Lost the My Documents folder

Hi All,

While attempting to use Christer's Moving WindowsXP default folders Rev1, I lost my My Documents folder. Obviously I fouled up somewhere along the way and in trying to fix the problem, things only got worse. This includes deleting an old Backup Folder on drive E. Now the My Doc. folder only has desktop.ini file in it. I tried two differerent recent restore points with System Restore and the My Doc. folder only had the above .ini file. Is there any hope of getting the My Documents information back? Thank you.

 

Hello derfsch,

Where is the My Doc folder that only has the desktop.ini file in it?

I assume you followed Christer's method of moving the file, one part of which is to "cut" the original folder. Cutting the original folder turns it into a hidden folder.

If you don't have the show hidden files/folders option turned on, turn it and look for the original folder in the original C:\ location.

As an FYI, System Restore does not monitor the My Documents folder.

Regards - Charles

 

derfsch--If you run a Search on My Documents. You will probably find 5-6 such folders in WinXP. Most contain only desktop.ini and some folders you probably never knew you had (like Owners Music, My Videos, etc.) created by Windows.
The one that had your personal data in it was probably C:\My Documents.
Run a Search for the name of one of the files in the My Documents folder that is lost. See if you can locate the folder that way.
Some one on another forum had the problem recently. Unfortunately, it seems no solution was available
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/showthread.php?t=206299&highlight=Documents

 

Charles and Jim

Before getting into the specifics I'll show you the results of an Agent Ransack search for My Documents:

My Documents ..... C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\systemprofile\
My Documents ..... C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\
My Documents ..... C:\Documents and Settings\Derf\
My Documents ..... C:\Documents and Settings\Derf\Send To\
My Documents ..... C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\

This search was done over the C:, D:, and E: partitions. Note that nothing shows for the D:.

Charles............. A minor point, Christor makes no mention of "Cut" but I assume that "Move" and cut are the same operation. Also, In folder Options I had the Show hidden files and folders checked on. Regarding where the My Doc folder that has the desktop.ini file, the search items above produce:

............ systemprofile\........... folder is empty
............ Default User............. folder is empty
............ Derf........................ desktop.ini
............ Send To................... desktop.ini
............ Administrator............ desktop.ini and Sample Music and Sample Pictures
I probably knew that System Restore could not help the My Document situation, call it a desperation attempt for a solution.

Jim............. The results above for the Administrator probably answers your comment about the unknown folders. I'm tending to agree with your concluding comment about no solution being available.

Thank you both for your interest. After I rebuild the My Doc folder, I'll have another attempt to do the move correctly next time.

 

Hi derfsch,

Christer's thread: in the 2nd post - General:

Which is what I thought you might have done and something might have gone wrong there because if you use the cut command w/o completing the paste operation, the original will turn into a "hidden" folder until accessed the next time.

I personally use the move and copy commands. I just put up the from and to partitions or folders side by side and move and copy that way, but that's personal preference.

Regards - Charles

 

I don't know Christer's method, but the MS way to move the My Documents folder is given in

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310147

I know that works, because I used it without problems to move My documents folder to a different partition. It automatically changes all the relevant registry entries accordingly.