User Folders - Restore Default Location

How to Restore Default Location of User Folders in Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

This will show you how to restore the default location of all or a single user folder of your choice in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

   Note

If you have duplicate user folders instead, then you will need to backup the contents of the duplicate user folders, do OPTION TWO below, delete the duplicate folders, then you may need to restart the computer a couple of times first before the default location is restored.

Windows 8.1 Update released on April 8th 2014 via Windows Update, renamed SkyDrive to OneDrive.

CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Restore Default Location of User Folders in Properties
• Option Two: To Restore Default Location of User Folders using a BAT file

EXAMPLE: User folders
NOTE: This is at the default C:\Users\(user-name) location.

OPTION ONE

To Restore Default Location of User Folders in Properties

NOTE: If using this option does not restore the user folder back to the default location, then use OPTION TWO below instead.
1. If you are in a homegroup, then you will need to change the homegroup settings to no longer share the user folder (ex: My Music) that you want to move first by unchecking the folder and clicking on Save Changes. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This is so the user folder (ex: My Music) will not be shared on the homegroup anymore.

2. Press the Windows+R keys to open the Run dialog, type shell:UsersFilesFolder, and press enter.
NOTE: This will open your C:\Users\(user-name) folder.

3. Right click or press and hold on the user folder (ex: My Music) that you want to restore the default location for, and click/tap on Properties.

4. Click/tap on the Location tab, and Restore Default button. (See screenshot below)

5. Click/tap on OK. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: Notice that the location has changed to the default C:\Users\(user-name) location.

6. Click/tap on Yes. (See screenshot below)

   Note

If you have a folder in the default location named for the user folder already, then you will not see this dialog box.

Windows 8 will not have the "My" in front of the user folder name anymore.

User Folder | Folder Name Contacts |Contacts
Desktop |Desktop
My Documents |Documents
Downloads |Downloads
Favorites |Favorites
Links |Links
My Music |Music
My Pictures |Pictures
OneDrive (Windows 8.1 Update)|OneDrive
Saved Games |Saved Games
Searches |Searches
SkyDrive (Windows 8.1)|SkyDrive
My Videos |Videos

7. Click/tap on Yes. (See screenshot below)
WARNING: If you do not click/tap on Yes, then you will have two copies of this user folder at the C:\Users\(user-name) location. One will be a normal folder (same name) with the contents and the other as the now restored user folder. It is recommended that you click/tap on YES.

8. After a few seconds when the location has been restored, the Properties window (screenshot under step 5) will then close.

9. If you are in a homegroup, then you can now change the homegroup settings back to share the user folder (ex: My Music) again if you like by checking the folder and clicking on Save Changes. (see screenshot below)

OPTION TWO

To Restore Default Location of User Folders using a BAT file

   Note

This is an example of the contents of the .bat files below. The parts in red are what will vary per .bat file based on what user folder it is for.

@echo off 
 
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
 
timeout /t 2 /nobreak >nul
 
if not exist "%UserProfile%\[B][COLOR=red]Pictures[/COLOR][/B]" mkdir "%UserProfile%\[COLOR=red][B]Pictures[/B][/COLOR]"
 
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "[COLOR=red][B]My Pictures[/B][/COLOR]" /t REG_SZ /d "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\[COLOR=red][B]Pictures[/B][/COLOR]" /f
 
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders" /v "[COLOR=red][B]My Pictures[/B][/COLOR]" /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d %%USERPROFILE%%"\[COLOR=red][B]Pictures[/B][/COLOR]" /f
 
attrib +r -s -h "%USERPROFILE%\[COLOR=red][B]Pictures[/B][/COLOR]" /S /D
 
timeout /t 1 /nobreak >nul
 
start explorer.exe

1. Do step 2 to 13 below for what user folder you need to restore the default location of.


2. To Restore the Default Contacts Folder Location
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Contacts_Default_Location.bat


Download


3. To Restore the Default Desktop Folder Location
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Desktop_Default_Location.bat


Download


4. To Restore the Default My Documents Folder Location
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Documents_Default_Location.bat


Download


5. To Restore the Default Downloads Folder Location
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Downloads_Default_Location.bat


