folder structure??

[Rat_uk]

I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in understanding
how all the folders are linked together.

in the left hand explorer pane i see:

desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon called
'documents'.

if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my videos'
and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)

even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my documents'
with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.

these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of documents
folders in the left pane....

if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are traditional
yellow folders and not green icons.

by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
tree????

the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change the
default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever one it
is!

i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on the
start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it all
gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this folders
contents to the new location"?

somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all over
the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default settings'
for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
messed up.

i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the problems. i
want the following:

d:\my documents
m:\my music
p:\my pictures
v:\my videos
t:\temp files

i have had the arrangement on XP for four years but cannot fathom it on
vista.

i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.

can anyone shed any light on this????



thanks.

 

[Jonathan Yaniv]

Hello,

Vista has renamed the documents and settings folder to "Users", maybe that's
why you are having problems?

--

Have a nice day,

Jonathan Yaniv
Microsoft Windows LiveT Butterfly Expert

Visit the ButterflySays Blog at
http://spaces.msn.com/ButterflySays/

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in understanding
how all the folders are linked together.

in the left hand explorer pane i see:

desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon called
'documents'.

if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my videos'
and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)

even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my documents'
with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.

these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of documents
folders in the left pane....

if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are
traditional
yellow folders and not green icons.

by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
tree????

Turn off "Show hidden files and folders" and things will look a little
cleaner ;-)

OK. With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you did on XP. It is now
found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents and Settings' (quite an
improvement, I think). It has subfolders named AppData (normally hidden),
Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Pictures, Saved
Games, Searches and Videos.

Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.

You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are seeing.
Their names corespond to the the old XP user folder structure. They "point'
to the coresponding new user folder in Vista. They are created so that
software that was coded with the XP folder structure in mind would be less
likely to 'break'

So, if a program goes looking for:

"C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Music"

The 'Documents and Settings' junction found under 'C:\' points to:
'C:\Users'

The 'My Documents' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Documents'

The 'My Music' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Music'

So a program that went looking for the Music folder assuming the XP location
still ends up in the proper folder.

On a fresh install, the UserName folder found on the desktop mirrors the
content of 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. If you use the 'Move' option found on the
'Location' tab of a user folder AND move all the files within that folder,
the original folder is deleted and will no longer appear under
'C:\Users\<UserName>'. But an icon for the folder will remain in the
'Desktop\<Username>' folder, because uses the Namespace to display the
redirected folders -- similar to the way control panel no longer exists as a
file system folder, but is displayed in a similar fashion.

So the UserName folder on the desktop displays the union of the contents of
'C:\Users\<UserName>' and the users 'special' folder collection. If a
'special' folder points to a folder that physically resides under
'UserName', display of duplicate icons is supressed. But if you don't elect
to move the contents with the folder, Vista will not delete the original
folder. So you now have an 'ordinary' folder named Documents remaining
under UserName, as well as an icon that points to your new location. These
are the 'duplicates' you are seeing.

the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change
the
default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever one
it
is!

i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on the
start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it
all
gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this folders
contents to the new location"?

somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all
over
the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default settings'
for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
messed up.

i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the problems.
i
want the following:

For all of these, the transition will be smoother if you elect to Move the
contents. If you're nervous about a move, back up the files to a third
location beforehand.

d:\my documents

Use the Location tab from the 'Documents' folder

m:\my music

Use the Location tab from the 'Music' folder

p:\my pictures

Use the Location tab from the 'Pictures' folder

v:\my videos

Use the Location tab from the 'Videos' folder

t:\temp files

Right-click on the 'Computer' icon found on the desktop or Start Menu &
select 'Properties'. On the 'Advanced' tab, click the 'Environment
Variables...' button & edit the 'TEMP' & 'TMP' variables.

i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.

As mentioned above, moving the contents allows the original to be deleted &
you shouldn't see duplicates.

can anyone shed any light on this????

Hope I just did

 

[Rat_uk]

this is great. thanks.

when you say, 'use the location tab in the documents folder' do you mean the
green icon under C:\Users\steven\Documents?

I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in understanding
how all the folders are linked together.

in the left hand explorer pane i see:

desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon called
'documents'.

if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my videos'
and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)

even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my
documents'
with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.

these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of documents
folders in the left pane....

if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are
traditional
yellow folders and not green icons.

by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
tree????

