All of a sudden my system is experiencing some confusion. I have two 'Downloads' folders. Their actual locations are:
C:\Users\Carson\Downloads
and
C:\Users\Carson\Desktop\Downloads
And I see both of them in Windows Explorer under Desktop > Carson. Which is the default one?
C:\Users\Carson\Downloads is the default location. It sounds like you added another location to the Library, which is why you see both of them.
Here's a Technet guide on Libraries.
Organizing with Windows 7 Libraries
If you click the start orb, in the window that pops up, the PC name what ever that is - it should be at the top of the list on the right side. Click the name, up pops another window - you should see the downloads folder. See insert.
The Downloads folder you see in windows explorer tree below Desktop is a shortcut to the Downloads folder in your user folder.
Instead of the default Downloads folder location in two places, you can have a unified location in C: or if you wish a larger D: partition.
For example to have a single Downloads folder in D: which is D:\Downloads, create a folder in D: and then by clicking open the user folder, right click on the Downloads folder, go to Location tab and change from C:\Users\Carson\Downloads to D:\Downloads.
Now your Downloads folder will always point to D:\Downloads.
Dammit, did it again. Seems like maybe it's my browser (Chrome) creating it for some reason, because when the folder gets created, Chrome begins using it (or vice versa) as the default download directory.
The Downloads folder on the desktop is an actual folder, not a link to the other. One thing I notice is that the folder icon of Downloads on the desktop has a blue down-arrow, while the other one does not. I thought that the other one originally had an arrow.
Is there a system variable defined somewhere that contains the path?
I did not say the Downloads folder on the desktop is a shortcut to the download folder in your users folder. I said in the windows explorer with folder tree visible, the Download icon below the Desktop icon in the tree is a shortcut.
Chrome is creating the second Download folder (with blue arrow) on the desktop (default path) whenever you download some files. Before the download starts it will look for the location of the chrome's downloads folder and if it does not find it, will create a new one. This downloads folder is different from the Windows downloads folder.
You can have a unified downloads folder either in C: drive or D: drive. In the Chrome settings/options/preferences, you can change the path of default downloads folder on the desktop to your favorite downloads folder.
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