Moving 'My Documents' folder; strange results

colt · 17 Dec 2014

colt said:

Maybe if I get a chance this weekend, I'll restore a boot drive image that contains only the OS + drivers + Windows updates, and then perform the user folders move via the 'Move' function in the Location tabs of these folders. And then install apps. That should be clean and uneventful, correct?

Ha. This was driving me nuts so I decided to try to get it done this morning.

On a clean install, before installing any applications, the user folders move function worked as expected. One slightly odd thing I'm noticing is as follows:
The music pictures and videos libraries all show two locations: c:\users\public and the new d:\ respective folders.

The documents library is different in that it only shows one location, c:\users\public

I tried manually adding d:\documents but it would not take. After clicking the Add button and navigating to d:\documents and selecting it, the documents library locations dialog box shows this added folder as the default save location. But when I click OK , the folder is not added , and the documents library shows only the public documents folder.

I tried adding the Documents folder via an alternative method, right clicking on the folder and selecting "include in library" and choosing documents. This results in a popup window which states, " My Documents is already included in the library."

Is this going to cause any issues or can I proceed ?

gregrocker · 17 Dec 2014

I would not move the full User profile as we've seen enough problems with this here that its tutorial's author no longer recommends it.

colt · 17 Dec 2014

gregrocker said:

I would not move the full User profile as we've seen enough problems with this here that its tutorial's author no longer recommends it.

I'm not moving the full user profile. As described in post #31, I restored an image of the boot drive containing only the operating system, drivers, and Windows updates. I then moved 5 user profile subfolders: downloads, pictures, music, videos, and documents.

My only concern is that the Documents folder cannot be added to the documents library as described in post #31.

Not sure if this is an issue or not.

colt · 17 Dec 2014

After a restart, all 4 libraries behave the same in that each of the music, pictures, videos, and documents libraries show only 1 location: the public folder. None of these four libraries will allow me to add the respective moved folders on the data drive. When I try, they all give me the same error, "My Documents / My Pictures / My Videos / My Music is already included in the library."

Edit: Another restart, and now the Videos library includes the data drive videos folder in addition to the users\public videos folder. The other 3 libraries only show their respective users\public folders. No idea why the behavior is different, as all 4 folders on the data drive are empty.

Further edit: When I was using open file dialog box, the 4 libraries all show 2 locations, with each showing their respective folders on the data drive as the default save location. So I guess the link is there; and this is why I was getting the message "[data drive user folder] is already included in the library". But for some reason it doesn't show if I look at the libraries in the explorer window.

colt · 17 Dec 2014

After a number of restarts, Windows finally got the hint, and the libraries are properly showing the folders they contain, with the default save folders properly assigned, so all is well.

Thanks for the help guys! :)

On a somewhat related note, has anyone noticed a significant performance decrease associated with moving these user folders (i.e., just the ones that have a Move function in their Location tab) off the OS partition/drive? Since restoring a fresh install image and moving the user folders, Windows has switched off Aero and reverted to the basic color scheme several times. I don't think it has to do with the user folders because I wasn't even accessing the data drive in some of those instances, and I wasn't doing anything remotely demanding (I am familiar with stressing the limits of a system's resources and triggering a reversion to the basic scheme, and this wasn't even close to approaching that). There were a couple of other things I did differently, so one of those could be the culprit, but just wanted to rule out this moving of user folders as a possible suspect.

gregrocker · 17 Dec 2014

Glad to hear it. You can mark thread Solved at top if all is well.

Slartybart · 17 Dec 2014

Libraries are a special case - again!

Libraries are defined by files in Users\Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

The Documents Library file is shown in the code box below. Note the <simpleLocation> section, how the real folders are referenced.
In the case of User special folders (Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos (also special files), Libraries use the knownfolder definition. When you tried to add the 'same' knownfolder (albeit in a different location) Libraries told you "I already have that location in my file definition"

Libraries and Search are closely tied together (as a matter of fact, folders you add to a Library are automatically entered into the Search Index for content searches). I'm not certain of the exact relationship, but it takes a while for Windows to crawl your system and update references.

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<libraryDescription xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2009/library">
  <name>@shell32.dll,-34575</name>

  <version>6</version>
  <isLibraryPinned>true</isLibraryPinned>
  <iconReference>imageres.dll,-1002</iconReference>
  <templateInfo>
    <folderType>{7d49d726-3c21-4f05-99aa-fdc2c9474656}</folderType>
  </templateInfo>
  <searchConnectorDescriptionList>
    <searchConnectorDescription publisher="Microsoft" product="Windows">
      <description>@shell32.dll,-34577</description>
      <isDefaultSaveLocation>true</isDefaultSaveLocation>


      <simpleLocation>
        <url>knownfolder:{FDD39AD0-238F-46AF-ADB4-6C85480369C7}</url>
        <serialized>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</serialized>
      </simpleLocation>


    </searchConnectorDescription>
  </searchConnectorDescriptionList>
</libraryDescription>

Moving the Users files would not cause what you describe. Other than being special to each user, they are really just normal data holding folders. Your configuration is in Appdata in your user profile on C:\ - or in the registry. Must be one of the other things you did. I have not experienced any performance hit by moving the user files (either a full user profile move or moving individual location changes).

If you want to try and pinpoint the Aero / Color issue, you might be better served by opening a new thread and reference this thread as a basis.

Glad things are falling into place.

Bill
.

colt · 18 Dec 2014

Slartybart said:

Libraries are a special case - again!

Libraries are defined by files in Users\Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

The Documents Library file is shown in the code box below. Note the <simpleLocation> section, how the real folders are referenced.
In the case of User special folders (Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos (also special files), Libraries use the knownfolder definition. When you tried to add the 'same' knownfolder (albeit in a different location) Libraries told you "I already have that location in my file definition"

Makes sense.

Slartybart said:

Libraries and Search are closely tied together (as a matter of fact, folders you add to a Library are automatically entered into the Search Index for content searches). I'm not certain of the exact relationship, but it takes a while for Windows to crawl your system and update references.

While that seems plausible, wouldn't most people experience this when moving user folders? I've never seen it mentioned in any of the guides that it might take several restarts for the moved user folder to properly show up in the library. I guess it's possible people just didn't check immediately after moving the folders. And they did function fine immediately after moving them, so could be that no one bothered to look.

Slartybart said:

Moving the Users files would not cause what you describe. Other than being special to each user, they are really just normal data holding folders. Your configuration is in Appdata in your user profile on C:\ - or in the registry. Must be one of the other things you did. I have not experienced any performance hit by moving the user files (either a full user profile move or moving individual location changes).

Thanks for confirming this. Yes, I suspect it was one of the other changes I made.

Slartybart said:

If you want to try and pinpoint the Aero / Color issue, you might be better served by opening a new thread and reference this thread as a basis.

Will do.

fibbermcghee · 11 Feb 2015

Please let me jump in here, (or else freeze me out) because I have such a similar problem. I moved 488GB of files from an old drive (defragged) to a new one, and they only came out to 388GB. Spot checking suggests that they're all there. I was relieved to find this thread, particularly the part about WinMerge. Kick this one off if you want, it's alright, I'll just sit here in my dark computer room and watch the lights, really, it'll be OK...

gregrocker · 11 Feb 2015

If your source drive has 488gb when you click on the Properties, but the drive you copied to has only 388gb of those files after copying them there, then you are missing 100gb of files.

Spot-checking is....err....spotty.

Try copying them again.