Downloads link under Favorites error

[braedibug]

Thank you for this tutorial! I'm either not doing something right or this isn't the right solution to my problem..

Earlier today my husband wanted to sync his old ipod to our new computer. I also have my ipod synced to the same computer. When I was trying to figure out how to move songs from the ipod to the computer, I came across SharePod. I ran it on my computer and copied the files from the ipod to my computer just as the program had intended me to do. When I went back to itunes all my previous songs had (!) next to them and they couldn't be played because they could not be found.

I went to try to open the folder all my music was in (Downloads, under Favorites) but this is what I see:

..and so begins my Googling how to fix this problem, which eventually led me here.

I thought I needed to run the LNK fix but it didn't change anything, so now I have no clue what I did, what I'm doing, or what I need to do to get this back to normal so I can access my Downloads folder.

Thanks SO much in advance for any help you may be able to offer.

 

[Brink]

Hello Braedibug, and welcome to Seven Forums.

See if using the folder and directory downloads instead may be able to fix this.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[braedibug]

Hello Braedibug, and welcome to Seven Forums.

See if using the folder and directory downloads instead may be able to fix this.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thank you for the quick reply, Shawn! Unfortunately, neither of those fixed my problem. I've now tried the lnk, exe, folder and directory fixes. I've been able to merge them all and it tells me it was done successfully, just not successfully enough I guess..lol. Not sure what else to try.

Thanks again!
Brenon

 

[Brink]

Brenon,

You could also do a system restore (at boot if needed) using a restore point dated before SharePod was installed and this issue started to see if it may be able to undo it.

 

[braedibug]

Brenon,

You could also do a system restore (at boot if needed) using a restore point dated before SharePod was installed and this issue started to see if it may be able to undo it.

I did actually do a system restore last night and restored it to August 20th. It said my files and folders won't be affected, so I guess I wasn't too surprised when it didn't work.

 

[Brink]

Just to be sure, what specifically are you clicking on when it gives you this error?

 

[braedibug]

Just to be sure, what specifically are you clicking on when it gives you this error?

I'm clicking on the "downloads" folder under "favorites" on the left-hand side. I click on the folder and that error pops up.

 

[Brink]

Ok, good we're on the same page then.

Are you able to open your C:\Users\(user-name)\Downloads folder directly in Windows Explorer?

If so, then delete the broken Downloads link under Favorites, then create a new link for your C:\Users\(user-name)\Downloads folder or use this tutorial to restore Downloads under Favorites.


If not, then double check using OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to make sure that your C:\Users\(user-name)\Downloads folder is set to it's default location.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18583-user-folders-restore-default-location.html
​

 

[braedibug]

Are you able to open your C:\Users\(user-name)\Downloads folder directly in Windows Explorer?

I went and looked to see if I can open it and there is no downloads folder in that location..weird.

If so, then delete the broken Downloads link under Favorites, then create a new link for your C:\Users\(user-name)\Downloads folder or use this tutorial to restore Downloads under Favorites.

I guess I can't since there's no Downloads folder there..lol!

If not, then double check using OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to make sure that your C:\Users\(user-name)\Downloads folder is set to it's default location.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18583-user-folders-restore-default-location.html
​

So I thought since I technically can't open something that's not there, I would try Option 2, but it's not listed in the shell folders there either. What the heck did I do to my poor computer?

Thanks again for all your help!

EDIT: wait! I found downloads in the shell folders..I'll let you know if I figure this out.

 

[Brink]

Go ahead and do all of OPTION TWO in the tutorial below then to see if it will be able to restore your C:\Users\(user-name)\Downloads folder afterwards. Once restored, the Downloads under Favorites should work again as well.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18583-user-folders-restore-default-location.html

 

[braedibug]

Go ahead and do all of OPTION TWO in the tutorial below then to see if it will be able to restore your C:\Users\(user-name)\Downloads folder afterwards. Once restored, the Downloads under Favorites should work again as well.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18583-user-folders-restore-default-location.html

Okay, I went through all of option 2. I created a new Downloads folder like it said to do, but now the Downloads folder under Favorites, while it DOES work again (yay), it doesn't have anything in it..it's just the new folder I created.

Should I go ahead and assume I've somehow lost all my music and everything that was in the original Downloads folder and just move on? Is there any hope left? I apologize for clogging up this thread with my issues but I appreciate all the time and help you're offering.

 

[Brink]

It's no problem. I went ahead and move this to a thread of it's own though.

You might select the Show hidden files, folders, and drives option in Folder Options to see if the folder may be just be hidden.

If not, then you could try using Previous Versions, or the free programs Recuva or ShadowExplorer to see if you may be able to recover the files.

 

[braedibug]

Thanks for moving this to a new thread I don't see any hidden Downloads folders. Before I try to recover the files with a program, when I followed Option Two before and it said "if the folder is missing create a new one" but then am I supposed to delete it or something? Because now the only Downloads folder under Computer is the new one I created, and like I said, it's empty. So since it's empty and obviously doesn't have my files in it, should I just delete that new empty folder before moving on to the next step?

Also, there's a Downloads folder in My Documents, which contains all the random .reg files I've been downloading and such, but it doesn't have my music files in it or anything..should that folder be in My Documents too?

 

[Brink]

No, don't delete anything yet until you have double checked them to see if you may be able to recover the files from within these folders using the options above.

What file extension was the music files using? If say .mp3, you could search the C: drive using *.mp3 to see if it may be able to find them if they are just in a different location for some reason.

 

[braedibug]

Okay. It found no previous versions to use, and found no .mp3's other than my husbands that I put on there last night so I'm trying Recuva. Initial scan found 0 files so I'm trying the deep scan, at an estimated time of 2 hours.. :shock:

If Recuva doesn't find anything, should I bother with ShadowExplorer or are they likely to show the same results?

 

[Brink]

It'll most likely give you the same results, but it's still worth a try.

 

[braedibug]

Thanks again, Shawn, for all your help. I ran Recuva and it found most of my music files, which I've moved to the new (empty) Downloads folder, and some of them will play on iTunes, but others still say the original location can't be found. I'll take what I can get, I'm just a little irritated that my original Downloads folder is just gone in computer land somewhere..

I really appreciate you saving me a little bit of my sanity.

Thanks again,
Brenon

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. Any luck with ShadowExplorer?

 

[braedibug]

I just downloaded it, but I'm not exactly sure what to do with it. I tried looking on shadowexplorer.com as well for instructions but it wasn't much help.. The purpose of this program and how to use it isn't making itself clear to me..

 

[Brink]

ShadowExplorer is similar to previous versions. The link below can help show you more on how to use it.

ShadowExplorer.com - Manual