Can I change what folders appear under Desktop in Windows Explorer

[Guest]

Windows XP appears to make its own decisions about which folders are
displayed prominently in Windows Explorer under My Computer. For example, if
John, Jack and Jill all have user accounts on your PC, then John's Documents,
Jack's Documents and Jill's Documents folders will all be listed directly
under My Computer. Is there any way I can make additional folders display
prominently in this manner?

David

 

[Wesley Vogel]

I doubt it.

Files Stored on This Computer in My Computer is determined by a registry
entry.

Files Stored on This Computer are usually Shared Folders.

<quote>
Files Stored on This Computer: Windows XP lets many people use the same
computer, and everybody's files stay private. However, sometimes everybody
wants to share information — letters from relatives, for instance. That's
where the Shared Documents folder comes in.

The Shared Documents folder contains files and folders accessible to
everybody that uses the computer. To share things with other users of your
computer, call up My Computer and store the information inside My Computer's
Shared Documents folder. (Double-clicking any folder shows its contents.)

Two additional folders live inside the Shared Documents folder: Shared Music
and Shared Pictures. Everybody using the computer may also access music and
pictures stored in here.

If you don't want other users to share your information, keep it out of the
Shared Documents folder. Instead, store the information in your My Documents
folder, accessible from the Start menu.
<quote>
http://www.freepctech.com/pc/xp/xp00165.shtml

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

Wes,
After messing around quite a bit, I doubt it too. Do you know which registry
entries control the appearance of the 'My Documents' type of folder? Do the
desktop.ini files in such folders have anything to do with it?

One unexpected result of my experimenting is that the My Docs folder for the
primary user on my laptop no longer appears directly under My Computer. In
other words, far from adding extra folders to this privileged list, I've
inadvertently deleted one!

Regards,
David

 

[Wesley Vogel]

David,

Do the desktop.ini files in such folders have anything to do with
it?

Yes, the folder and the desktop.ini also need to be System and Read-only
attributes.

The only thing in the registry is the path for My Documents, shell folders.

One unexpected result of my experimenting is that the My Docs folder for
the primary user on my laptop no longer appears directly under My
Computer.

Possibly you have moved the folder. Related to the above question.

%userprofile%\my documents is the default path to My Documents.

Or C:\Documents and Settings\Name Here\My Documents

Locate a shortcut to My Documents folder, righ click it and select
Properties.

On the target tab, the Target box shows the Path.

On the target tab, click Restore Default.

Restore Default
Click to restore the My Documents folder to its default location.

If restoring the default location for the folder does not fix all, post
back.

My Documents desktop.ini...
---------
[DeleteOnCopy]
Owner=Name Here
Personalized=5
PersonalizedName=My Documents
---------

[DeleteOnCopy] means that if you copy a desktop.ini and paste it into
another folder, the copy of the desktop.ini will be blank. Or if you copy
the folder elsewhere – for instance, to back up the contents – these entries
will not be copied.

Owner= The "Owner=" setting is set to the user's logon name.

Personalized= I have no idea what this means.

PersonalizedName= Name that Windows Explorer displays for the folder. I.e.
Shared Music instead of My Music, My Documents instead of Documents.

If you moved My Documents and moved it back, something related to
desktop.ini may still be messed upo.
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In