Turn off "Show hidden files and folders" and things will look a little
cleaner ;-)

OK. With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you did on XP. It is now
found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents and Settings' (quite an
improvement, I think). It has subfolders named AppData (normally hidden),
Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Pictures, Saved
Games, Searches and Videos.

Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.

You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are seeing.
Their names corespond to the the old XP user folder structure. They
"point' to the coresponding new user folder in Vista. They are created so
that software that was coded with the XP folder structure in mind would be
less likely to 'break'

So, if a program goes looking for:

"C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Music"

The 'Documents and Settings' junction found under 'C:\' points to:
'C:\Users'

The 'My Documents' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Documents'

The 'My Music' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Music'

So a program that went looking for the Music folder assuming the XP
location still ends up in the proper folder.

On a fresh install, the UserName folder found on the desktop mirrors the
content of 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. If you use the 'Move' option found on
the 'Location' tab of a user folder AND move all the files within that
folder, the original folder is deleted and will no longer appear under
'C:\Users\<UserName>'. But an icon for the folder will remain in the
'Desktop\<Username>' folder, because uses the Namespace to display the
redirected folders -- similar to the way control panel no longer exists as
a file system folder, but is displayed in a similar fashion.

So the UserName folder on the desktop displays the union of the contents
of 'C:\Users\<UserName>' and the users 'special' folder collection. If a
'special' folder points to a folder that physically resides under
'UserName', display of duplicate icons is supressed. But if you don't
elect to move the contents with the folder, Vista will not delete the
original folder. So you now have an 'ordinary' folder named Documents
remaining under UserName, as well as an icon that points to your new
location. These are the 'duplicates' you are seeing.

the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change
the
default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever one
it
is!

i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on
the
start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it
all
gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this folders
contents to the new location"?

somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all
over
the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default settings'
for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
messed up.

i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the problems.
i
want the following:

For all of these, the transition will be smoother if you elect to Move the
contents. If you're nervous about a move, back up the files to a third
location beforehand.

d:\my documents

Use the Location tab from the 'Documents' folder

m:\my music

Use the Location tab from the 'Music' folder

p:\my pictures

Use the Location tab from the 'Pictures' folder

v:\my videos

Use the Location tab from the 'Videos' folder

t:\temp files

Right-click on the 'Computer' icon found on the desktop or Start Menu &
select 'Properties'. On the 'Advanced' tab, click the 'Environment
Variables...' button & edit the 'TEMP' & 'TMP' variables.

i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.

As mentioned above, moving the contents allows the original to be deleted
& you shouldn't see duplicates.

can anyone shed any light on this????

Hope I just did


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Erik_Wikstr=F6m?=]

this is great. thanks.

when you say, 'use the location tab in the documents folder' do you mean the
green icon under C:\Users\steven\Documents?

No, right-click on the Documents folder and click Properties, then
you'll find a tab called Location. Use the Move-button to move the
folder to another location.

 

[Rat_uk]

which documents folder?

there are green icons called documents, folders called my documents.....
which one is it??

this is all part of the confusion.

 

[Rat_uk]

can i delete the folder shortcuts that re-direct the xp installation?

i always manually install software and point it where i want it to go
anyway.

I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in understanding
how all the folders are linked together.

in the left hand explorer pane i see:

desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon called
'documents'.

if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my videos'
and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)

even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my
documents'
with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.

these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of documents
folders in the left pane....

if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are
traditional
yellow folders and not green icons.

by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
tree????

Turn off "Show hidden files and folders" and things will look a little
cleaner ;-)

OK. With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you did on XP. It is now
found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents and Settings' (quite an
improvement, I think). It has subfolders named AppData (normally hidden),
Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Pictures, Saved
Games, Searches and Videos.

Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.

You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are seeing.
Their names corespond to the the old XP user folder structure. They
"point' to the coresponding new user folder in Vista. They are created so
that software that was coded with the XP folder structure in mind would be
less likely to 'break'

So, if a program goes looking for:

"C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Music"

The 'Documents and Settings' junction found under 'C:\' points to:
'C:\Users'

The 'My Documents' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Documents'

The 'My Music' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Music'

So a program that went looking for the Music folder assuming the XP
location still ends up in the proper folder.

On a fresh install, the UserName folder found on the desktop mirrors the
content of 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. If you use the 'Move' option found on
the 'Location' tab of a user folder AND move all the files within that
folder, the original folder is deleted and will no longer appear under
'C:\Users\<UserName>'. But an icon for the folder will remain in the
'Desktop\<Username>' folder, because uses the Namespace to display the
redirected folders -- similar to the way control panel no longer exists as
a file system folder, but is displayed in a similar fashion.

