The cryptic folders in Documents & Settings

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tony Luxton
  • Start date Start date
T

Tony Luxton

Hello group. Can anyone tell me what these folders (all users.windows,
default user, etc)
are for? I know I musn't touch them or anything, I'm just curious. Can I
make them hidden, so they don't show up?

Tony.
 
Default Local Disk Folders

Folder Name: Documents and Settings
Contents: Account information for each user who is granted access on the
computer. Each user account is represented by a subfolder assigned the
user name. Folders under each user account folder include My Documents,
Desktop, and Start Menu.

These can include:

Administrator
All Users
Default User
LocalService
NetworkService
You

Some of the above are Hidden folders.
These are System folders and shouldn't be deleted.

Administrator is for the Administrator account.

All Users is used for many things. Your Desktop and Start Menu, for
example, display what is in All Users *and* what is in your Desktop and
Start Menu folders.

Default User is used when creating new accounts.

I am not really sure what LocalService & NetworkService are for.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Thanks for the reply, Wes. That helps a bit. I'd like to know what those
others are for though. On my machine none of them are hidden; can I make
them so without Windows falling over?
 
Hi Tony,

Default User, LocalService and NetworkService should all have the Hidden
attribute. LocalService and NetworkService should both have the System
attribute. To see if the folders have the Hidden attribute, right click
each one and select Properties. Attributes is on the General tab, towards
the bottom, if Hidden, that box will be checked.

[[Hidden files and folders will appear dimmed to indicate they are not
typical items.]] If you have Folder Options set to Display the contents of
system folders, Show hidden files and folders & have unselected Hide
protected operating system files (Recommended), you will see the folders.

Here a little bit better explanations, though not much. ;-)

LocalService is the NT Authority\Local Service user account, the Windows XP
System account.

Obviously, NetworkService has something to do with networks, the
NetworkService account.

The LocalService and NetworkService accounts perform things like
synchronizing the time, scheduling tasks, etc.

There are many ways to see all the attributes of a file or folder. The
easiest way is, in a folder...

To change the details displayed, on the View menu, click Choose Details. In
the Choose Details dialog box, click to select Attributes.

To change the order of the columns, in the Choose Details dialog box, click
Move Up or Move Down.

You can also left click and drag columns to any order you want.

You can also right click the column header and select and unselect Details.

You can also right click the column header, scroll down and select More...

File attributes:
A = Files ready for archiving, backing up.
C = Compressed Compressed files and folders cannot be encrypted.
D = Directories
E = Encrypted Encrypted files and folders cannot be compressed.
H = Hidden
R = Read-only
S = System

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Thanks Wes, it's a little clearer now. None of these folders have the hidden
attribute on my machine (it's probably something I did ages ago).

Ever since I was a kid I've enjoyed taking things apart just to see how they
worked. When I was 8 years old I took an alarm clock to bits and put it
together again, and it worked.

Mind you, it went at 10x normal speed............

regards Tony.
 
Wes,

Just as a footnote to all this, I've just set the All Users and All
Users.Windows folders to hidden, and of course I lost half my start menu.
Should have thought of that.

regards Tony.
 
Tony,

As you have experienced, your Start Menu uses both of these folders..
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu
and
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here\Start Menu

And your Desktop uses both of these folders..
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop
and
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here\Desktop

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 

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