Windows 10: Restore Default Location of Personal Folders in Windows 10

Hi Shawn
Thank you very much for this. Do you think you could provide a set of bat files to actually set these folders from the default to a new location. At present I do it manually from the Location Tab but it would be great to have a bat file – is one of the 1st jobs that I do on a new install.
The same set of folders that you have written bat files for in this post – I can edit the bat file so even if you sent me the script for say "Documents" I could then cobble together bat files for the rest of the folders. I could move out all the files and subfolders that would make the operation quicker basically if I ran these bat files on a Windows install, or just after it, they would essentially be empty.
I'm in windows 10. I haven't done a new install yet for this particular version – I'm waiting until all the hassles from the anniversary update et cetera are sorted out and we get a very stable release.
I don't want to move all of the Users folders from the system drive (C*Smile just my personal & public data files which are huge. I like the setting because I got used to not worrying about where files are going to be saved or where they're stored.
Unfortunately there are still a few programs like my video editor that don't seem to take any notice of the internal links and will keep storing, particularly public, data files in the default system data folders during the program installation.
While I now have a larger SSD drive I find that having just my system and not my data on my system drive allows me to make faster restores from system image backups.
I would appreciate any help in this matter
Cheers for now
Dan

:)

 

Delete a Library in Windows 10

How to Restore Default Location of Your Personal Folders in Windows 10

Fix Shell Folders Like Music and Videos Merged and Pointing to Same Folder

Windows 10 User Shell Folders Restore Default Paths

 

Missing "Desktp ICON" Windows 10

Hello Tilak,

It appears that you may have mistakenly moved your "C:\Users\<username>\Desktop" folder to the root of your "D" drive.

You can use option 1 in the tutorial below to confirm this, and restore the default location of your Desktop folder.

How to Restore Default Location of Your Personal Folders in Windows 10

 

Hello Dan, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

You might see if a method in the tutorial below may work for you for moving your user folders.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1...dows-10-a.html

 

yes I looked at that but it's a bit complex for me*Smile I only want my data folders not any hidden or system ones - I used to do folder by folder with the Location Tb but was hoping for a BAT file - I/e the reverse of this thread
cheers Dan

 

You might take a look at storage save locations to see if that may help make it easier for this for you. It's a lot less steps.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

 

thank for quick reply - I’m used to right click properties Location method - that way all my data is on D; drive and system is on C: drive - I will have to think about some more *Smile I use the format D:\Users|d***\Documents I want to get of the system drive so my ghost images backup & restore faster cheers dan

 

QUESTION
your code
@echo off
:: Created by: Shawn Brink
:: Windows 10 Help Forums
:: Tutorial: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
timeout /t 2 /nobreak >nul
if not exist "%UserProfile%\Contacts" mkdir "%UserProfile%\Contacts"
reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "{56784854-C6CB-462B-8169-88E350ACB882}" /t REG_SZ /d "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Contacts" /f
reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders" /v "{56784854-C6CB-462B-8169-88E350ACB882}" /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d %%USERPROFILE%%"\Contacts" /f
attrib +r -s -h "%USERPROFILE%\Contacts" /S /D
timeout /t 1 /nobreak >nul
start explorer.exe

===============================================

OK - If I just changed

if not exist "%UserProfile%\Contacts" mkdir "%UserProfile%\Contacts"
to
if not exist "D:\Users\%USERNAME%\Contacts" mkdir "D:\Users\%USERNAME%\Contacts"

AND

reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "{56784854-C6CB-462B-8169-88E350ACB882}" /t REG_SZ /d "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Contacts" /f

TO
reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "{56784854-C6CB-462B-8169-88E350ACB882}" /t REG_SZ /d "D:\Users\%USERNAME%\Contacts" /f

WOULD THAT WORK?

if it is too complex please just say so *Smile

 

Yeah, it would be more complex than just doing that to move them. If you like, you should try the storage location method on one folder to see what you think. If it doesn't meet your needs, then you could set it back to the default "This PC".

 

Hello every one, I'm new here, trying to get some help and to help others. I tried to move my "Downloads" folder from C:/ to a different volume, but when I did it, I didn't select a new folder location, I chose the root E:/ by mistake and now my "Downloads" folder is E:/ and I cannot roll it back, every time I try it, I get a message saying I cannot change a volume location *Sad

Any advice?

 

Hello Jorge, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

Are you getting this error message when trying the .reg download in step 5 of OPTION TWO?

 

Hello, and thank you for the quick reply. I already solve my issue, turns out easier than expected. I just needed to select "do not move the files" and all returns to normal

Thanks again!

 

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum. I have tried to move the desktop from C drive to D drive on my computer. During the process, stupidly, I failed to create sub folders (i.e d/user/a/desktop) and moved it directly to D drive. Now, anytime I save a file or folder in D drive it shows up on desktop. Tried to restore settings to original path and it gives an error "failed to build list of regular subdirectories under D:\System Volume Information, access is denied error.

Anyway around this without resetting the computer and losing time etc.. Thank you in advance for all the help and advice.
Ari

 

Hello Ari, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

Did you get the error while trying step 3 in OPTION TWO of the tutorial?

If so, manually create a Desktop folder in your "C:\Users\(user-name)" profile folder, and try again. You may need to restart the computer afterwards to apply.

 

I downloaded the BAT file but posted first before I did anything. The C drive folder path C:\Users\(user-name)\Desktop" is already there. I will use BAT file and see what happens