My Documents - 2 Duplicated Folders..

[Terri]

Need some advice: My Documents folder shows up twice when I go to Windows
Explorer. It shows up on C:documents and settings\terri
and c:documents and settings\terri\my documents

Now - here is the question - can I delete one of the folders (the second
one) and will this cause a problem. Everything is duplicated and is there a
need for two of them taking up room and causing confusion?
Thanks so much.

 

[thecreator]

Hi Terri,

Before deleting anything, right-click on the My Documents icon on the Desktop. Click Properties then click Find Target. This will help you find the legit My Documents Folder NOT to delete.

Use a Windows Registry Cleaner to clean out the Windows Registry. A good one is locate at http://www.tune-up.com/ and is called TuneUp Utilities 2006.

Make sure also that what you are seeing is duplicated files and not Shortcuts. Because clicking on shortcuts, takes you to My Documents folder.

Do this Test. Create a blank Test.doc File and move it into My Documents folder. Now using Explore, locate that file in the duplicated My Documents folder you wish to delete. and see if it is there. Also see if it is in the Duplicate My Documents folder.

Now, go back to the Duplicate folder and delete that file. Go back to the Legit Folder and see if that file, still resides there. If it doesn't, then all you are seeing are Shortcuts to My Documents Folder. Leave them alone.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi Terri,

What you see in the other location is just a pointer to the My Documents.
The "My Documents" folder is a special folder which points to the following
path in hte file system:

%userprofile%\my documents

%userprofile% represents the path to the user profile home folder (for
example, C:\Documents and Settings\Terri )

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Need some advice: My Documents folder shows up twice when I go to Windows
Explorer. It shows up on C:documents and settings\terri
and c:documents and settings\terri\my documents

Now - here is the question - can I delete one of the folders (the second
one) and will this cause a problem. Everything is duplicated and is there a
need for two of them taking up room and causing confusion?
Thanks so much.

 

[Terri]

Hmm - you will not believe this but when I right click on My DOcuments on
the desktop I get: Crogram Files/Microsoft Office.Office 11/Winword.exe
.... now what ????
I am baffled!
Terri

Hi Terri,

Before deleting anything, right-click on the My Documents icon on the
Desktop. Click Properties then click Find Target. This will help you find
the legit My Documents Folder NOT to delete.

Use a Windows Registry Cleaner to clean out the Windows Registry. A good
one is locate at http://www.tune-up.com/ and is called TuneUp Utilities
2006.

Make sure also that what you are seeing is duplicated files and not
Shortcuts. Because clicking on shortcuts, takes you to My Documents folder.

Do this Test. Create a blank Test.doc File and move it into My Documents
folder. Now using Explore, locate that file in the duplicated My Documents
folder you wish to delete. and see if it is there. Also see if it is in the
Duplicate My Documents folder.

Now, go back to the Duplicate folder and delete that file. Go back to
the Legit Folder and see if that file, still resides there. If it doesn't,
then all you are seeing are Shortcuts to My Documents Folder. Leave them
alone.

 

[Terri]

Followed your plans for the test.doc and when I deleted one the other one
deleted as well. Also tried it in reverse and they both deleted either
way...
Hmm

 

[Terri]

I feel like a fool - now I found 3 My Document Folders and I do not believe
they are shortcuts. I tried to delete one and when I right click, thre is no
delete option. There is only the delete option on the C drive and I do not
want to delete those....
T

 

[thecreator]

Hi Terri,

Did you download TuneUp Utilities 2006? It has an option to repair the
Icons. It is located in TuneUp SystemControl. Scroll down to Correct
Problems.