Win 7 won't let me rename a folder to 'My Music'

[haggis999]

My Win 7 Home Premium laptop used to have a folder called 'My Music' that was located in the root of my user folder, at the same level as the 'My Documents' folder but, for various reasons, I wanted to place 'My Music' inside the 'My Documents' folder.

However, I actually ended up moving all my music files and subfolders into a new folder called 'My New Music Folder' within 'My Documents'. All my attempts to rename 'My New Music Folder' as 'My Music' are rejected, even though I have deleted the original 'My Music' folder.

When I try the rename, I am told that 'My Music' already exists (despite it being deleted). I am offered the opportunity to merge the new version of the folder with the old version but when I agree I am told the folder does NOT exist! I am then offered the chance to create 'My Music' but when I agree I am told it is 'not accessible' and 'access is denied'! Rebooting the laptop doesn't help.

None of this makes any sense to me. Can anyone offer a solution?

David

 

[Pauly]

Its not as simple as deleting and making a new folder, win 7 uses junction points to point at files so it is possible for example to move user folders to different locations and even different drives as long as the new folder location is included in the relevant library, there is a tutorial for it although it talks about moving all user folders you should get the idea
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html

 

[haggis999]

Thanks for the guidance, Pauly. I'll check that out in detail tomorrow.

David

 

[Pauly]

Just having a think about your situation and i think you will need to put the original folder back where it was or windows will prob throw an error, even when moving the folders i believe the originals still need to be there although they will be empty

May be good to run an sfc scan to make sure windows is happy with all files/folders before you start moving things
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

 

[Brink]

Hello David,

If you like, you could use OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to restore your "My Music" folder to it's default location with the correct name.

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

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[gjgjgj]

Useful sharing.

 

[haggis999]

I have run sfc /scannow and no problems were found. I have also implemented Option 2 for restoring the My Music folder to its default location (ref link quoted by Brink). Prior to running that process, I created a new C:\Users\David\Music folder, as instructed. After that process, no changes were obvious.

There are currently no libraries defined for music. My C:\Users\David\Music folder (which is empty) sits alongside C:\Users\David\My Documents, which contains a subfolder called Music containing all my music files. This subfolder was previously named 'My New Music Folder'.

However, my original problem essentially still remains. I cannot rename C:\Users\David\My Documents\Music to C:\Users\David\My Documents\My Music (something I wish to do so that my laptop matches my desktop folder structure and thus facilitates synchronisation software to run without any complications). Windows is still convinced that this folder already exists, even though I cannot see it.

I must confess that I find the tendency for Windows to apparently use the folder names Music and My Music interchangeably rather confusing, though I don't know if this has any relevance to my problem. Where do I go from here?

David

 

[patio]

You can't rename system folders...this is by design.
Use Brink's suggestion above to restore the default location.

 

[haggis999]

You can't rename system folders...this is by design.
Use Brink's suggestion above to restore the default location.

As I said in my last post, I have already followed Brink's advice to restore the default location (though the effect of this procedure was not obvious).

I am confused by your reference to a system folder. As far as I am aware, the folder I am trying to rename, i.e. C:\Users\David\My Documents\Music is a folder of my own creation, not a system folder. I am being prevented from changing its name to C:\Users\David\My Documents\My Music on the basis that this 'My Music' folder already exists. I'm happy to accept that 'My Music' might be a system folder located somewhere else on my machine (I have been assuming that it is another name for C:\Users\David\Music) but I cannot see it within My Documents and thus do not understand why there should be a naming conflict.

David

 

[Brink]

Hello David,

Did you delete all other Music folders in your C:\Users\(user-name) folder before doing OPTION TWO?

Did you do all of OPTION TWO?

Did you restart the PC afterwards?

Sometimes it may take a bit to have the folder show as "My Music" with a "Location" tab in it's properties.