So the UserName folder on the desktop displays the union of the contents
of 'C:\Users\<UserName>' and the users 'special' folder collection. If a
'special' folder points to a folder that physically resides under
'UserName', display of duplicate icons is supressed. But if you don't
elect to move the contents with the folder, Vista will not delete the
original folder. So you now have an 'ordinary' folder named Documents
remaining under UserName, as well as an icon that points to your new
location. These are the 'duplicates' you are seeing.

the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change
the
default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever one
it
is!

i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on
the
start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it
all
gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this folders
contents to the new location"?

somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all
over
the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default settings'
for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
messed up.

i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the problems.
i
want the following:

For all of these, the transition will be smoother if you elect to Move the
contents. If you're nervous about a move, back up the files to a third
location beforehand.

d:\my documents

Use the Location tab from the 'Documents' folder

m:\my music

Use the Location tab from the 'Music' folder

p:\my pictures

Use the Location tab from the 'Pictures' folder

v:\my videos

Use the Location tab from the 'Videos' folder

t:\temp files

Right-click on the 'Computer' icon found on the desktop or Start Menu &
select 'Properties'. On the 'Advanced' tab, click the 'Environment
Variables...' button & edit the 'TEMP' & 'TMP' variables.

i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.

As mentioned above, moving the contents allows the original to be deleted
& you shouldn't see duplicates.

can anyone shed any light on this????

Hope I just did


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Erik_Wikstr=F6m?=]

which documents folder?

there are green icons called documents, folders called my
documents..... which one is it??

this is all part of the confusion.

The green on, under C:\Users\<username>\, these are the only one that
metters under Vista. It seems like you have upgraded from XP since you
have the "My *" folders, if I were you I'd try to get rid of them. Start
by moving the folders under C:\Users\<username>\ to wherever you'd like,
then copy the contents of Documents and Settings to this locations and
then remove Documents and Settings.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Read my original reply more carefully. 'My Documents' is not really a
folder -- it is a junction that points to 'Documents'

Bottom line is this: If the Properties dialog for the folder has a tab named
'Location', it is one of your special user folders.

If the 'General' tab of the Properties dialog shows 'Type: File Folder' and
'Target: <blank>', it is a junction which points somewhere else.

If the 'General' tab of the Properties dialog shows 'Type', 'Location',
'Size', etc., it's an ordinary folder.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

It's not about where the software is installed -- it's about how & if it was
coded to access user's special folders. 'Nice' programs ask the OS: "Where
is this user's music folder?". 'Bad' programs assume they know the
location.

Theoretically, if all your software is well behaved, you can delete the
junctions. This is at your own risk -- how well do you know the coding of
the programs you install? It's not a point of no return, however -- you can
always recreate the junctions (and make your own if you like the idea) using
the 'mklink' command from a command prompt window.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

can i delete the folder shortcuts that re-direct the xp installation?

i always manually install software and point it where i want it to go
anyway.

I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in
understanding
how all the folders are linked together.

in the left hand explorer pane i see:

desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon
called
'documents'.

if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my
videos'
and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)

even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my
documents'
with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.

these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of
documents
folders in the left pane....

if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are
traditional
yellow folders and not green icons.

by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
tree????

Turn off "Show hidden files and folders" and things will look a little
cleaner ;-)

OK. With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you did on XP. It is now
found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents and Settings' (quite an
improvement, I think). It has subfolders named AppData (normally
hidden), Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music,
Pictures, Saved Games, Searches and Videos.

Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.

You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are seeing.
Their names corespond to the the old XP user folder structure. They
"point' to the coresponding new user folder in Vista. They are created
so that software that was coded with the XP folder structure in mind
would be less likely to 'break'

So, if a program goes looking for:

"C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Music"

The 'Documents and Settings' junction found under 'C:\' points to:
'C:\Users'

The 'My Documents' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Documents'

The 'My Music' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Music'

So a program that went looking for the Music folder assuming the XP
location still ends up in the proper folder.

On a fresh install, the UserName folder found on the desktop mirrors the
content of 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. If you use the 'Move' option found on
the 'Location' tab of a user folder AND move all the files within that
folder, the original folder is deleted and will no longer appear under
'C:\Users\<UserName>'. But an icon for the folder will remain in the
'Desktop\<Username>' folder, because uses the Namespace to display the
redirected folders -- similar to the way control panel no longer exists
as a file system folder, but is displayed in a similar fashion.

