Windows 10: Cannot add folders or shortcuts or anything in Documents folder under C:\Users\USER\Documents.

Just recently, I installed Rstudio and was installing a package. However, for some reason, it couldn't install the package. It said that it couldn't find an R folder inside the Documents folder and thus threw the error. I tried investigating this and I found out that I couldn't create new Folders, Shortcuts, or anything for that matter in the Documents folder. However, I can delete existing folders inside Documents.


When manually creating a folder by right clicking > new > folder, it gives me this error "Could not find this item. This is no longer located in C:\Users\USER\Documents. Verify the item's location and try again." What? I am inside you for goodness' sake, how do you not exist?


I tried opening command prompt as admin, then went to the Documents directory and ran a mkdir FolderName command. Cmd threw an error "The system cannot find the file specified". Which is bonkers since, obviously, it doesn't exist - hence why I'm creating a folder! This is weird since I know I have created folders inside the Documents folder in the past.


I do not know why this happened but after a few trials and errors, I found a solution.


Solution:


1 Create a new folder anywhere else. In my case, I made a new folder in my desktop to make it easier to find.

2 Rename the folder to Documents You don't have to do this, but I recommend it, just to be safe

3 Go to C:\Users\Your User then right click Documents and click properties

4 Go to the Location tab and press the move button and move to the folder you created in step 1


Now, it fixes the issue where you can't create new stuff in the Documents folder and you could stop here. However, if you want to return the Documents folder back to C:\Users\USER\Documents, then follow the next steps.


5 Create a new folder in C:\Users\USER\Documents and name it Document or name it Documents if you can. In my case, I couldn't name the new folder Documents for some reason.

6 Right click the new Documents folder you created in step 1

7 Open properties > Location > move then move to the new folder you created in step 5

8 Pray it works


Thankfully, even though I named my folder Document and not Documents in step 5, when I moved the Documents folder on my desktop to the new empty Document folder in User, it was automatically renamed to Documents.


I have no idea why this happened, but these are the steps that helped me solve it.

:)

 

C:\User documents folder annoyance

Hey,

Just got a new PC and did a windows update. The documents folder that was once located at C:\users\XXXX\documents is now C:\users\XXXX\onedrive\documents.

is there a way to reset this?

Steam has defaulted to storing files there and when i just move folders certain games cant find what they need. THIS is the real annoyance

 

Missing C:\users\Documents folder

For some time now I have been unable to see the Windows "Documents" folder on C:\users. All I see is the C:\users\OneDrive\Documents folder.

Does OneDirve somehow interact with the Windows Documents folder and somehow combine them? I can't imagine that to be the case since Memory on OneDrive is proprietary, available for a fee, which is why I tend to avoid putting everything on OneDrive, even
though I have more than enough memory on my OneDrive account.

Can the Windows Documents folder get hidden somehow, or even erased?

Box

 

Moving Documents Folder

Actually, the correct terminology is that you want to 'pin' your Documents folder to the Taskbar, and it's easy to do.

1- Open File Explorer and navigate to your Documents folder. That would typically be:

C:\Users\ user\Documents

where user is the name of your user account.

2- Right-click on the Documents folder and from the context menu select 'Create shortcut.'

That places a shortcut to your documents folder in the C:\Users\ user\ folder.

3- Simply drag the shortcut to your Taskbar.

After you're done you can remove the shortcut from C:\Users\ user\