Windows 7 - Favorites - Restore Default Favorite Links in Navigation Pane

   Information

This will show you how to restore the default Desktop, Downloads, and Recent Places favorite links in Favorites in the Windows Explorer navigation pane.

   Note

If Favorites is completely empty, then also see How to Fix Empty Favorites in Windows Explorer Navigation Pane to see if this may be the issue instead.

1. Open Windows Explorer.

2. Right click on Favorites in the navigation pane, and click on Restore favorite links. (see screenshot below)

1. Click on the download button below to download the favorite link(s) that you are missing

A) Desktop

B) Downloads

C) Recent Places

2. Save the .zip file(s) to your Desktop.

3. Right click on each of the downloaded .zip files, click on Extract all, then extract the favorite link to your Desktop.

4. Unblock the extracted favorite link.

5. In Windows Explorer navigate to your C:\Users\(user-name)\Links folder. (see screenshot below)

6. Cut and Paste (move) the extracted favorite links to inside the C:\Users\(user-name)\Links folder. (see screenshot above)