My Documents shortcut problems

[Vals56]

Hi guys,

I am experiencing some weird behaviour of the default My Documents shortcut.

I had to move My Documents from its default %userprofile% location to a
different partition following the standard procedure (right click on the My
Documents - Properties - Target tab - Move, etc.). Since then default My
Documents shortcut refuses to open My Documents folder after each re-boot.

The shortcut Properties indicate correct path to the target and "Find
Target" button opens correct location, however when you click the shortcut
or use "Open" command from the right click content menu nothing happens at
all. "Explore" command works fine from the same right click content menu.
The problem is solved by stopping and re-starting explorer.exe but it works
only for the current session. On next logon it stops working again.

Manually created shortcut to a new location of My Documents folder also
works fine until the icon is changed to the default one (blue document
halfway out of the folder).

Any ideas what the cause of the problem might be and how to cure it? I'll
be grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks,

Val

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi Val,

Two questions:

1. Does the problem persist if you reset the My Documents to the default location?
2. Is the problem seen for other folders and shortcuts in the Start menu?

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Hi guys,

I am experiencing some weird behaviour of the default My Documents shortcut.

I had to move My Documents from its default %userprofile% location to a
different partition following the standard procedure (right click on the My
Documents - Properties - Target tab - Move, etc.). Since then default My
Documents shortcut refuses to open My Documents folder after each re-boot.

The shortcut Properties indicate correct path to the target and "Find
Target" button opens correct location, however when you click the shortcut
or use "Open" command from the right click content menu nothing happens at
all. "Explore" command works fine from the same right click content menu.
The problem is solved by stopping and re-starting explorer.exe but it works
only for the current session. On next logon it stops working again.

Manually created shortcut to a new location of My Documents folder also
works fine until the icon is changed to the default one (blue document
halfway out of the folder).

Any ideas what the cause of the problem might be and how to cure it? I'll
be grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks,

Val

 

[Vals56]

Ramesh,

The answer to question 1 is "Yes", but I tried it only once, as the folder
is relatively big 5.16 Gb. However, as far as I remember I tested it
without re-booting after the move. I didn't bother to do a detailed check
as the problem seems related to the explorer.exe rather than the shortcut
itself. There were a couple of occasions when after the re-boot the
shortcut worked even with the new location of My Documents folder, which is
actually D:\My Documents (nothing fancy here). However, these only 2
occasions were a very small proportion of overall re-starts, when the
shortcut didn't work until explorer was re-started.

I did check special My Documents folder on the Desktop and it worked fine
with the new location. It is just the shortcut, which you select from the
Customise Desktop in Display Properties that doesn't want to work.

I checked both Shell Folders and User Shell Folders in the Current User hive
and as far as I can see they show exactly what they have to, i.e. Personal,
My Music, My Video, My Pictures are pointing to D:\ and the rest of keys are
pointing to C:\.

The answer to question 2 is "No". I have several shortcuts that were
pointing to the original locations inside %userprofile% My Documents folder,
but they have no problems after migration. The shortcut targets were
automatically changed during the migration and they open from the desktop
without any issues. The shortcut created by simply navigating to the D:\My
Documents and using right click content command "Send To" - "Desktop (create
shortcut)" works fine as well.

Thank you,

Regards,

Val

Hi Val,

Two questions:

1. Does the problem persist if you reset the My Documents to the default
location?
2. Is the problem seen for other folders and shortcuts in the Start menu?

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Hi guys,

I am experiencing some weird behaviour of the default My Documents shortcut.

I had to move My Documents from its default %userprofile% location to a
different partition following the standard procedure (right click on the My
Documents - Properties - Target tab - Move, etc.). Since then default My
Documents shortcut refuses to open My Documents folder after each re-boot.

The shortcut Properties indicate correct path to the target and "Find
Target" button opens correct location, however when you click the shortcut
or use "Open" command from the right click content menu nothing happens at
all. "Explore" command works fine from the same right click content menu.
The problem is solved by stopping and re-starting explorer.exe but it works
only for the current session. On next logon it stops working again.

Manually created shortcut to a new location of My Documents folder also
works fine until the icon is changed to the default one (blue document
halfway out of the folder).

Any ideas what the cause of the problem might be and how to cure it? I'll
be grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks,

Val

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

use "Open" command from the right click content menu nothing happens

Sounds like a shell extension problem to me. Try "Method 2" in this article:

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/slowrightclick.htm
(Ignore the title)

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Ramesh,

The answer to question 1 is "Yes", but I tried it only once, as the folder
is relatively big 5.16 Gb. However, as far as I remember I tested it
without re-booting after the move. I didn't bother to do a detailed check
as the problem seems related to the explorer.exe rather than the shortcut
itself. There were a couple of occasions when after the re-boot the
shortcut worked even with the new location of My Documents folder, which is
actually D:\My Documents (nothing fancy here). However, these only 2
occasions were a very small proportion of overall re-starts, when the
shortcut didn't work until explorer was re-started.

I did check special My Documents folder on the Desktop and it worked fine
with the new location. It is just the shortcut, which you select from the
Customise Desktop in Display Properties that doesn't want to work.

I checked both Shell Folders and User Shell Folders in the Current User hive
and as far as I can see they show exactly what they have to, i.e. Personal,
My Music, My Video, My Pictures are pointing to D:\ and the rest of keys are
pointing to C:\.

