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

 

[Brink]

You're welcome OldGrantonian.

 

[Chronia]

Hi There, So I followed these instructions accordingly to fix my music folder. However, when I copied the desktop.ini file I downloaded from above into my user folder I didn't get a message warning me that the file already existed and asking me if I wanted to overwrite it. It just copied straight and simple. I rebooted my computer and unfortunately my music folder is still a yellow folder. All my other user folders have the appropriate green icons and work fine. My music folder works fine too but it just doesn't have the green icon and it looks funny. What else can I do to fix this?

 

[Brink]

Hello Chronia, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Double check, using Option Three in the tutorial below, to make sure that your Music folder has the default location set for it.

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

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Chronia]

Shawn,

Hi. I tried option 3 of the tutorial link you provided. I tried both methods listed. It has the default location set for it. My icon is still a yellow folder. What can I try next?

 

[Brink]

Did you apply the attrib +r %USERPROFILE%\Music command when using the instructions in this tutorial?

 

[Chronia]

Hi Shawn,

Yes, I did apply the attrib +r %USERPROFILE%\Music function from step 2 step 10 of this tutorial. Still a yellow music folder

((Guess I edited this a little late :P))

 

[Brink]

Chronia,

In Step Two (OPTION TWO) of the tutorial on the first page here you will need to also do the steps from step 8 on with this command to get the correct icon back.

 

[Chronia]

Shawn,

Wow your quick lol. Had to edit my last post cuz I misunderstood what you meant through you referring to the link in your previous post and by the time I'd edited it initially you'd already replied again :P But yes I did apply step ten of step two initially but still ended up witha yellow folder.

 

[Brink]

LOL.

Using step 5 (OPTION ONE) as a guide, right click on the C:\Users\(user name)\Music folder and click on Properties and the Customize tab to see if you can manually select to change the icon to the default music folder.

 

[Chronia]

Shawn,

Unfortunately, since this technically a system folder (even if it's a user folder) there is no change icon button. I can do it with sub folders in the music folder or with other folders I create myself but not with the music folder itself. On the customize tab there is a choose folder button and a restore default button. When I click the restore default button, it doesn't do anything and I'm left with the same yellow folder icon. When I click the choose folder button it lets me choose a picture image to be displayed on the yellow folder icon like *.jpg, *.gif etc. The default system icons, I discovered, are stored in C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll and since this is a *.dll file I can access them via the choose folder button since it only let me select image files. I found out that the default system icons were stored here by trying to change the icon of a shortcut on my desktop.

Not sure what to do next.

 

[Brink]

Chronia,

You should see this when you right click on the C:\Users\(user name)\Music folder and click on Properties and Customize tab.



Then browse to the imageres.dll file and select the music folder icon.

 

[Chronia]

Shawn,

I have opened that window but it doesn't give me the third option, just as I've said. It doesn't display the 3rd section with the change icon button. It only displays as far as the previous section with the restore default and choose folder buttons. There is no section on the customize tab for the music folder nor for any f the other "system" folders in my user folder (documents, pictures, favourites,etc.).

This is the image I see:

It is the same for all the other green folders (which do have their appropriate icons).

So I'm kinda stumped. I don't know if this helps any but I use a classic style desktop them with custom colours and the classic windows look. I manually changed the theme using destop personalize features. I doubt this would affect anything but I thought I should mention it.

 

[Brink]

Chronia,

Strange, I have the same 3rd Folder icons section when using Windows Classic to. I'm not sure why you do not have it. You might see if doing a System Restore using a restore point dated when it displayed properly can fix it for you.

 

[Chronia]

Shawn,

It's been happening since I got my new computer and used Windows Easy Transfer to copy my files over from my old XP computer. That was about a month ago. I don't actually have a restore point old enough to go back to before this happened without doing a complete system recovery and losing all my files. I do not want to do this. Is there any other way? Could I try maybe making a new folder changing it's icon, moving my files from the current music folder, delete the old music folder and rename the new folder to music? Would that work maybe or would that just cause me unforeseen problems?

 

[Brink]

Chronia,

You can try deleting the Music folder, restart the computer, type shell:my music in the Start menu search line and press Enter, then restart the computer again to see if Vista will automatically replace it with one that has the green icon afterwards. Just be sure to save the contents of the Music folder somewhere else temporarily so they are not deleted to.

 

[Chronia]

Shawn,

Moving all my music files to a new folder and deleting my old music folder, rebooting and using the shell:my music command seems to have worked. I have my music folder back with it's appropriate icon and have moved my music files back into the folder. Thanks so much for all you help and commitment to helping! It was GREATLY appreciated! You don't know how many other technical forums I've visited for various problems where people have given up on helping solve my problems, so it's nice to finally have found a forum site where that is not the case.

Again, Thank You so much!!!!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Chronia. I'm happy to hear that you have the correct icon for the Music folder back now.

 

[Chronia]

*Sigh* Well it was fixed this morning when I last posted, but since then it's gone and changed itself back to the plain yellow folder. I haven't tinkered with any settings or anything like that. Any thoughts as to why it would keep changing itself back to an ugly yellow folder?

 

[Brink]

Well, that stinks.

Usually it displyas a yellow folder sometimes if the folder does not have it's default location, desktop.ini file has been changed or missing, the folder is not the original but a renamed new folder instead, interference from some program, etc....

I suppose check everything again, to see if one of those items may be it this time.

 

[Chronia]

Shawn,

I followed all the steps in option 2 of this tutorial again and, for the moment, it has changed my icon it's default green one. I hesitate to say it's fixed becasue last time I said it was fixed the problem re-occurred a few hours later so I'll see how it goes and if I find it's changed back again later I will post again and see what more we can't figure out to from there.

Cheers,

Chronia