Windows 7: Moving User Folders - additional folders appear

I have just done a clean install of Win 7 Pro 64. I have set up four accounts and for each one I have moved the user folders to a separate hard drive by using the Right Click Properties > Location > Move. I have done this for the following folders:

- Desktop
- Downloads
- My Documents
- Favorites
- Links
- My Music
- My Pictures
- Videos

I have done it exactly the same way on each account (and more than once! I've been imaging the disk and have restored backwards a few times.)

The problem is, on three of the accounts, when I move the My Music, My Pictures, and Videos then they do move correctly but three rogue folders appear named Music, Pictures and Videos. And I can't delete then since they are system folders.

But the weird thing is that this does not happen on one of the accounts!

Please can someone explain what's happening and how to get rid of the extra folders as they're cluttering up the users home folder and causing confusion. Also some clue as to why it's inconsistent between the accounts would also help.

Hello Lucian, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It sounds like there may have been a mistake made while moving the user folder's location. You can use OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to restore it's default location to hopefully fix this.

User Folders - Restore Default Location

Afterwards, you can try moving it again, but if you are just wanting to save HDD space, then you might consider this below to be able to access the files from your libraries with the files actually located where you like instead. This way you will not have to worry about any potential issues that come with moving user folder locations.

• Create a new folder at any location you want.
• Move any files you want into the new folder.
• Include the new folder into a library of your choice.
• If you like, you can also set the new folder to be the default "save" to location for the library as well.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for that Brink. Before I try restoring and recreating, I'd like to know why these extra folders have appeared. I've attempted more than once to move the folders (restoring back to a known install point) and it's happened each time - so I assume if I restore the original location and recreate the same thing is going to happen.

As I mentioned, the three rogue folders are sort of duplicates of the My Music, My Pictures, and Videos folders (called Music, Pictures and Videos). These folders don't have the location tab. The relocated folders appear to work correctly (the location tab points to the right place and opens them correctly.

So the main question is whether I can simply delete the duplicate folders (and if I can, how can I do it since it tells me I don't have permission). I suppose what I need to know is will windows being registering the folders in any way - for example, I now appear to have two folders called Videos (I suppose one is a "proper" folder and the other is some sort of shortcut) so will it be registering them differently.

Those folders could just be a copy left in the original location if you had these folders shared (ex: homegroup). If so, then they are nothing to worry about. That is just one reason why it's better IMO to not move user folders, and use libraries instead.