Where to find files saved on Desktop

Hi folks,


WinXP

Where can I find the files saved on Desktop if the OS fails to boot? I can boot the PC with LiveCD and mount the HD. I can recover files saved on "My Document" folder. Which folder holds the documents on Desktop. TIA


B.R.
satimis

 

Hi, satimis. Welcome to Windows BBS!

On my Windows XP Home SP2 installation my desktop files and folders are located in
C:\Documents and Settings\account name\Desktop\

"account name" is whatever your normal account name is on your computer.

I hope this helps.

 

Go into your C Drive as a slave drive ( not the bootable one)
C > documents and settings
Then check all the users for the correct file named "desktop "
All the users in xp still confuses me
It will be the same files as your desktop

 

Hi folks,


WinXP home edition.


Tks for your advice

Sorry I can't find it.

On LiveCD

# ls -al /media/sda2/Documents\ and\ Settings/

Code:

total 52
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix  4096 Apr 15 08:42 .
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix 24576 Apr 15 09:18 ..
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix  4096 Apr 15 08:42 Administrator
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix  4096 Dec  8  2004 All Users
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix  4096 Dec  8  2004 Default User
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix  4096 Apr 12  2007 HP_Owner
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix  4096 Apr 12  2007 LocalService
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix  4096 Jan 29  2006 NetworkService

/HP_Owner is the folder where the sole-owner of the box keeps files on the sub-folder "My Documents ".

# ls -al /media/sda2/Documents\ and\ Settings/HP_Owner/

Code:

total 4792
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix    4096 Apr 12  2007 .
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix    4096 Apr 15 08:42 ..
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix    4096 Apr  7  2007 Application Data
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix    4096 Jan  3  2007 Contacts
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix  278528 Apr 15 09:07 Cookies
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix    8192 Apr 12  2007 Favorites
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix    4096 Sep 22  2002 Local Settings
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix   12288 Feb 25  2007 My Documents
-r-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix 4194304 Apr 15 09:16 NTUSER.DAT
-r-xr-xr-x 2 knoppix knoppix    1024 Apr 15 09:22 NTUSER.DAT.LOG
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix       0 Mar 31  2007 NetHood
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix       0 Sep 22  2002 PrintHood
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix  114688 Apr 12  2007 Recent
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix    4096 Sep 22  2002 SendTo
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix    4096 Sep 22  2002 Templates
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix       0 Dec 15  2004 UserData
dr-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix       0 Sep 22  2002 WINDOWS
-r-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix  144618 Jun  5  2005 fread.out
-r-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix    9988 Sep  3  2004 ml1.srt
-r-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix    9988 Sep  3  2004 ml2.srt
-r-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix     278 Apr 15 09:16 ntuser.ini
-r-xr-xr-x 1 knoppix knoppix      50 Sep  3  2004 tempdiff.txt

# find /media/sda2 -name desktop/Desktop
# find /media/sda2 -name *desktop* -type d
all no printout


My niece, a girl of 12, sent me her PC running WinXP for rescue. She has all her school homework on the PC without spare copies. The PC came without any CD nor instruction/manual. WinXP can't start hanging on desktop with background picture displayed. However I can start it on Safe Mode. I found she installing many software with their starting icons linked on desktop.


She bought it about 18 months ago. It is HP Panvalion a000
CPU - Intel P4 515 2.93GHz 1MB L2 cache
RAM 256MB DDR 400
HD - 120G SATA 7200rpm
CD/DVD Combo drive
Onboard graphic card
Onboard NIC
Intel GMA 900 128MB interface card for drawing board

The above are what I can find on the stickers.