So the UserName folder on the desktop displays the union of the contents
of 'C:\Users\<UserName>' and the users 'special' folder collection. If a
'special' folder points to a folder that physically resides under
'UserName', display of duplicate icons is supressed. But if you don't
elect to move the contents with the folder, Vista will not delete the
original folder. So you now have an 'ordinary' folder named Documents
remaining under UserName, as well as an icon that points to your new
location. These are the 'duplicates' you are seeing.

the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change
the
default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever
one it
is!

i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on
the
start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it
all
gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this
folders
contents to the new location"?

somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all
over
the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default
settings'
for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
messed up.

i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the
problems. i
want the following:

For all of these, the transition will be smoother if you elect to Move
the contents. If you're nervous about a move, back up the files to a
third location beforehand.

d:\my documents

Use the Location tab from the 'Documents' folder

m:\my music

Use the Location tab from the 'Music' folder

p:\my pictures

Use the Location tab from the 'Pictures' folder

v:\my videos

Use the Location tab from the 'Videos' folder

t:\temp files

Right-click on the 'Computer' icon found on the desktop or Start Menu &
select 'Properties'. On the 'Advanced' tab, click the 'Environment
Variables...' button & edit the 'TEMP' & 'TMP' variables.

i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.

As mentioned above, moving the contents allows the original to be deleted
& you shouldn't see duplicates.

can anyone shed any light on this????

Hope I just did


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

The junctions are created even on a clean install of Vista. They are have
both System & Hidden attributes set, so whether or not you see them depends
on your View settings for Explorer.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Additional info:

If you relocate a special folder such as 'Documents', the junctions that it
contains (My Music, My Pics, etc.) are deleted. The target of the 'My
Documents' junction under UserName is not changed, making that junction
invalid.

Bottom Line:

If you relocate user folders and want to keep the junctions for
compatibility, you'll need to recreate/update the junctions on your own.

So if you relocated 'Documents' to 'D:\Docs', you would want to:

Delete the current 'My Documents' junction from the UserName folder.

In a command prompt window open to 'C:\Users\Username', issue the following
commands:

mklink /j "My Documents" "D:\Docs"
attrib +h +s "My Documents" /L

Then in your new documents folder, use similar commands to recreate 'My
Music', etc.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in understanding
how all the folders are linked together.

in the left hand explorer pane i see:

desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon called
'documents'.

if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my videos'
and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)

even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my
documents'
with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.

these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of documents
folders in the left pane....

if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are
traditional
yellow folders and not green icons.

by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
tree????

Turn off "Show hidden files and folders" and things will look a little
cleaner ;-)

OK. With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you did on XP. It is now
found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents and Settings' (quite an
improvement, I think). It has subfolders named AppData (normally hidden),
Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Pictures, Saved
Games, Searches and Videos.

Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.

You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are seeing.
Their names corespond to the the old XP user folder structure. They
"point' to the coresponding new user folder in Vista. They are created so
that software that was coded with the XP folder structure in mind would be
less likely to 'break'

So, if a program goes looking for:

"C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Music"

The 'Documents and Settings' junction found under 'C:\' points to:
'C:\Users'

The 'My Documents' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Documents'

The 'My Music' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Music'

So a program that went looking for the Music folder assuming the XP
location still ends up in the proper folder.

On a fresh install, the UserName folder found on the desktop mirrors the
content of 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. If you use the 'Move' option found on
the 'Location' tab of a user folder AND move all the files within that
folder, the original folder is deleted and will no longer appear under
'C:\Users\<UserName>'. But an icon for the folder will remain in the
'Desktop\<Username>' folder, because uses the Namespace to display the
redirected folders -- similar to the way control panel no longer exists as
a file system folder, but is displayed in a similar fashion.

