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

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

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

You can change the location of the folders in your personal folder (such as Documents and Pictures) by redirecting them. For example, if you have a large number of files in your My Documents folder, you might want to store the files on a different hard drive or on a network to free up space on your primary hard drive.

When you redirect a folder to a new location, you change where the folder, as well as the files in the folder, are stored. However, you'll still be able to access the folder the same way you did before you redirected it.

This tutorial will show you how to restore your personal folders back to the default location in your C:\Users\(user-name) profile folder in Windows 10.

This does not include the OneDrive folder. See this instead: How to Change the Location of your OneDrive Folder in Windows 10



Contents

• Option One: To Restore Default Location of Your Personal Folders in Properties
• Option Two: To Restore Default Location of Your Personal Folders using a BAT file

EXAMPLE: Your Personal Folders









OPTION ONE [/i] To Restore Default Location of Your Personal Folders in Properties
1 Open File Explorer, copy and paste shell:UsersFilesFolder into the address bar, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

If you don't see the folder here, then type the shell command below for the folder into the address bar, and press Enter to open the folder no matter where it may be located to find it.


[table][tr][td]Personal Folder[/td] [td]Shell Command[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]3D Objects[/td] [td]shell:3D Objects[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Contacts[/td] [td]shell:Contacts[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Desktop[/td] [td]shellesktop[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Documents[/td] [td]shellersonal[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Downloads[/td] [td]shellownloads[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Favorites[/td] [td]shell:Favorites[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Links[/td] [td]shell:Links[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Music[/td] [td]shell:My Music[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Pictures[/td] [td]shell:My Pictures[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Saved Games[/td] [td]shell:SavedGames[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Searches[/td] [td]shell:Searches[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Videos[/td] [td]shell:My Video[/td] [/tr] [/table]




2 Right click or press and hold on the personal folder (ex: Pictures) you want to restore the default location for. (see screenshot above)

3 Click/tap on the Location tab, and click/tap on the Restore Default button. (see screenshot below)



4 Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



5 If prompted to create a folder at the default location, click/tap on Yes. (see screenshot below)



6 When prompted to move all files from the old location to the new default location, click/tap on Yes. (see screenshot below)



7 After a few moments the folder's properties will automatically close when successfully moved. (see screenshot below step 4)





OPTION TWO [/i] To Restore Default Location of Your Personal Folders using a BAT file
1 Do step 2 (3D Objects), step 3 (Contacts), step 4 (Desktop), step 5 (Documents), step 6 (Downloads), step 7 (Favorites), step 8 (Links), step 9 (Music), step 10 (Pictures), step 11 (Saved Games), step 12 (Searches), or step 13 (Videos) below for what personal folder your need to restore the default location of.


2. To Restore Your "3D Objects" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_3D-Objects_Default_Location.bat

Download

3. To Restore Your "Contacts" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Contacts_Default_Location.bat

Download

4. To Restore Your "Desktop" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Desktop_Default_Location.bat

Download

5. To Restore Your "Documents" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Documents_Default_Location.bat

Download

6. To Restore Your "Downloads" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Downloads_Default_Location.bat

Download

7. To Restore Your "Favorites" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Favorites_Default_Location.bat

Download

8. To Restore Your "Links" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Links_Default_Location.bat

Download

9. To Restore Your "Music" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Music_Default_Location.bat

Download

10. To Restore Your "Pictures" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Pictures_Default_Location.bat

Download

11. To Restore Your "Saved Games" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Saved_Games_Default_Location.bat

Download

12. To Restore Your "Searches" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 14 below.

Restore_Searches_Default_Location.bat

Download

13. To Restore Your "Videos" Personal Folder Default Location
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT 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 .bat file, and run the .bat file.

16 You will now notice your screen temporarily go black as a command prompt opens and closes as explorer is restarted to apply the registry changes. (see screenshot below)



17 Copy any files you wanted from the current folder location into the restored default folder location.

18 If you like, you can delete the old folder (not restored default folder).

19 When finished, you can delete the downloaded .bat file(s) if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• Undo: Merged your Pictures folder with your User folder
• How to Move Users Folder to another Location in Windows 10
• How to Add or Remove User Folder in Navigation Pane of File Explorer in Windows 10
• How to Hide or Show User Profile Personal Folders in Windows 10 File Explorer
• How to Change Your Storage Save Locations in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Desktop Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Documents Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Downloads Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Favorites Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Music Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Change the Location of your OneDrive Folder in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Pictures Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Searches Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Videos Folder Location in Windows 10

:)

 

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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