# fdisk -l

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120060444672 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 15508 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1         678     5125648+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda2   *         679       15507   112107240    7  HPFS/NTFS

I found
C-Drive (partition) install the rescue image
D-Driver (partition) install WinXP


# df -h

Code:

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
....
/dev/sda1             4.9G  3.9G  1.1G  79% /media/sda1
/dev/sda2             107G   22G   86G  21% /media/sda2

# cat /proc/cpuinfo

Code:

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 15
model           : 3
model name      : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.93GHz
stepping        : 4
cpu MHz         : 2932.735
cache size      : 1024 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 5
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe pni monitor ds_cpl cid  xtpr
bogomips        : 5871.76

# cat /proc/meminfo

Code:

MemTotal:       246688 kB
MemFree:          4612 kB
Buffers:         14152 kB
Cached:          61280 kB
SwapCached:          0 kB
Active:         134768 kB
Inactive:        22960 kB
HighTotal:           0 kB
HighFree:            0 kB
LowTotal:       246688 kB
LowFree:          4612 kB
SwapTotal:           0 kB
SwapFree:            0 kB
Dirty:               0 kB
Writeback:           0 kB
Mapped:         121904 kB
Slab:            20832 kB
CommitLimit:    123344 kB
Committed_AS:   227592 kB
PageTables:       1272 kB
VmallocTotal:   778232 kB
VmallocUsed:     11256 kB
VmallocChunk:   765776 kB
HugePages_Total:     0
HugePages_Free:      0
Hugepagesize:     4096 kB

Almost running short of RAM


I can rescue her school homework >90% and reinstall WinXP. The problem here is without driver of onboard graphic/network/card. I don't have idea whether WinXP needs them OR already having the drivers on their base.

Maybe I can restore the OS from the restore image on C-drive. But this is not my wish. Because I intend to create a partition for storage and I don't need the restore image partition. I think I can find the drivers on Internet if needed but taking lengthy time to finish rebulding the PC.


Any suggestion? TIa


B.R.
satimis

 

Congratulations on solving your own problem with linux. Your information is now quite complete. To answer your last questions about where to go from here, I suggest you preserve the C: partition because it has the recovery information and OS which may not be otherwise easily replaceable. The hardware drivers you need are probably included in the recovery information but not separate from it.

Suggest you consider what I do. Use the recovery process to restore the computer to factory fresh condition with the XP on d:, and use either ghost 2003 or acronis ro make an image of the restored partition that can be written for safekeeping to DVD or other external medium with adaquate capacity.

Edit: Actually, an image made now is a good backup idea because individual files or folders can be extracted without having to replace the image on a drive first.

Then you can use a partitioning program such as Partition Magic to make D: the size you wish, say 10GB, and make other partitions in the remaining space as you wish.

If you do this, Be sure the student knows she MUST place programs and data in the correct partitions, E: and F: etc. or else the D: partition will prove too small and that could be fatal to the machine again since D: is where the desktop resides (divided among several folders). Alternatively, make the D: 30-40GB and set XP up with the My Documents folder on E:, as well as any software YOU install on E: also.

I also agree that more memory is needed; I suggest another 512 MB since memory has become less expensive.

 

Hi sparrow,

Tks for your advice.

Yes, agree. After saving all her school homework I'll restore WinXP to factory configuration using the restore image on Drive-C. At boot I found 3 options, booting WinXP, booting Safe Mode and Setup. I suppose 'Setup' referring to 'Restore'. Also I have an idea to save "Documents and Settings" to an USB enclosure and restore it on Drive-D after restoring WinXP that may possibly saving all her homework.

To create an image of a drive and restore it on the same drive is not a problem. Neither it is a difficult job, just running "dd" command. But if the OS is contaminated with virus, the image will also be contaminated as well. I always prefer clean installation which is not a hard job.

What I would suggest her is to have a partition solely for storing data without program running. Each time she saves her work on Partition-D, duplicate a copy on this partition. It is possible to do it automatically with a short script. I trust Open Source also having this small program available. Maybe it has a version for Windows. However I consider let the little girl do some manual work.

NOT only RAM, also the onboard graphic card which consumes CPU resource. I even install an economic graphic card on headless server, w/o monitor and keyboard, etc. Maybe I only use it once a year. Today computer components are cheap.


Others noted with tks.


B.R.
satimis

 

Hi satimis,
Good luck.
This should be a good learning experience for the student.