Download


6. To Restore the Default Favorites Folder Location
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Favorites_Default_Location.bat


Download


7. To Restore the Default Links Folder Location
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Links_Default_Location.bat


Download


8. To Restore the Default My Music Folder Location
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Music_Default_Location.bat


Download


9. To Restore Default OneDrive Folder Location in Windows 8.1 Update
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_OneDrive_Default_Location.bat


Download


10. To Restore the Default My Pictures Folder Location
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Pictures_Default_Location.bat


Download


11. To Restore the Default Saved Games Folder Location
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Saved_Games_Default_Location.bat


Download


12. To Restore the Default Searches Folder Location
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Searches_Default_Location.bat


Download


13. To Restore the Default My Videos Folder Location
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Videos_Default_Location.bat


Download


14. Save the .bat file to your Desktop.

15. Unblock the downloaded .bat file(s).

16. Double click/tap on the downloaded .bat file to run it.

17. The .bat file will now kill explorer causing your screen to go blank, then open a command prompt to quickly restore the default location of the folder in the registry, restore the default attributes of the folder, restart explorer, and close the command prompt.

18. Repeat step 1 above for any other user folder you need to restore the default location of.

19. When finished, check the user folder(s) to verify that they have been restored to their default location.

20. If the user folder(s) still have not been restored to their default locations, then restart the computer and check again.

21. When restored, copy your files from the old folder location back into your now restored default folder location in "C:\Users\(user-name)".



That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Change the Default Location of User Folders in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Customize Default User Profile in Audit Mode
• How to Change the Default "Screenshots" Folder Location in Windows 8
• How to Change the Windows 7 Default User Folder Icons
• How to Pin Your User Files Folder to the Windows 7 Taskbar
• How to Create Your Own Special User Folder
• How to Restore Windows 7 Default User Folder Icons
• How to Add or Remove your User Folder from the Windows 7 Navigation Pane
• How to Restore the Windows 7 Public Folders
• How to Allow or Prevent Users to Move their User Folders to a New Location
• How to Change the Default Location of a User Profile in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Create User Accounts on another Partition or Disk During Windows 7 Installation
• How to Change the Name of "My Documents" without Renaming the Folder
• How to Change the User Folder Name of a User Profile in Windows 7
• How to Restore Default Junction Points in Windows

 

[Caspid]

Caspid,

Moving them to another location (ex: another partition or drive) instead will then have them not show up in the C:\Users\(user-name) folder location. They will now show up to where you moved them.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html

Even after moving it using the instructions found there (and clicking "yes" to moving the files), a shortcut to the new location remains in my user folder. For example, I tried to move Searches to my E: drive and got this odd result:

The shortcut only shows up in shell:UsersFilesFolder though, not in C:\Users\(user-name).

 

[Brink]

You will not be able to remove it from the shell location since it is a mlink. It will only be like a shortcut to the real location that you moved it to though.

 

[rkidd]

Hello rkidd, and welcome to Seven Forums.

In addition to the download, did you also do steps 18-21 to change the location at the other registry entry?

yup.. after merging the file reg and going into regedit, the shell folders default location was already set for My Music

 

[Brink]

rkidd,

You might try copying and pasting the command instead to see if it may have just been a typo or spacing issue. Be sure that you are using a elevated (run as administrator) command prompt.

attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Desktop /S /D

 

[rkidd]

thank you for the advice.. *all solved now* i worked out what i had done wrong. i had moved "my music" and then lost the location tab to move it again, so i deleted it thinking it would return to default. using your tutorial the reason why regedit had the correct location and the shell folders showed nothing is because i just found "my music" in the recycle bin with the correct c:\users\...\music location so i just restored item and i'm back to normal again.

thanking you for the tutorial, lovin the site and still working my way through reading all the in depth tutorials

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. I'm just happy to hear that you were able to get it restored.

