Windows CMD does not see Desktop when I move it around

In scanning, I thought he was looking for a way to determine the paths of other folders as well. Sorry. Still good general info though. Much more complete than wcript.shell.SpecialFolders.

Try3 said:

I never claimed that other user folders could just be substituted into that code without any adjustment being made.

Examine the contents of the Command window when you run it and you will probably spot the problem.

If not, just run the Reg command on its own in a Command window

Code:

Reg Query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders" /v "My Music"

or run RegEdit & go to that Registry key to have a look
and you will probably then be able to see what's happening and what to change.

and/or, in a Command window, enter

Code:

For /?

and study its guidance.

Denis

I know that you never claimed that you could substitute other user folders and I'm sorry if that was implied.

What I'm trying to figure out is why it's not returning the path of the music folder ("E:\Music") and video folder ("E:\Videos") when trying to find those using your batch command. I have found that I can find the "Documents" folder using your batch script as it returns the path rather than the "REG_EXPAND_SZ" that the music batch and video batch is returning.

The only difference that I can see is that the query is using a two word search term in quotes instead of a single word.

Below is the Reg Queries I ran to see what it returns and to confirm what values I can see from the registry editor:


Below is a modified version of your script looking for the "Documents" folder to which it can successfully find the path for:


This final image I tried to find the path to the "Music" folder and I can see that during or after the "For" command is where the problem arises:


From what I can gather, being somewhat new to fully custom batch scripts, is it the "usebackq tokens=3" that is causing the issue I am running into? Or is there something else I'm missing when trying to find these two paths?

Try3 said:

Why do you want the Music folder?
- Does this form part of a larger script?
- Finding the Desktop folder is often used within larger scripts but I've never seen anybody ask about the Music folder before.
- Or is this purely a training exercise? Nothing wrong with that.

Denis

I was wanting to get all of the User folders for a larger script I'm working on and as a training exercise.

The plan was to make a "clean install" set of batch scripts to setup most of my normal folder paths on a new install of windows and then use another set of batch scripts to network transfer files from my old computer to my server or directly to a new computer.

The music folder is one that I have a lot of files in and was wanting to make sure I can cleanly move files to it using batch with the help of the code you provided. I'm also tinkering with how to update my music server with new .mp3 files from my local machine and using batch scripts to copy the files and folder structure over.

As far as the folder finding batch files go, they would be used on the computer I'm transferring files from but the reg query to find out things from a remote computer is something I didn't think about so I'll be saving that for later.

I try to have the same user names and user folder relocations as well but on a clean install you have to do that from the properties window, unless I can find out how to relocate them using batch instead.

The music server updating will be a regular task at some point once the server itself is stable [consumer desktop parts running a server, wanting to get a refurbished enterprise server at some point]

In any case thanks for the help and useful links :)

I found that usebackq is unnecessary for finding the relocated Desktop folder.

Code:

Set "+=HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders"
For /F "tokens=3" %%# in ('Reg Query "%+%" /V Desktop') Do (Set #=%%#)
For /F "delims=" %%# in ('Echo "%#%"') Do (Set "#=%%#")
Set "#=%#:~1,-1%"
Echo The current desktop is %#% & Pause