So the UserName folder on the desktop displays the union of the contents
of 'C:\Users\<UserName>' and the users 'special' folder collection. If a
'special' folder points to a folder that physically resides under
'UserName', display of duplicate icons is supressed. But if you don't
elect to move the contents with the folder, Vista will not delete the
original folder. So you now have an 'ordinary' folder named Documents
remaining under UserName, as well as an icon that points to your new
location. These are the 'duplicates' you are seeing.

the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change
the
default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever one
it
is!

i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on
the
start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it
all
gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this folders
contents to the new location"?

somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all
over
the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default settings'
for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
messed up.

i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the problems.
i
want the following:

For all of these, the transition will be smoother if you elect to Move the
contents. If you're nervous about a move, back up the files to a third
location beforehand.

d:\my documents

Use the Location tab from the 'Documents' folder

m:\my music

Use the Location tab from the 'Music' folder

p:\my pictures

Use the Location tab from the 'Pictures' folder

v:\my videos

Use the Location tab from the 'Videos' folder

t:\temp files

Right-click on the 'Computer' icon found on the desktop or Start Menu &
select 'Properties'. On the 'Advanced' tab, click the 'Environment
Variables...' button & edit the 'TEMP' & 'TMP' variables.

i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.

As mentioned above, moving the contents allows the original to be deleted
& you shouldn't see duplicates.

can anyone shed any light on this????

Hope I just did


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

 

[Rat_uk]

just one more thing...........

if i create restore points on all disks can i use system restore to reset
the original folder structure if it messes up?

Additional info:

If you relocate a special folder such as 'Documents', the junctions that
it contains (My Music, My Pics, etc.) are deleted. The target of the 'My
Documents' junction under UserName is not changed, making that junction
invalid.

Bottom Line:

If you relocate user folders and want to keep the junctions for
compatibility, you'll need to recreate/update the junctions on your own.

So if you relocated 'Documents' to 'D:\Docs', you would want to:

Delete the current 'My Documents' junction from the UserName folder.

In a command prompt window open to 'C:\Users\Username', issue the
following commands:

mklink /j "My Documents" "D:\Docs"
attrib +h +s "My Documents" /L

Then in your new documents folder, use similar commands to recreate 'My
Music', etc.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I have installed vista HE premium. i am having difficulty in
understanding
how all the folders are linked together.

in the left hand explorer pane i see:

desktop, then below it i see 'steven' (me!) in a small green icon. if i
expand it i see lots of other folders including another green icon
called
'documents'.

if i expand this, i see three more icons 'my pictures my music my
videos'
and a yellow folder 'my received files, however the green icons here are
shown as shortcuts (they have the small arrow in the corner)

even further down the folder tree i have green icons called 'my
documents'
with 'my music, my videos and my pictures' within.

these are also shown as shortcuts and so now i have two lots of
documents
folders in the left pane....

if i then scroll down to the c: drive and navigate to c: \documents and
settings\steven (this is how i am used to finding these folders), i find
even more pictures/music/videos folders only this time they are
traditional
yellow folders and not green icons.

by now i am totally confused. why can i not just have one simple folder
tree????

Turn off "Show hidden files and folders" and things will look a little
cleaner ;-)

OK. With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you did on XP. It is now
found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents and Settings' (quite an
improvement, I think). It has subfolders named AppData (normally
hidden), Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music,
Pictures, Saved Games, Searches and Videos.

Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.

You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are seeing.
Their names corespond to the the old XP user folder structure. They
"point' to the coresponding new user folder in Vista. They are created
so that software that was coded with the XP folder structure in mind
would be less likely to 'break'

So, if a program goes looking for:

"C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Music"

The 'Documents and Settings' junction found under 'C:\' points to:
'C:\Users'

The 'My Documents' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Documents'

The 'My Music' junction found there points to:
'C:\Users\<UserName>'\Music'

So a program that went looking for the Music folder assuming the XP
location still ends up in the proper folder.

On a fresh install, the UserName folder found on the desktop mirrors the
content of 'C:\Users\<UserName>'. If you use the 'Move' option found on
the 'Location' tab of a user folder AND move all the files within that
folder, the original folder is deleted and will no longer appear under
'C:\Users\<UserName>'. But an icon for the folder will remain in the
'Desktop\<Username>' folder, because uses the Namespace to display the
redirected folders -- similar to the way control panel no longer exists
as a file system folder, but is displayed in a similar fashion.