 

[southieguy]

Sean:
My question is - what do you think of my idea to follow the tutorial to go back.
Here's my thinking on why I should, and I would surely welcome your comments/critique of this "plan":
When I ran XP and had 1 drive, I always partioned the drive and separated my data from the OS.
When I first migrated to W7, and still had only 1 drive, I did the same; and also used your helpful tutorial to move my user files to my data partition.
A few months ago I got a 2nd hard-drive and also a LaCie plug-in drive, and moved all my data and user files to the 2nd drive.
I use Acronis to back up my C:\ drive, and a 2nd Acronis backup to do the same for my data drive.
I also take Windows images periodically, and that's what got me thinking of moving my user files back to C:\
I just realized that the windows image is of both the C:\ and data drive; and that if I ever had to use the image to restore it would take 2 working disks to do so.
I think moving things back and having all my W7 stuff and programs on the C;\ drive would make imaging simpler, and recovery simpler.

I would appreciate your thoughts on this idea of going back.
Thanks,
Dick

 

[Brink]

Hello Dick,

I agree, unless you included both the Windows 7 C: drive and the drive that you moved your user profile to in the image backup, then it would be much easier to image with everything located on the Windows 7 C: drive.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[southieguy]

Thank you Sean. Seeing as how there are 7 pages to this tutorial, I hope when I do this that all goes smoothly (because of previous commitments I wont be doing this 'till tomorrow). I dont want to have to add another page here.

Thanks again,
Dick

 

[Brink]

I hope it goes smoothly for you as well. To be extra safe, back up anything that you do not want to lose in your user folders to another location.

 

[nya]

Hello,

I have been trying to restore my "Links" folder for awhile now. I somehow managed to delete it, and I really miss having a collection of links easily accessible while browsing files.

I've tried method one and method two, and I am having no success. I've restarted several times.

What I get when I type shell:Links

Hitting enter brings up nothing. "open file location" brings up my User files, with no "Links" folder to be found.

I can't seem to figure out where I've gone wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Trish

 

[Brink]

Hello Nya, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Have you already checked in the Recycle Bin to see if the Links folder may still be in there to restore it from?

In OPTION TWO of the tutorial, did you check the other registry location (step 18) to make sure it had the correct location as well. If so, then create a new folder named Links in your C:\Users\user-name folder and restart the computer a few times to see if it may help.


If none of the above still helps, then you could create a new administrator account and copy all of the contents of the old user account's C:\Users\(user-name) folders (including hidden AppData folder) into the corresponding new account's C:\Users\(user-name) folder. After everything checks out ok, you can delete the old user account while logged in the new user account.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[nya]

Yay, creating the new folder and restarting seemed to work for me.

Thanks a bunch! I'm sure to be around these forums next time I've got an issue.
-Trish

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Trish. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[southieguy]

Sean:
Thanks. It did go smoothly. Step 1 worked for everything except for Downloads.
I used the 2nd method to fix that. However (there always seems to be a "however):
When I try to take a Windows Image now it still seems to think that it needs both my C:\ drive and my Data hard drives to run Windows, because it wont let me select my Data drive for the image.

I even relocated my page file from the separate Data drive back to the C:\drive, thinking that might be required on the Windows drive. (and rebooted)

I hope this is the right place to ask, but do you know what else I might have to do so that Windows can be imaged from my C:\ drive to my 2nd hard drive?

As always, thank you for all your help,
Dick

 

[Brink]

Dick,

Here are some items to check that will hopefully help.

• Double check to make sure that you still do not have the Data drive listed to also be used a page file.
• Turn off system protection for the Data drive to see if that may be preventing it.
• Double check to see if your Data drive status is listed as System or not in Disk Management. If it is, then please post a screenshot of this in Disk Management.

 

[southieguy]

Sean:
First 2 steps checked out ok.
Here's the Disk Mgmt screen image.
The data drive (G:\) is marked as system.
I believe when my computer shop added this 2nd drive (G:\) they took the easy way out as far as setting it up. But, I know less about hardware than I do about software.
Can the "system" moniker be changed somehow?
Dick

 

[Brink]

Dick,

It's been a while since I had to change the system drive and I have construction going on today, so I can't think straight right now. I don't want to post a mistake because of this and have you not be able to boot, so you might post this in the "Installation and Setup" forum area to see how to change the system drive to your C: drive and to unmark the G: drive as the system drive.

 

[southieguy]

Sean:
Thanks. I'll do that
Dick
ps,
May all that construction today be straight and true.

 

[Brink]

I sure hope so. Thank you.