"Documents" folder hidden

[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.

 

[Keith Miller \(MVP\)]

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.

 

[Bob L.]

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,
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.

 

[Keith Miller \(MVP\)]

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]

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,
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.

 

[Bob L.]

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.

 

[Keith Miller \(MVP\)]

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]

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>

 

[Bob L.]

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.

 

[Keith Miller \(MVP\)]

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]