having some issues related to library locations

I'm currently having some issues with user folders and hopefully someone will be able to figure it out. I built this PC back in July and it was my first time using an SSD (which I use for miscellaneous programs and Windows). I found a guide somewhere which told me to change the folders associated with the libraries to folders on my HDD. There may have been more to it, though it has been several months and I can't remember what guide it was and if there was more to it. It seemed to work for the most part, though I've run into some issues over the past few months.

For some reason, certain games decide to save to the main directory (A:\) as opposed to the My Documents folder which is what the Documents library is set to. This creates a bit of a mess though it isn't too much of an issue.

In October, I ran into some issues with the game "Dishonored" where I was unable to locate where the game was storing its .ini and save files (normally, they'd be saved under User\My Documents\My Games\Dishonored). At the time, I wanted to tweak the .ini files a bit but was unable to do so as they were saving to a seemingly nonexistent location (I even checked in ProcessMonitor). Eventually, I found found another way to apply the tweaks and ignored the issue.

Now I'm having an even bigger issue with XCOM: Enemy Unknown; the game doesn't seem to know where to save anything. Whenever I try to change settings or save a game, it says that it failed to save. I did a bit of searching and found that some other people have also had this issue, though none of the solutions posted worked for me.

Here's the main thread with the solutions:
For anyone that can't save/load games or change any in game options.

I'm unable to try Skirr's solution as I don't seem to have my username anywhere on the left side of Explorer. The closest thing I have are the libraries and restoring default in that doesn't seem to fix the issue. When I click "Restore Defaults", it removes "A:\My Documents" and adds the main A:\ directory (as the set save location) and Public Documents "C:\Users\Public". XCOM still doesn't work with those settings, nor does it work if I change the set save location to the public documents folder.

I tried Justin Fletcher's fix, which uses this guide (well, a Vista version of it, but I found this for 7) and unfortunately, it also didn't work. Under "C:\Users\elfbarf" I have an empty "My Documents" folder which seems to not work, even if I set it as the Documents location. There was also a hidden (Windows system file) My Documents folder which I tried deleting (and unfortunately, I'm unable to bring it back) which seems to be some sort of shortcut. When I tried opening it, it said access was denied (even though I'm an administrator). I downloaded the registry file and followed the guide, though it seems as if it thought that the default is my main A:\ directory. Obviously, this didn't fix the issues with XCOM. Even after changing the registry entry to "A:\My Documents", running "shell: personal" still takes me to the main A:\ directory.

The MKLINK method that immanis suggested seems like a good idea though I don't think I'll be able to do it without reformatting (or at least fixing this issue). If I had known about that back in July, I probably would've used it.

The only way I've been able to get XCOM to work is by creating a new user account. The game seems to have no issues with saving as the default locations are correct (and save under C:\User\My Documents). While it does work, I'd rather not have to use a separate account to play the game. Also, I'd rather not have to move all of "My Documents" back to my C drive if possible (though I can live with that). People have been complaining for months and Firaxis/2K haven't responded to anyone regarding the issue. It doesn't seem to be affecting many people, so they're either unaware or simply don't care about fixing it.

Any help that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Moarxx,

Did you use OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to restore the default locations of the user folders that you moved?

User Folders - Restore Default Location

Instead of moving your user folders to another location to avoid possible issues like this, you might consider this below to be able to access the files from your libraries with the files actually located where you like instead.

• 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 for now, :)
Shawn

That's great news. You're welcome. :)