"My Documents" Folder Duplication

B

Bud

Some time in the last 4 or five months (I think) a new folder appeared under
My Computer. It's called Buds PC's Documents. It holds all the same folders
and files as "My Documents" does. Under properties it shows this folder name
to be "My Documents" yet the folder name showing up in Windows Explorer is
Buds PC's Documents. If I delete a file in it the file is deletes the same
file in "My Documents". Bottomline is I know this folder is a duplication of
"My Documents". Whereas I would like to delete it I know if I do I will
delete the "My Documents Folder".

Can someone tell me where this came from and how to get rid of it?
 
M

Malke

Bud said:
Some time in the last 4 or five months (I think) a new folder appeared
under
My Computer. It's called Buds PC's Documents. It holds all the same
folders
and files as "My Documents" does. Under properties it shows this folder
name to be "My Documents" yet the folder name showing up in Windows
Explorer is
Buds PC's Documents. If I delete a file in it the file is deletes the
same
file in "My Documents". Bottomline is I know this folder is a duplication
of
"My Documents". Whereas I would like to delete it I know if I do I will
delete the "My Documents Folder".

Can someone tell me where this came from and how to get rid of it?

It isn't a duplication. It's just a shortcut to your real My Documents. So
you don't want - or need - to get rid of it.

Malke
 
B

Bud

Malke, how did it get there? I know it wasn't there before. Things just
appearing like that, that come from no where, drives me nuts.
 
M

Malke

Bud said:
Malke, how did it get there? I know it wasn't there before. Things just
appearing like that, that come from no where, drives me nuts.

I have no idea how it got there. You probably changed the way you view
things. I know it always shows on all my Windows machines and on my
clients' machines. Perhaps you just never noticed it.

In any case, I wouldn't worry about it.

Malke
 
T

Twayne

Some time in the last 4 or five months (I think) a new folder
appeared under My Computer. It's called Buds PC's Documents. It
holds all the same folders and files as "My Documents" does. Under
properties it shows this folder name to be "My Documents" yet the
folder name showing up in Windows Explorer is Buds PC's Documents.
If I delete a file in it the file is deletes the same file in "My
Documents". Bottomline is I know this folder is a duplication of "My
Documents". Whereas I would like to delete it I know if I do I will
delete the "My Documents Folder".

Can someone tell me where this came from and how to get rid of it?

Just a long shot:
Have you made any changes to users accounts or created/deleted any of
them? There is a way for that to happen. It's also possible there is a
desktop.ini file messed up that's causing the wrong name to be shown, or
one exists where it shouldn't; not sure.

HTH
 
P

Patrick Keenan

Bud said:
Some time in the last 4 or five months (I think) a new folder appeared
under
My Computer. It's called Buds PC's Documents. It holds all the same
folders
and files as "My Documents" does. Under properties it shows this folder
name
to be "My Documents" yet the folder name showing up in Windows Explorer is
Buds PC's Documents. If I delete a file in it the file is deletes the
same
file in "My Documents".

That's because it IS the same file and folder structure. It is *not* a
duplicate or copy It is the original.
Bottomline is I know this folder is a duplication of
"My Documents".

Sorry, but you don't know this; you misunderstand it. It is another
*view*, not another *copy*.
Whereas I would like to delete it I know if I do I will
delete the "My Documents Folder".
Yep.

Can someone tell me where this came from and how to get rid of it?

It's not a duplicate. It IS the original folder, with a name that reflects
the account name. That name is provided by the OS, the original folder name
remains constant on the disk. It's to help you identify which folder you
are in when there are multiple accounts.

You can prove this to yourself easily. Place a text marker file, with a
distinctive name, in the My Documents folder. For example, "Test
Marker.txt". The contents don't matter.

Now open a command prompt and issue these two commands:

cd \
dir /s "test marker.txt"

This will return *one* copy of the file, in a folder named "C:\Documents and
Settings\<Account Name>\My Documents\Test Marker.txt". However, you will
see that folder named two ways depending on where you're looking from.

So, what you're seeing is just another view of the drive. It's not a
duplicate, and should not be deleted unless you really want to lose those
files.

HTH
-pk
 
J

Jim

Bud said:
Some time in the last 4 or five months (I think) a new folder appeared
under
My Computer. It's called Buds PC's Documents. It holds all the same
folders
and files as "My Documents" does. Under properties it shows this folder
name
to be "My Documents" yet the folder name showing up in Windows Explorer is
Buds PC's Documents. If I delete a file in it the file is deletes the
same
file in "My Documents". Bottomline is I know this folder is a duplication
of
"My Documents". Whereas I would like to delete it I know if I do I will
delete the "My Documents Folder".

Can someone tell me where this came from and how to get rid of it?

Aren't these icon merely two shortcuts to the same folder tree? It is
rather easy to determine if this is the case.

And, if so, there is nothing to worry about.

As for how it happened, I don't know. But, you can be sure that it didn't
happen by accident.

Jim
 
O

olfart

Jim said:
Aren't these icon merely two shortcuts to the same folder tree? It is
rather easy to determine if this is the case.

And, if so, there is nothing to worry about.

As for how it happened, I don't know. But, you can be sure that it didn't
happen by accident.

Jim
right click on th icon and check Properties
That will tell you if it's a shortcut or not. If it is then check Target and
that will tell you what it goes to.
 
B

Bud

Sorry to take so long to get back to this thread. Judging from what most of
you wrote the second folder is a duplication of my documents because that's
the way it should be so I'll accept it even though I know it wasn't there
before.

Patrick, I did try the command prompt idea and it only returned one hit so
that verifies what you said would happen.

Anyhow, thanks to everyone for your input. It's appreciated.
 
R

R. McCarty

How did you perform the relocation - "Move here.." or modify the path
in the Registry ? Or use Tweak-UI ?:
Because certain content is located in the sub-folders of My Documents
you may have one of those ( My Music, My Pictures ) that has newly
added content that forces recreation of the \Users\MyName folder to
store the new content. I'd download Tweak-UI and use it to verify the
paths in the My Computer, Special Folders category.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top