Changing D: to D:\My Documents?

I just reinstalled a friend's OS (WinXP Home), and restored a backup of her My Documents folder on her D: partition. I apparently skipped a crucial step, however, because the path of the folder is simply D: , not D:\My Documents , which is what I was aiming for.

When I click on the My Documents folder on her desktop, all the appropriate subfolders and files show up, but when I right-click on My Computer>Explore, D: shows up without an actual My Documents folder.

Is there a "quick fix" for this - i.e., create a My Documents folder on D: , and then move all the folders and files on D: into that? Or must I copy all the files & folders on her D: partition somewhere else first, create a new "My Documents" folder on D: , and then copy everything back into it?

Thanks!

 

Another possibility since I was typing when Pete posted - try his possibly easier method first perhaps.

Then if no joy, type %userprofile%\My Documents in the Run window and click OK. What do you get? It should open to the assigned My Documents folder for the person logged on. If it opens to that folder and it is empty, copy the files into it and you will be good to go.

If there is no My Documents folder at %userprofile%, then the easy fix could be to create a new user profile that will have that folder and abandon the old profile.

The XP system creates a My Documents folder for each user and ordinarily keeps it secure from all but the person it represents. You can create your own folder named My Documents but it will not have the special features that the system version does.

 

Thanks, Pete (and Surferdude) - the TweakUI route worked!

 

Pete, I was assuming that the D: drive was the system drive in which case the command would open the D:\Documents And Settings\<user id>\My Documents folder.

It was a hip shot just to find out if the folder existed. I have been gone for the past few hours. That's why I deferred to your advice before leaving since I was pretty sure TweakUI would handle the placement of the folder and make all the necessary changes so that it became "special" as designed.

TweakUI is a great tool and your advice is always a great tool as well Pete!

All the best, Dude

 

That's actually how I originally did it, Tony. But then when I went to restore the My Documents backup (a process to which I am new, and apparently not terribly adept!), the contents of the My Documents folder restored without the folder itself. Then, when I right clicked on My Docs icon and selected 'properties', it showed D:\ rather than D:\My Documents.
I've experimented with restoring a couple other folders, and still seem to lose the 'parent' folder in the process sometimes. I need more practice, I guess!

 

Windows hides things...

You need to make sure what you are seeing is what is there, not some MS behind the scenes trickery for the weak-minded or inexperienced. I have XP Pro, so some of the following may not show under XP Home.

0. Press Windows-Key and E to bring up Explorer.
1. Click on Tools > Folder Options > View tab and make sure all the boxes under Files and Folders are checked (except maybe Do not cache...).

2. Click the radio button Show Hidden Files and Folders.

3. Uncheck Hide Extensions for known file types.

4. Then OK out of all this to get back to the Explorer double-pane view.

So now do you find a directory under D: that has her documents, or are they all under D:\ (in the root directory)?

** Her documents are truly under D:\ in the root **
If they are found under D:\ (in the root), then you will have to MOVE (NOT COPY) the My Documents directory under C:\Documents and Settings\username to D:\ to establish a directory for her documents and let Windows know you are relocating it. Then once it is MOVED, you can then MOVE all the documents into it.

** Her documents are in a directory under D:\ (not in the root) **
If there is a directory under D:\ that already contains the documents, then you need to verify that the problem you thought you had before is still there. Uncovering all the hidden options may have corrected your view of D:\

I assume you know how to move a bunch of files or a folder, but here it is again. Right-click and drag from the right pane onto the drive or folder in the left pane. Expand the left pane before you do this to ensure Windows doesn't move the focus on you just as you release the right button. When you release the right button, you can pick Move. Left-click and dragging may give you a Move operation, but Windows decides what it wants to do and not You. I believe you have to do a right-click to move between partitions or drives.