"Documents" folder hidden

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob L.
  • Start date Start date
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Bob L.

I moved “Documents†and “Downloads†to another partition using Location|
Move, etc. Before doing these 2 moves, I created 2 new folders on the new
partition named “Documents†and “Downloadsâ€. My problem is that after the
moves (I said Yes to move all files) the Documents folder on the new
partition disappeared, i.e. it became a hidden system file while the
“Downloads†folder changed on the new partition to a green folder with all
the files in it. If I then do a file open in Word 2003, the “My Placesâ€
pane on the left pane of the dialog box no longer includes a green documents
folder. Instead, it has a manila folder named “My Documentsâ€. If I select
it and then “Add it†to “my places†a correct Green documents folder shows
up, however, I cannot then remove the manila “My documents†folder.

Can someone help me get the “documents†folder working properly? I have
tried restoring defaults and doing it again but with no luck.
 
Open the registry editor by typing 'regedit' in the Start Search box.

Navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders]

In the right pane, edit the path found for 'Personal' so that it points to
your new Documents folder.
 
Keith said:
Open the registry editor by typing 'regedit' in the Start Search box.

Navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders]

In the right pane, edit the path found for 'Personal' so that it points
to your new Documents folder.
Click to expand...
Keith,
Thanks for the quick reply. When I did the move, I left the folder I
created on the new "E" partition as just "New Folder". The path for
'personal' per your instructions says "E:\New Folder" which seems
correct? Is there something else I can do?

Bob L.
 
Make sure Explorer is set to show both hidden & system files.

Check the folder for a desktop.ini file. It should have the following
contents:


[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21770
IconResource=%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll,-112
IconFile=%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll
IconIndex=-235


If it doesn't exist, copy the above into notepad and save in the folder as
'desktop.ini'

Open a command prompt window, and type:

e:<enter>
attrib -s "New Folder"<enter>
attrib -h "New Folder"<enter>
attrib +r "New Folder"<enter>


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]



Bob L. said:
Keith said:
Open the registry editor by typing 'regedit' in the Start Search box.

Navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders]

In the right pane, edit the path found for 'Personal' so that it points
to your new Documents folder.
Click to expand...
Keith,
Thanks for the quick reply. When I did the move, I left the folder I
created on the new "E" partition as just "New Folder". The path for
'personal' per your instructions says "E:\New Folder" which seems correct?
Is there something else I can do?

Bob L.
Click to expand...
 
Keith,
I unhid system files and, yes, there is a desktop.ini file with the
contents you listed in my folder (the file on the E drive is now named
"Documents" rather than new folder as last night I tried doing the move
over again and this time started with a folder named "Documents"). When
I run each of the attrib commands, however, I get the following:


C:\Users\Bob>e:

E:\>attrib -s "Documents"
Not resetting hidden file - E:\Documents

E:\>attrib -h "Documents"
Not resetting system file - E:\Documents

E:\>attrib +r "Documents"
Not resetting hidden file - E:\Documents

I then copied the contents of the desktop.ini file to the clipboard,
deleted the desktop.ini file and created a new one from the clipboard.
Same thing happens when I try the attrib commands.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks again for your help,
Bob L.
 
Sorry, I just tested & you have to clear them together:

attrib -s -h Documents (you only need quotes if there is a space in the
name)


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]



Bob L. said:
Keith,
I unhid system files and, yes, there is a desktop.ini file with the
contents you listed in my folder (the file on the E drive is now named
"Documents" rather than new folder as last night I tried doing the move
over again and this time started with a folder named "Documents"). When I
run each of the attrib commands, however, I get the following:


C:\Users\Bob>e:

E:\>attrib -s "Documents"
Not resetting hidden file - E:\Documents

E:\>attrib -h "Documents"
Not resetting system file - E:\Documents

E:\>attrib +r "Documents"
Not resetting hidden file - E:\Documents

I then copied the contents of the desktop.ini file to the clipboard,
deleted the desktop.ini file and created a new one from the clipboard.
Same thing happens when I try the attrib commands.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks again for your help,
Bob L.







Make sure Explorer is set to show both hidden & system files.

Check the folder for a desktop.ini file. It should have the following
contents:


[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21770
IconResource=%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll,-112
IconFile=%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll
IconIndex=-235


If it doesn't exist, copy the above into notepad and save in the folder
as 'desktop.ini'

Open a command prompt window, and type:

e:<enter>
attrib -s "New Folder"<enter>
attrib -h "New Folder"<enter>
attrib +r "New Folder"<enter>
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
FANTASTIC!! Fixed problems in Explorer! The "Favorite places" Pane in
Word 2003 is still screwed up though, even after doing a reboot just to
be sure that wasn't it. Any idea why or should I try getting help from
an office discussion group now?

Thanks again!
Bob L.
 
I'm not sure about Word 2003, so you might want to ask in an Office group.
I'm not sure how Word populates the places bar.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
 
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