Windows 10: Duplicated Documents and Pictures folders

I have discovered that I have two Documents and two Pictures folders: one of each is in "This PC" and one in "Windows (C)>Users>[my name]". They are not synced and I seem to have to copy files from one to the other to get them to show the same; if I don't I have problems finding files as I don't necessarily remember to which folder I have saved them. Can anyone tell me, please, why I have this situation and whether I can delete one folder or the other. I note that when i go to the Windows (C) folder "This PC" is shown in the address bar before the rest as quoted above but, as I say, the content of each is not the same unless I take laborious steps to make it so.
With thanks

:)

 

Duplicate User folder.

I moved my default Pictures, Documents, Music folders to a new Data partition (D).

My Users/myName folder remained on the C partition.

Everything was fine for 2 years.

For some reason this myName folder is now duplicated on the D partition (D\myName)

I have now a default documents folder in

• D\Documents
• D\myName\Documents
• Onedrive\Documents
• C\Users\myName\Documents

The same with the other system folders.

I can not change the location of the folders in the 2 duplicate user folders.

Rightclicking in properties, there is no location option.

Only the folders in OneDrive and the D partition have this option.

Any ideas?

 

Win 10 suddenly moving/duplicating files to C:/Users

This is a different situation,...and only Documents and Pictures were moved to C:/Users, as I found later. The newly created folders that replaced them contained no files (Pictures again contained empty folders 'Camera Roll' and 'Saved Pictures' that I had
deleted months ago) and I was easily able to move about 13,000 pictures back to the Pictures folder from the folder in C:/Users,...and all my documents to the Documents folder.

It was a little unnerving initially to check Pictures and find an empty folder!!

How is it that Win 10 will move files/folders without my direction or permission?!

 

This probably is not the right way to fix it, but it might be a possible solution....................

Create another user account with the same privileges > logon to it > see if you have duplicates as well.
If no duplicates, use this new account for a few days. If still no duplicates, time to go back to the old account > backup files you want to keep > then delete the old account.

I am suggesting the above under the assumption that your user account is corrupted.

 

I have a similar problem, but not exact.

I've moved my user data folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Pictures, etc.) from their original location to a specific Data folder. All my other data (email, graphics, etc.) also are in this folder and it makes it easy to sync between my desktop and notebook for when I travel.

I've notices a couple of times that I'll get an empty duplicate icon in the User Folder for the Desktop and Documents. There's nothing in these folders and the Properties show then in the User Folder as were the original folders before I relocated them.

The system still sees the ones I've moved into my Data folder as the correct Desktop and Documents and anything I change in either of these locations appear in the correct folder. Deleting the new folders creates no error message or issues with the OS.

So I'm curious why these extra icons are being created, why windows doesn't see it as an issue to create a second "Desktop" and "Document" folder/icon in the User Folder and, of course, how do I stop it?

Thx

 

David, thank you for your suggestion. I tried to create another account in my wife's name but if I try to log in with that I just get an error message to say that the user profile could not be loaded so I'm no further forward. I think there are fixes available but they seem to involve editing the registry which I don't want to try. Perhaps somebody else can come up with another idea.

f

 

Pete, thanks for your reply. I might try what you suggest some time but, as you say, how does one stop all this happening in the first place?

 

I got on to MS online support yesterday afternoon and the technician there seems to have sorted out the problem of the folders not being synced. There is still the weird business of duplicate folders being created when you save something but I think I've seen another thread about that and that it's unsolved.

 

As I said earlier, I thought this problem (of Documents folders not being in sync) had been solved but it has returned. Ayone elso got any ideas, please?

 

I have hit on a solution to this though whether it's the right thing to do I have no idea. I noticed that the Windows(C) folder with the Users folder in it shows as inset under This PC in the left-hand pane of File Explorer. I therefore moved any files not already in This PC Documents from the Windows(C)/Users/Andrew/Documents to the This PC/Documents folder and then deleted the folder in Windows(C). I now have only one folder to save files to but I note that This PC Documents is synced with One Drive, or is it the same folder showing under two headings?

 

Although you are free to store your data wherever you wish you have to remember that windows is designed to work with a default structure.

This default structure is such that, (unless you tell windows where to look, more below *Wink ), windows will default to looking for files in these locations.

These default locations are under the Users folder structure on C:\windows\... ... and may be reset to the correct locations quite easily.

[url='https://www.windowsphoneinfo.com/threads/restore-default-location-of-personal-folders-in-windows-10.7049/[/url]

when you have the folders correctly set-up, If you wish, you can "move" the actual locations used by use of the Properties/Customize option. [the actual screenshots are shown in the above link], for each folder, (documents, photos, etc), just select the location tab and move the folder to where you want it

I personally have all my Special user folders on a separate data drive - D:\my stuff\... as I do not want to fill up my SSD system drive with data, but as I used the above method I never see any duplication and things such as homegroup. office and libraries all work without a hitch.

Tip, when moving things make sure you select the option to move the current contents to prevent any duplicates appearing,

 

Barman58, thank you for your prompt reply. I will act on your suggestions when I have time.

 

Barman58, here is the report
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WgaTray.exe Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 WgaLogon.dll Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 OGA Notifications Data--> Cached Result: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 Version: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 OGAExec.exe Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 OGAAddin.dll Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 OGA Data--> Office Status: 111 Unsupported OS OGA Version: N/A, 0x80070002 Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 Office Diagnostics: Browser Data--> Proxy settings: N/A User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Win32) Default Browser: C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe Download signed ActiveX controls: Prompt Download unsigned ActiveX controls: Disabled Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins: Allowed Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe: Disabled Allow scripting of Internet Explorer Webbrowser control: Disabled Active scripting: Allowed Script ActiveX controls marked as safe for scripting: Allowed File Scan Data--> File Mismatch: C:\WINDOWS\system32\licdll.dll[Hr = 0x80070002] File 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HPQOEM SLIC-CPC FACP HPQOEM SLIC-CPC APIC HPQOEM SLIC-CPC DMAR HPQOEM SLIC-CPC HPET HPQOEM SLIC-CPC FPDT HPQOEM SLIC-CPC FIDT HPQOEM SLIC-CPC MSDM HPQOEM SLIC-CPC SSDT HPQOEM SLIC-CPC SSDT HPQOEM SLIC-CPC SSDT HPQOEM SLIC-CPC SSDT HPQOEM SLIC-CPC BGRT HPQOEM SLIC-CPC[/quote] [/quote] [/quote]

 

*Redface that link was not for you, I pasted the wrong one into your thread, (I have a lot of open windows onto various parts of the Designer Media Sites) *Redface

I did correct it but obviously after you had read the original *Wink

The link that is there shows how to re-set the default locations for the users "special folders", and also the screen-shots to go with my later text in my post *Smile

 

The link in your post, starting tenforums.com/tutorials, actually took me to Windows Genuine and Activation Issue Posting Instructions - Windows 7 Help Forums and even when I tried to copy and paste it into a post it came up as the seven forums url. I typed the tenforums url inot my browser and tried using the BAT file to restore the Documents default location but the screen never cleared after going blank and after restarting I found that both Documents folders were empty! Fortunately the files were still in One Drive so I could copy them out of that.