So the UserName folder on the desktop displays the union of the contents
of 'C:\Users\<UserName>' and the users 'special' folder collection. If a
'special' folder points to a folder that physically resides under
'UserName', display of duplicate icons is supressed. But if you don't
elect to move the contents with the folder, Vista will not delete the
original folder. So you now have an 'ordinary' folder named Documents
remaining under UserName, as well as an icon that points to your new
location. These are the 'duplicates' you are seeing.

the reason why i want to sort this out is that i want to put my
pictures/music/docs onto seperate partitions, therefore i need to change
the
default positions of the docs folder, or my docs folder or which ever
one it
is!

i understand that i can right click on the folder (and the shortcut on
the
start menu) and 'move' the folders but i have done this twice now and it
all
gets horribly messy when it asks "do you want to move all of this
folders
contents to the new location"?

somehow the transition isn't smooth and there ends up being folders all
over
the place. once i've cocked it up i go back to 'restore default
settings'
for each folder but errors occur and the folders and shortcuts are all
messed up.

i have resorted to re-installing vista twice now to correct the
problems. i
want the following:

For all of these, the transition will be smoother if you elect to Move
the contents. If you're nervous about a move, back up the files to a
third location beforehand.

d:\my documents

Use the Location tab from the 'Documents' folder

m:\my music

Use the Location tab from the 'Music' folder

p:\my pictures

Use the Location tab from the 'Pictures' folder

v:\my videos

Use the Location tab from the 'Videos' folder

t:\temp files

Right-click on the 'Computer' icon found on the desktop or Start Menu &
select 'Properties'. On the 'Advanced' tab, click the 'Environment
Variables...' button & edit the 'TEMP' & 'TMP' variables.

i want to get rid of all the duplicated folders in explorer as well.

As mentioned above, moving the contents allows the original to be deleted
& you shouldn't see duplicates.

can anyone shed any light on this????

Hope I just did


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

 

[intastella]

This is all quite fascinating but I have a question about restoring
functionality to special folders that have been roughed up a bit.

I was being a bit adventurous and moving various folders under my user
profile around. I was dragging and dropping, and was also confused
about the apparent duplication of folders and somehow some of my
special folders ended up showing up on my desktop. Specifically, my
'favorites' and 'downloads' folders ended up getting deleted and then
restored and basically roughed around.

Those two folders are in a bit of a mess. I have moved them back to
within the user collection, but they're plain yellow folders that
don't seem to be used by vista for their original purpose. For
example, my favorites folder isn't actually in use - if I go to IE and
try to add a favourite I get an error message (I suppose it can't find
the favorites folder anymore). Likewise when I try to download
something, I go to my user profile and don't see 'downloads' in there
any more.

So my question is about how to restore those two folders to their
original functionality. I'm assuming I need to use something like the
script mentioned above:

mklink /j "My Documents" "D:\Docs"
attrib +h +s "My Documents" /L

But am not confident enough to risk it. Can anyone point me in the
right direction?

Regards
intastella

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

You don't need to use mklink -- that's for junctions.

In the 'Start Search' box on the Start Menu, type the following command:

shell:favorites<Enter>

An explorer window should open to the folder that is currently assigned as
your Favorites folder. Click once in the BreadCrumb bar to display the path
to the folder -- is it the folder you expect? If not, right-click the
folder in the folder pane, select 'Properties' -> 'Location' tab and use the
'Restore Default' option.

Do the same for 'Downloads' using:

shell:downloads<Enter>

If you recieve an error message using either one of these commands, log off
& log back on -- sometimes the first try only 'fixes' half of it.

 

[Rat_uk]

ok keith...


what do i do with the shortcuts on the start menu? they point to
c\users\steve

if i redirect them they ask if i want to move all the contents but i thought
these were just shortcuts?????????????

You don't need to use mklink -- that's for junctions.

In the 'Start Search' box on the Start Menu, type the following command:

shell:favorites<Enter>

An explorer window should open to the folder that is currently assigned as
your Favorites folder. Click once in the BreadCrumb bar to display the
path
to the folder -- is it the folder you expect? If not, right-click the
folder in the folder pane, select 'Properties' -> 'Location' tab and use
the
'Restore Default' option.

Do the same for 'Downloads' using:

shell:downloads<Enter>

If you recieve an error message using either one of these commands, log
off & log back on -- sometimes the first try only 'fixes' half of it.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

This is all quite fascinating but I have a question about restoring
functionality to special folders that have been roughed up a bit.

I was being a bit adventurous and moving various folders under my user
profile around. I was dragging and dropping, and was also confused
about the apparent duplication of folders and somehow some of my
special folders ended up showing up on my desktop. Specifically, my
'favorites' and 'downloads' folders ended up getting deleted and then
restored and basically roughed around.