 

[haggis999]

I've just rechecked the Option 2 instructions more carefully. Since the declared purpose was to "Restore the Default Location of User Folders", when I saw Step 8 entitled "To Restore the Default My Music Folder Location" I assumed that executing the file downloaded in Step 8 was the end of the process. I therefore never read Steps 16-28 until now!

That just proves you should never make assumptions...

I have rebooted the machine and C:\Users\David\Music does indeed have a 'Location' tab in its properties. However, I will now have a go at running Steps 16-28.

David

 

[Brink]

You'll need to start over with OPTION TWO for it to work, but yeah it needs to be done completely.

 

[haggis999]

I've now re-run Option 2 properly. The My Music system folder setting in the registry had been pointing at my Documents folder rather than my David folder and that explains some of my previous problems.

Once again, I attempted to rename the C:\Users\David\My Documents\Music folder to My Music and once again I was told that My Music already existed and was offered an opportunity, as before, to merge the folders. This time it let the merge proceed. The end result was that the contents of C:\Users\David\My Documents\Music was moved to C:\Users\David\Music.

That's still not what I was aiming for but I think the quirky behaviour has now gone away. A second look at the setup on my desktop PC shows that I have been using a library called Music to reference a folder called C:\Users\David\My Documents\My Music (which is NOT a system folder). There is a system folder called C:\Users\David\My Music but that is not in active use.

This raises an entirely new question. Am I missing some useful benefits on my desktop PC by not using a system folder for storing music files?

David

 

[Brink]

You will not be able to physically rename the folder. Doing so will mess it up, so don't.

In your Music library's properties, check to make sure that you only have a C:\Users\David\Music (your My Music folder) and C:\Users\Public\Music folder included in it. Remove any others for your Music folder.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/585-library-include-folder.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/586-library-remove-included-folder.html
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Does it work properly now, and do you have a "My Music" folder in your C:\Users\David folder now?

If not, then now that you got the merge situated with your "My Music" folder no longer located in your "My Documents" folder, try going through all of OPTION TWO again.

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

 

[haggis999]

I now have a conventional My Music system folder on my laptop that is working fine in the David folder. However, as explained in my last post, this does not match the configuration on my desktop, where no system folder is in active use for music storage.

I want to be able to use file synch software to ensure that all my personal files (incl music files) on the laptop are a clone of those on my desktop PC. This process would be made much simpler if the folder structures were identical, which currently they are not.

This means that I am faced with the decision to stop using a system folder for music on my laptop or start using a system folder on my desktop. That is why I asked my question about the benefits of using system folders.

David

 

[logicearth]

If you wanted to know why you cannot rename the folder to "My Music' is because there is a hidden folder with the documents folder already called "My Music" it is a junction point to the new "Music" location for old software. Bust instead of renaming the Music folder, throw in the desktop.ini files that was in the previous Music folder that way you will get your "My Music" label without conflicting results.

 

[Brink]

David,

If you mean for your "Music" library or a shortcut of it on your desktop, then you could sync it to have all the included folders in the library synced as well.

Do you have the correct folders included in the library?

I'm not sure of what you mean by "However, as explained in my last post, this does not match the configuration on my desktop, where no system folder is in active use for music storage.". Could you explain this more with some screenshots?

 

[haggis999]

I don't have any issues with library folders. It is the use of the special 'system folders' we have been discussing in this thread that is the key difference between how I store music files on my desktop PC vs my laptop.

David

 

[Brink]

David,

If you like, you could create a homegroup on the desktop and join the homegroup from the laptop. This way you will be able easily share files in your user folders and libraries between them.

Another option, depending on how much music you have, is to save the music on SkyDrive to be able to use on any PC that you have the SkyDrive desktop app installed on and signed in to. You get 7 GB of storage free on SkyDrive. You can have more storage space available, but it wouldn't be free.

SkyDrive Desktop App - Install or Uninstall in Windows

SkyDrive Desktop App - Start or Close in Windows
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