XP Folder Tree - How does it work?

[offwego]

Can somebody explain to me how the tree of folders works on MS XP Pro (SP3)?

1 I’ve just had MS XP Pro (SP3) re-loaded (after a hard disk crash) and it
gives me what I guess is a default ‘My documents’ folder at the top. Can any
user save files to this folder? If they do is this then the only place that
they can access them again or can you find them elsewhere on the folder tree?

2 Under ‘My computer’ there are all the drives listed plus what I guess
again are default ‘Documents’ folders for each of the users on the PC. They
have sub folders for things like ‘my music’ etc. Why are these set up? Can
each user just save to the folder under there name? Are these folders and
the ‘My documents’ folder at the top linked in any way?

3 If I click on Local Disk (C) I get another list of folders. There are a
series of folders with user names under the folder ‘Documents and settings.’
Why does XP Pro need to store files here when there already appear to be
folders for each user as I described at ‘1’ above? Some of these appear to
have been created for me by the person that re-loaded XP Pro and some appear
to have been created when I copied my back-up file across after the hard disk
crash. There are two folders for each user. One I guess created by my local
computer person and the other from my back-up. Are these folders linked to
‘My documents’ at the top? Are they linked to the user folders under ‘My
computer’?

4 What I want is something simple to use! Can I amalgamate some of these
folders? If each user can save files to there own folders and I can get
access to them all as the overall administrator then that’s all I want!

Any advice, links, diagrams etc. would be great!

 

[RobertVA]

Can somebody explain to me how the tree of folders works on MS XP Pro (SP3)?

1 I’ve just had MS XP Pro (SP3) re-loaded (after a hard disk crash) and it
gives me what I guess is a default ‘My documents’ folder at the top. Can any
user save files to this folder? If they do is this then the only place that
they can access them again or can you find them elsewhere on the folder tree?

2 Under ‘My computer’ there are all the drives listed plus what I guess
again are default ‘Documents’ folders for each of the users on the PC. They
have sub folders for things like ‘my music’ etc. Why are these set up? Can
each user just save to the folder under there name? Are these folders and
the ‘My documents’ folder at the top linked in any way?

3 If I click on Local Disk (C) I get another list of folders. There are a
series of folders with user names under the folder ‘Documents and settings.’
Why does XP Pro need to store files here when there already appear to be
folders for each user as I described at ‘1’ above? Some of these appear to
have been created for me by the person that re-loaded XP Pro and some appear
to have been created when I copied my back-up file across after the hard disk
crash. There are two folders for each user. One I guess created by my local
computer person and the other from my back-up. Are these folders linked to
‘My documents’ at the top? Are they linked to the user folders under ‘My
computer’?

4 What I want is something simple to use! Can I amalgamate some of these
folders? If each user can save files to there own folders and I can get
access to them all as the overall administrator then that’s all I want!

Any advice, links, diagrams etc. would be great!

Some of these locations are an alias of another folder.

EACH user will have an independent folder on the boot drive within the
"Documents and Settings" folder. Within that folder are folders for
application data, Internet Explorer favorites, shortcuts that are added
to that user's "Start" menu, Desktop icons and a "My Documents" folder
containing folders for "My Pictures""My Music""My Stationary" and"My
Videos". Many of these folders are default "save" locations for
applications that come with your OS (like Internet Explorer, Outlook
Express, Windows Media Player and Windows Explorer itself). These are
the folders that allow different users to have their own independent
desktop icons, data stores, browser favorites and certain other functions.

To make it easier for the users to find their documents Windows Explorer
places the "My Documents" alias at the top of the folder list. This
isn't actually a separate folder, it's a reflection of a folder in the
boot partition's "Documents and settings" folder. Make a change in "My
Documents" and the exact same change will occur in YOUR account's folder
within "Documents and Settings" (other user's folders will remain
unchanged). Similar changes will occur if you change the icons on your
desktop.

If you want shortcuts to appear on EVERY user's task bar "Start" menu,
right click on the "Start" button and click "Explore all users" on the
context menu. Shortcuts (and folders) added to that folder structure
will appear on every user's "Start" menu. The folders and shortcuts
added to the folder structure that appears when you click the plain
"Explore" on the "Start" button's context menu will be added to that
particular user's menu system.

 

[N. Miller]

Can somebody explain to me how the tree of folders works on MS XP Pro (SP3)?

1 I¢ve just had MS XP Pro (SP3) re-loaded (after a hard disk crash) and it
gives me what I guess is a default ¡My documents¢ folder at the top. Can any
user save files to this folder? If they do is this then the only place that
they can access them again or can you find them elsewhere on the folder tree?

"My Documents" is a folder Windows sets up for each user account. It exists
directly under the "C:\Documents and Settings\User" tree, where "User" is
the actual identity of a user account. What you see under "My Computer" is a
pointer to the folder location.

If your user account has administrative privilege, and the other users have
not locked their folders, you have access to them. Users, generally, only
have access to folders for which they have permissions.

2 Under ¡My computer¢ there are all the drives listed plus what I guess
again are default ¡Documents¢ folders for each of the users on the PC. They
have sub folders for things like ¡my music¢ etc. Why are these set up? Can
each user just save to the folder under there name? Are these folders and
the ¡My documents¢ folder at the top linked in any way?

Windows sets up folders on a per user basis. The point is to provide a
modicum of security for the users. If each user has limited access ("Limited
User Account"), and a password, he can only access the data in his account.
Each user has a set of default folders with the same names, but with only
his access permissions.

3 If I click on Local Disk (C) I get another list of folders. There are a
series of folders with user names under the folder ¡Documents and settings.¢
Why does XP Pro need to store files here when there already appear to be
folders for each user as I described at ¡1¢ above? Some of these appear to
have been created for me by the person that re-loaded XP Pro and some appear
to have been created when I copied my back-up file across after the hard disk
crash. There are two folders for each user. One I guess created by my local
computer person and the other from my back-up. Are these folders linked to
¡My documents¢ at the top? Are they linked to the user folders under ¡My
computer¢?

The folders are displayed in multiple ways, but are the same folders. This
is for the convenience of the users, so they don't have to navigate the
folder tree to get to their folders.

4 What I want is something simple to use!

WebTV and an LBB sound simple to me!

Can I amalgamate some of these folders? If each user can save files to there own
folders and I can get access to them all as the overall administrator then that¢s
all I want!

I have not actually played with the Administrator account, though it exists
on my computer. Even with administrative privilege, my user account can't
access other user account files. I believe that is what the Administrator
account is used for; but I am the only use on my computer, and such "users"
as I have set up are just for playing around with the system.

Any advice, links, diagrams etc. would be great!

Google is your friend. (Though I actually prefer Copernic, myself.)

 

[offwego]

Many thanks for the replies. I'll spend a bit of time looking at the folders
again and try and make sense of them!