The answer to question 2 is "No". I have several shortcuts that were
pointing to the original locations inside %userprofile% My Documents folder,
but they have no problems after migration. The shortcut targets were
automatically changed during the migration and they open from the desktop
without any issues. The shortcut created by simply navigating to the D:\My
Documents and using right click content command "Send To" - "Desktop (create
shortcut)" works fine as well.

Thank you,

Regards,

Val

Hi Val,

Two questions:

1. Does the problem persist if you reset the My Documents to the default
location?
2. Is the problem seen for other folders and shortcuts in the Start menu?

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Hi guys,

I am experiencing some weird behaviour of the default My Documents shortcut.

I had to move My Documents from its default %userprofile% location to a
different partition following the standard procedure (right click on the My
Documents - Properties - Target tab - Move, etc.). Since then default My
Documents shortcut refuses to open My Documents folder after each re-boot.

The shortcut Properties indicate correct path to the target and "Find
Target" button opens correct location, however when you click the shortcut
or use "Open" command from the right click content menu nothing happens at
all. "Explore" command works fine from the same right click content menu.
The problem is solved by stopping and re-starting explorer.exe but it works
only for the current session. On next logon it stops working again.

Manually created shortcut to a new location of My Documents folder also
works fine until the icon is changed to the default one (blue document
halfway out of the folder).

Any ideas what the cause of the problem might be and how to cure it? I'll
be grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks,

Val

 

[Vals56]

Ramesh,

Thank you for the tip. I've downloaded the Shell Viewer Tool and will give
it a go. Do I need to test only Context Menu non-Microsoft extensions or
the full list of non-Microsoft extensions including Browser extensions?

Regards,
Val


Sounds like a shell extension problem to me. Try "Method 2" in this article:

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/slowrightclick.htm
(Ignore the title)

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Ramesh,

The answer to question 1 is "Yes", but I tried it only once, as the folder
is relatively big 5.16 Gb. However, as far as I remember I tested it
without re-booting after the move. I didn't bother to do a detailed check
as the problem seems related to the explorer.exe rather than the shortcut
itself. There were a couple of occasions when after the re-boot the
shortcut worked even with the new location of My Documents folder, which is
actually D:\My Documents (nothing fancy here). However, these only 2
occasions were a very small proportion of overall re-starts, when the
shortcut didn't work until explorer was re-started.

I did check special My Documents folder on the Desktop and it worked fine
with the new location. It is just the shortcut, which you select from the
Customise Desktop in Display Properties that doesn't want to work.

I checked both Shell Folders and User Shell Folders in the Current User hive
and as far as I can see they show exactly what they have to, i.e. Personal,
My Music, My Video, My Pictures are pointing to D:\ and the rest of keys are
pointing to C:\.

The answer to question 2 is "No". I have several shortcuts that were
pointing to the original locations inside %userprofile% My Documents folder,
but they have no problems after migration. The shortcut targets were
automatically changed during the migration and they open from the desktop
without any issues. The shortcut created by simply navigating to the D:\My
Documents and using right click content command "Send To" - "Desktop (create
shortcut)" works fine as well.

Thank you,

Regards,

Val

Hi Val,

Two questions:

1. Does the problem persist if you reset the My Documents to the default
location?
2. Is the problem seen for other folders and shortcuts in the Start menu?

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Hi guys,

I am experiencing some weird behaviour of the default My Documents shortcut.

I had to move My Documents from its default %userprofile% location to a
different partition following the standard procedure (right click on the My
Documents - Properties - Target tab - Move, etc.). Since then default My
Documents shortcut refuses to open My Documents folder after each re-boot.

The shortcut Properties indicate correct path to the target and "Find
Target" button opens correct location, however when you click the shortcut
or use "Open" command from the right click content menu nothing happens at
all. "Explore" command works fine from the same right click content menu.
The problem is solved by stopping and re-starting explorer.exe but it works
only for the current session. On next logon it stops working again.

Manually created shortcut to a new location of My Documents folder also
works fine until the icon is changed to the default one (blue document
halfway out of the folder).

Any ideas what the cause of the problem might be and how to cure it? I'll
be grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks,

Val

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Val,

It's usually a context menu handler. In case that's not it, testing all other shell extensions (non-MS) would be in order.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Ramesh,

Thank you for the tip. I've downloaded the Shell Viewer Tool and will give
it a go. Do I need to test only Context Menu non-Microsoft extensions or
the full list of non-Microsoft extensions including Browser extensions?

Regards,
Val


Sounds like a shell extension problem to me. Try "Method 2" in this article:

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/slowrightclick.htm
(Ignore the title)

 

[Vals56]

Ramesh,

Thank you, I'll give it a go and let you know the result.

Regards,
Val

Val,

It's usually a context menu handler. In case that's not it, testing all
other shell extensions (non-MS) would be in order.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Ramesh,

Thank you for the tip. I've downloaded the Shell Viewer Tool and will give
it a go. Do I need to test only Context Menu non-Microsoft extensions or
the full list of non-Microsoft extensions including Browser extensions?

Regards,
Val


Sounds like a shell extension problem to me. Try "Method 2" in this article:

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/slowrightclick.htm
(Ignore the title)