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

 

[Brink]

Since it says you already have a "My Documents" folder for this, run the command below in an elevated command prompt to see if your folder may just be hidden. This command will unhide if so.

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

 

[churin]

I did that but My Documents did not show up after restarting the machine. "Documents" is still there.

 

[Brink]

Ok good, now that the "Documents" folder is there, go ahead and continue on with the rest of the steps in OPTION TWO.

 

[churin]

In the Step 22, I think I am supposed to change the path but the path is already correct or path shown is:
C:\Users\(User name)\My Documents. My user name in place of (User name).

 

[Brink]

If the path is correct, then you can move on to the next step. The step is there just to verify and make sure it's correct if it's not.

 

[churin]

In the Step 26, I did that copy & paste and pressed return key for the My Documents, and logged off and logged on. But still no My Documents came back. What could I have done wrong?

 

[Brink]

Go ahead and post a screenshot showing inside your "C:\Users\(user-name)" folder with hidden files set to show to see if it may help.

 

[churin]

Screen shot as follows:

 

[churin]

My Documents is still in D: where previously relocated to. Could this be any clue for solution?

 

[Brink]

Screen shot as follows:

My Documents is still in D: where previously relocated to. Could this be any clue for solution?

As a test, delete the Documents folder in your screenshot, then see if you could use OPTION ONE to move The Documents folder on D: back to C:.

 

[churin]

Location tab is missing from the Properties as shown below. Please note that this relocation did not go correctly because Outlook is unable to access to this relocated My Document. Maybe restoring My Document in this situation can not be done.

 

[Brink]

Ok. What do you have set for the path in both registry locations in OPTION TWO for the Documents folder?

We'll get there eventually, so don't worry.

 

[churin]

One is C:\Users\(My name)\My Documents
And which one is for another other than My Documents? You indicate "both registry locations".

 

[Brink]

That path should have "Documents" instead of "My Documents".


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

and

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

 

[churin]

User Shell Folders includes %USERPROFILE%\My Documents

 

[churin]

I have decided to restore the system from its backup.
Thank you very much for trying to help me anyway.

 

[Brink]

I'm pretty sure these locations was the problem. Both should have had "Documents" instead of "My Documents" in the path. This is why the folder did not have the proper icon or Locations tab.

 

[churin]

I will make note of it for my future reference.
Thank you again.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Churin.

 

[Shellcool]

Dude, you are seriously amazing.

I needed the location tab on the desktop folder replacing
This bit:
"f you have any duplicate user folders, or user folders that do not have a Location properties tab (Option One), then you will need to:
Backup only the folder's contents to another location to be safe.
Now proceed with the steps below"

I accidentally didn't merge the folders or something and it made my desktop go all glit
had messed something up super bad cause this is a new windows install on my first ever SSD !

also "most valuable professional" pfftt should be "most awesome life saving valuable professional of awesomeness in the universe"