Those two folders are in a bit of a mess. I have moved them back to
within the user collection, but they're plain yellow folders that
don't seem to be used by vista for their original purpose. For
example, my favorites folder isn't actually in use - if I go to IE and
try to add a favourite I get an error message (I suppose it can't find
the favorites folder anymore). Likewise when I try to download
something, I go to my user profile and don't see 'downloads' in there
any more.

So my question is about how to restore those two folders to their
original functionality. I'm assuming I need to use something like the
script mentioned above:

mklink /j "My Documents" "D:\Docs"
attrib +h +s "My Documents" /L

But am not confident enough to risk it. Can anyone point me in the
right direction?

Regards
intastella

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

If I use the 'Location' tab to move 'Music' from 'C:\Users\Keith\Music' to
'D:\VistaMusic', the 'Music' link/menu on the Start Menu also points to the
new location. Are you seeing different behavior than this?


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

ok keith...


what do i do with the shortcuts on the start menu? they point to
c\users\steve

if i redirect them they ask if i want to move all the contents but i
thought these were just shortcuts?????????????

You don't need to use mklink -- that's for junctions.

In the 'Start Search' box on the Start Menu, type the following command:

shell:favorites<Enter>

An explorer window should open to the folder that is currently assigned
as
your Favorites folder. Click once in the BreadCrumb bar to display the
path
to the folder -- is it the folder you expect? If not, right-click the
folder in the folder pane, select 'Properties' -> 'Location' tab and use
the
'Restore Default' option.

Do the same for 'Downloads' using:

shell:downloads<Enter>

If you recieve an error message using either one of these commands, log
off & log back on -- sometimes the first try only 'fixes' half of it.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

This is all quite fascinating but I have a question about restoring
functionality to special folders that have been roughed up a bit.

I was being a bit adventurous and moving various folders under my user
profile around. I was dragging and dropping, and was also confused
about the apparent duplication of folders and somehow some of my
special folders ended up showing up on my desktop. Specifically, my
'favorites' and 'downloads' folders ended up getting deleted and then
restored and basically roughed around.

Those two folders are in a bit of a mess. I have moved them back to
within the user collection, but they're plain yellow folders that
don't seem to be used by vista for their original purpose. For
example, my favorites folder isn't actually in use - if I go to IE and
try to add a favourite I get an error message (I suppose it can't find
the favorites folder anymore). Likewise when I try to download
something, I go to my user profile and don't see 'downloads' in there
any more.

So my question is about how to restore those two folders to their
original functionality. I'm assuming I need to use something like the
script mentioned above:

mklink /j "My Documents" "D:\Docs"
attrib +h +s "My Documents" /L

But am not confident enough to risk it. Can anyone point me in the
right direction?

Regards
intastella

 

[Guest]

Pinned and recently used items on Start are not actually there (unlike All
Programs which are real). If you edit these items you edit the underlying
thing (often they are from All Programs). On All Programs is Windows
Contacts. If you use this a bit it will appear on the main Start menu in the
recently used section. If you edit this you are editing the item in All
Programs..

ok keith...


what do i do with the shortcuts on the start menu? they point to
c\users\steve

if i redirect them they ask if i want to move all the contents but i
thought these were just shortcuts?????????????

You don't need to use mklink -- that's for junctions.

In the 'Start Search' box on the Start Menu, type the following command:

shell:favorites<Enter>

An explorer window should open to the folder that is currently assigned
as
your Favorites folder. Click once in the BreadCrumb bar to display the
path
to the folder -- is it the folder you expect? If not, right-click the
folder in the folder pane, select 'Properties' -> 'Location' tab and use
the
'Restore Default' option.

Do the same for 'Downloads' using:

shell:downloads<Enter>

If you recieve an error message using either one of these commands, log
off & log back on -- sometimes the first try only 'fixes' half of it.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

This is all quite fascinating but I have a question about restoring
functionality to special folders that have been roughed up a bit.

I was being a bit adventurous and moving various folders under my user
profile around. I was dragging and dropping, and was also confused
about the apparent duplication of folders and somehow some of my
special folders ended up showing up on my desktop. Specifically, my
'favorites' and 'downloads' folders ended up getting deleted and then
restored and basically roughed around.

Those two folders are in a bit of a mess. I have moved them back to
within the user collection, but they're plain yellow folders that
don't seem to be used by vista for their original purpose. For
example, my favorites folder isn't actually in use - if I go to IE and
try to add a favourite I get an error message (I suppose it can't find
the favorites folder anymore). Likewise when I try to download
something, I go to my user profile and don't see 'downloads' in there
any more.

