. You should not have those in your startup programs list. Could you post a screenshot of this registry location below? Be sure to have all of the right pane included in it. I'll see if I can spot anything that may be wrong with it.

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

 

[Nubleus]

Hi there Brink. I'd be glad to .

Nub.

 

[Brink]

Nub,

That location looks fine to me. Backup anything you have in the yellow user folders, then delete the yellow user folders in the Start Menu and restart the computer to see if they return to normal. If not, then reapply the tutorial here for the folders again to see if that can do it.

 

[Nubleus]

Hi there Brink. Cheers, will try that.

 

[OldGrantonian]

I have Vista Home Premium.

I moved my Personal folders from C: to D:. I also had to change some yellow folder icons back to green.

Everything is now fine, except for one thing. In my personal folder (at the top of Windows Explorer), I now have two desktop icons. The yellow folder is empty, and has the Folder Path C:\Users\Me

The green folder has the correct contents, and has the Folder Path D:\Users\Me

If I try to delete the yellow (empty) desktop folder, it's the full folder that appears in the recycle bin. The yellow folder remains in C:\Users\Me

How can I delete the empty yellow folder?
.

One solution occurred to me while I was waiting for a response.

I simply moved the Desktop folder from D:\Users\Me to C:\Users\Me

Immediately, the yellow "Desktop" folder disappeared.

I then moved the folder back to D:\Users\Me

Now, I have a green Desktop folder in C:\Users\Me and a green Desktop folder in D:\Users\Me, which is correct.

However, this is fine (and quick) for a small folder such as Desktop. What is the quick way to do the same thing for a massive folder such as Documents (10 minutes from D to C, plus another 10 minutes back from C to D)?

 

[Brink]

Hello OldGrantonian,

You might also check to see if you have any programs that are saving file to the C:\Users\(user name)\Documents folder location as well. If you do have a program doing this, then this will have the yellow "C:\Users\(user name)\Documents" folder stay this way each time the program saves something there. You can stop the program from doing this if it has the option to change it's save location path to the D: location instead.

You might also check the registry location to see if you have any duplicate entries for the yellow user folders, then correct as needed. You can check using the manual OPTION THREE in the tutorial below.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/148461-personal-user-folder-restore-missing-folder.html

If the method you are using works though, you might just do it since it may be easier and safer to do.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[OldGrantonian]

Hi Shawn,

You can check using the manual OPTION THREE in the tutorial below.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/148461-personal-user-folder-restore-missing-folder.html

I tried your suggestion. As an experiment, I used ERUNT, then edited the "Desktop" entry in:

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

This works great

So, my (non-geek) conclusion is:

For small folders, simply edit the "Location" tab in "Properties". This method does not need a reboot.

For large folders, edit:

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

Even with a reboot, this will still be quicker.

Thanks for the tip