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Tony

I also made the mistake of clicking “Yes” on that folder redirection prompt to combine the Downloads and Desktop folders. What is the remedy for this? Re-installation of Windows? Would a system restore fix this?

James

I know this post is super old. But i’m wondering if you got a fix for this or did you have to reinstall?

Martin

I have also just found this article and wish I knew how to resolve it, I have just done the same thing. Tony, did you get an answer

Chris

Me also.
I can move the “My Documents” folder as in the method above but the other folders do not have a location tab in their properties.
Does any one have an answer.

Jack

Found a fix for the “Oops I clicked Yes”. You need to do a little Registry editing. Open Regedit, do a search for the folder you accidentally merged, so “C:UserblahDesktop”, you should find it in 4 places, the one you’re looking for was the 2nd I found: HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->Microsfoft->Windows->CurrentVersion->Explorer->User Shell Folders Update the errant key such as My Pictures, Desktop, or Personal (aka My Documents). I messed up Downloads which doesn’t show by name, but as a long numeric key like {xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxx}. Once you’ve corrected the path of the entry in question, you need to reboot to take effect. If for some reason that STILL doesn’t work, look for the other 3 mirrored locations (one just above in “Shell Folders”, and two under HKEY_USERS->[your user GUID]) and change them all.

Chris

Thanks Jack. I had tried that with no success so in the end transferred everything to a new account and deleted the messed up one.

I messed up when when setting up new libraries in win 7 as I have a duel boot system with Linux.I have put all user files in a separate partition so accessable from both OS’s.

Using a Zorin OS now but wanted to keep Windows for the odd app namely Serif web plus. Zorin is a great intro into Linux and would encourage anyone to give it a try.

V

Two years later, and this registry fix did the trick. Thank you!

Renee

How do you know which numerical number = the folder you messed up? I messed up downloads and there are three long numerical folders.

Renee

How did you know which numeric key to select?

Maurice Visser

Please can someone clarify something for me. I am wondering where these user folders are on the hard drive. Do they slow down the computer when the get very loaded with files? My VIDEOS file is getting very full and I am thinking I need to move the folder to the C drive which has plenty of spare capacity. Can you please recommend what I should do with a bloated video folder.

jim bergman

Unless u have a 2nd hard drive, your video files are on the C: drive already. The best policy is always have a different location in case the C: drive fails. I recommend that you get an external hard drive (500 gig or more) to connect to the USB port on the computer or the Ethernet on your router for backup purposes.

Meraj

Upgraded to windows 10 from windows 7 without backing up data. All folders in B drive shifted someplace else. Downloads folder opens but the folders in it do not open or get copy pasted in another location even though videos and music can be played. Can I get back my folders somehow or is it lost forever? Please help

Flameater

There’s no location tab on the user’s folder properties. I am logged in as Administrator. I know it was there before but not now. using Win 10

bondra1216

same issue here. I think that the “Users” folder needs to be there permanently and cannot be moved (like trying to move the old system32). However, I might try highlighting all the folders INSIDE the user folder i want to move (for me, thats the contents of C:UsersYourName. ctrl+A, right click, and see if that works and report back.

Does anyone have a solution if you want the ENTIRE “Users” folder moved somewhere else? How can you do this without causing confusion for all the applications that reference this location for specific user application data? I could see this causing all kinds of issues so I need an answer before i will attempt this myself.

Sam0707

Is it safe to redirect the Desktop to another partition of a hard drive (not the one used by the OS)?

bondra11216

why are there no responses on this thread?

MikeD

I moved the My Documents folder to a shared drive on the server, but how do I move it back to default location, the ‘Location’ tab is gone.

Lalillo Roverol

To change the default windows path you must look for the new virtual paths on windows 7

GUID library documents windows seven here

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd378457(v=vs.85).aspx

folders—like My Computer, for example—don’t have a specific “path,” they’re something that’s part of the OS itself. In those cases, that you can use the GUID of the location to make it work. For example, if you wanted it to open My Computer, you would change the target to:

%SystemRoot%explorer.exe /E,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

to my documents you must put

%SystemRoot%explorer.exe /C,::{FDD39AD0-238F-46AF-ADB4-6C85480369C7} (change the letter C to the letter of your drive)

MANITEJ

I hav unfortunately clicked on YES on the REDIRECTION PROMPT combining VIDEOS and PICTURES folders .some one please help me solve this ..

Ciprian Adrian Rusen

You must reset your user account by resetting Windows 10 or by creating a new user account and deleting your old one.

Roopa

I made the mistake of selecting yes for redirection. Now, I have 2 document folders. Every file in the downloads folder gets copied to documents folder. Can you please explain how to undo that??

James

I am currently dealing with this same shit. Did you find a fix? There is a comment on this thread that shows a regedit fix for it.

James

so if i accidentally moved my download folder to there is there a way to change it back or am I going to have to reinstall?

Ghost

Is there anyway to create a new file of this type? a new folder where I can point the location elsewhere without having to use a shortcut folder?

Mumbles

Excellent tutorial! Easy to understand and to the point. Thank you.

Lucid Screams

It worked….thank you.

Ciprian Adrian Rusen

Glad to hear it. Don’t hesitate to subscribe to our website, so that you receive our daily tutorials.

lakawak

Here is a better tip..don’t use the users folders at all. Make your own folders that you can do anything you want with. Microsoft has its own rules when it comes to Users folders…even if they aren’t on your Windows partition. I learned this the hard way. I put the hard drive from my previous computer in my new one and continued using the Documents folder to store things. I created a shortcut on my desktop to it to be able to get to it quickly, since obviously, clicking on my own Users folder would take me to the one on my main drive.

Well, after Windows decided to crash on me, I ended up getting an SSD drive to reinstall it and kept both HDDs as well. In the process of rearranging folders so I could reformat and repartition those drives, I copied the entire contents of the old HDD’s Users folder thinking it would be what I needed. But nope. NONE of what I thought I was putting in that drive for the last year and a half was actually in there, even though the shortcut was clearly pointing to that drive. So I lose a year and a half’s worth of my documents. All because I stupidly used the Users folders.

Never again. They are stupid anyway. I didn’t really WANT all my documents in one folder anyway. And I sure as hell don’t want all my pictures of videos in the same folder

Anthony Pape

When I click properties I do not that the option to move the location. I don’t care about it but windows said my path name was too many characters. I renamed each folder and now it can’t find any of my files??