So my question is about how to restore those two folders to their
original functionality. I'm assuming I need to use something like the
script mentioned above:

mklink /j "My Documents" "D:\Docs"
attrib +h +s "My Documents" /L

But am not confident enough to risk it. Can anyone point me in the
right direction?

Regards
intastella

 

[Isaac Kunz]

I started deleting some of the junctions before I knew what they were. In particular i deleted the "Documents and Settings" junction and now my outlook won't work because it can't find the .pst files. Do you know of a list of junctions and their targets? Perhaps MSFT has a script that can restore the junctions for people like me who know just enough to be dangerous.

Thanks
Isaac

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

 

[Guest]

C:\Users\David Candy>dir c:\*.* /al /s
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 00CC-CEF9

Directory of c:\

03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Documents and Settings [C:\Users]
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of c:\ProgramData

03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Application Data [C:\ProgramData]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Desktop [C:\Users\Public\Desktop]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Documents [C:\Users\Public\Documents]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Favorites [C:\Users\Public\Favorites]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Start Menu
[C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Wind
ows\Start Menu]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Templates
[C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windo
ws\Templates]
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of c:\Users

03/11/2006 12:00 AM <SYMLINKD> All Users [C:\ProgramData]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Default User [C:\Users\Default]
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of c:\Users\All Users

03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Application Data [C:\ProgramData]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Desktop [C:\Users\Public\Desktop]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Documents [C:\Users\Public\Documents]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Favorites [C:\Users\Public\Favorites]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Start Menu
[C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Wind
ows\Start Menu]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Templates
[C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windo
ws\Templates]
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of c:\Users\David Candy

09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> Application Data [C:\Users\David
Candy\Ap
pData\Roaming]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> Cookies [C:\Users\David
Candy\AppData\Roa
ming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> Local Settings [C:\Users\David
Candy\AppD
ata\Local]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> My Documents [C:\Users\David
Candy\Docume
nts]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> NetHood [C:\Users\David
Candy\AppData\Roa
ming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> PrintHood [C:\Users\David
Candy\AppData\R
oaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> Recent [C:\Users\David
Candy\AppData\Roam
ing\Microsoft\Windows\Recent]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> SendTo [C:\Users\David
Candy\AppData\Roam
ing\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> Start Menu [C:\Users\David
Candy\AppData\
Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> Templates [C:\Users\David
Candy\AppData\R
oaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates]
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of c:\Users\David Candy\AppData\Local

09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> Application Data [C:\Users\David
Candy\Ap
pData\Local]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> History [C:\Users\David
Candy\AppData\Loc
al\Microsoft\Windows\History]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> Temporary Internet Files
[C:\Users\David
Candy\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files]
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of c:\Users\David Candy\Documents

09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> My Music [C:\Users\David Candy\Music]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> My Pictures [C:\Users\David
Candy\Picture
s]
09/02/2007 06:41 PM <JUNCTION> My Videos [C:\Users\David
Candy\Videos]
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of c:\Users\Default

03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Application Data
[C:\Users\Default\AppDat
a\Roaming]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Cookies
[C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming
\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Local Settings
[C:\Users\Default\AppData\
Local]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> My Documents
[C:\Users\Default\Documents]

03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> NetHood
[C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming
\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> PrintHood
[C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roami
ng\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Recent
[C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\
Microsoft\Windows\Recent]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> SendTo
[C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\
Microsoft\Windows\SendTo]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Start Menu
[C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roam
ing\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Templates
[C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roami
ng\Microsoft\Windows\Templates]
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of c:\Users\Default\AppData\Local

03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Application Data
[C:\Users\Default\AppDat
a\Local]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> History
[C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\M
icrosoft\Windows\History]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> Temporary Internet Files
[C:\Users\Defaul
t\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files]
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of c:\Users\Default\Documents

03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> My Music [C:\Users\Default\Music]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> My Pictures
[C:\Users\Default\Pictures]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> My Videos [C:\Users\Default\Videos]
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of c:\Users\Public\Documents

03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> My Music [C:\Users\Public\Music]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> My Pictures
[C:\Users\Public\Pictures]
03/11/2006 12:00 AM <JUNCTION> My Videos [C:\Users\Public\Videos]
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Total Files Listed:
0 File(s) 0 bytes
50 Dir(s) 17,866,080,256 bytes free