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

 

[JohnnyDaniel]

DoctorJ,

Open a elevated command prompt, then type the command below and press enter to see if that may help bring it out of hiding for you.

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

You, sir, are AWESOME! I did not have a registered account in this website, so I created one in order to thank you properly. Just wanted to say to people who have been having problems with Brink's original post: go on and give this command line a go. I can't thank you enough, Brink!

Johnny.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Johnny, and welcome to Seven Forums. I'm glad it was able to help you.

 

[TokyoDan]

I know I should be asking this in the Windows 10 forum but there is nothing similar there.

I was trying to move my Saved Games folder just as I had successfully moved my Documents, Pictures, Music, Downloads, etc. special folders. But it didn't work and the Saved Games folder disappeared from my home folder but never showed up in the target location. I searched for it and it is gone. But there is still a simple Saved Games (without the special icon) folder in C:/Users/Default/.

Will option 11 (11. To Restore the Default Saved Games Folder Location) work on Windows 10?

 

[Brink]

Hello Dan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Yep, we have a Windows 10 version of this at Ten Forums. You can use step 10 in OPTION TWO below to restore the default location of your Saved Games folder.

Users Personal Folders - Restore Default Location in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

[TokyoDan]

Thank you Brink. That worked perfectly.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[XtremeMaC]

why are you marking all these personal folders and files under directories as Read Only with attrib +r ?

 

[Brink]

why are you marking all these personal folders and files under directories as Read Only with attrib +r ?

Hello XtremeMaC, and welcome to Seven Forums.

That's the default attribute of a personal folder. This doesn't mean that you will not be able to delete or save anything in them.

You can verify for yourself using the attrib command below. If you see R, it's set as read-only.

attrib %UserProfile%\folder

Substitute folder with the personal folder name.

For exampe: attrib %UserProfile%\Pictures

 

[XtremeMaC]

wow, it seems I haven't had enough coffee in the morning...
Indeed it is, for some reason I thought with /S you were marking all files under the folder as read-only as well, but obviously that's not the case... *slaps his own face...

 

[Brink]

No problem mate. It can certainly look that way at first glance.

 

[dragonPWR]

A very quick solution (the others described here didn't help):

- Run cmd.exe as administrator
- Execute:

sfc /scannow

Worked on Windows 10 when the desktop folder got replicated

 

[Brink]

A very quick solution (the others described here didn't help):

- Run cmd.exe as administrator
- Execute:

sfc /scannow

Worked on Windows 10 when the desktop folder got replicated

Hello dragonPWR, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Unfortunately, that won't help if the folder had been moved.

 

[FastTurtle]

Bat Files are pretty simple for Win7 and they are a hair saver as it makes restoring the default folders very easy after someone frags things but not badly enough to make a reimage easier

 

[samurle]

I have a small problem. I ran the batch file that restored the default "Downlods" folder, and this somehow messed up how my start menu is displayed.

Before, when I clicked on the Start menu button, my program groups were fully expanded onto the desktop. Now, when I click on the Start menu button, my program groups are displayed in a non-expanded collapsed list.

How do I get it back the way it was before?

I have tried right-clicking on the Start menu -> Properties -> Customize, but I can't find any option to display my Program Groups as a expanded menu list.

Any suggestions?

 

[Brink]

I have a small problem. I ran the batch file that restored the default "Downlods" folder, and this somehow messed up how my start menu is displayed.

Before, when I clicked on the Start menu button, my program groups were fully expanded onto the desktop. Now, when I click on the Start menu button, my program groups are displayed in a non-expanded collapsed list.

How do I get it back the way it was before?

I have tried right-clicking on the Start menu -> Properties -> Customize, but I can't find any option to display my Program Groups as a expanded menu list.

Any suggestions?

Hello,

Please go ahead and post some screenshots showing the issue to see if anything may stand out.

Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

 

[samurle]

Before (program groups expanded onto the desktop):


After (program groups displayed in a collapsed list)

 

[Brink]

Before (program groups expanded onto the desktop):

After (program groups displayed in a collapsed list)

If the difference is literally the screenshots you posted, then it looks like you used a program like "Classic Shell" in the first screenshot instead of the default Start menu in the second screenshot.

 

[samurle]

Yes, I use Classic Shell. It seems the batch file killed explorer.exe and all other processes attached to it, so Classic Shell never got restarted. Rebooting my computer solved the problem. Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Yes, I use Classic Shell. It seems the batch file killed explorer.exe and all other processes attached to it, so Classic Shell never got restarted. Rebooting my computer solved the problem. Thanks.

Great news. I thought it might be something simple as that.

 

[knee]

Hello.
I have a problem. I ran the batch file that restored the default "Links" folder but when I drag and drop any folder to Links, add this folder with "- shorcut" text in the name.

But if I add any folder by right click in "favorites" and choose "add current location to favorites" no problem. Add without "- shorcut"

Any solution?
Thanks