File Explorer : Left hand column anomaly, drv letter, not name

idgat · 26 May 2020

Try3 said:

I haven't seen that suggested before. What is the reason for this suggestion?

Denis

A quick look at the screenshot posted by the OP indicates the user folder structure/location is a mess (either accidentally or deliberately). Some system user folders have their own (unnamed) drive and some have the user system folder icon and some don't.

E.g. F:\ drive - unnamed, but has the system user folder icon for Videos
Videos - Windows default folder icon, no drive letter

My suggestion was rather than try to fix these one by one, reset all user system folders back to default. If the (existing) folders are abcked up and wemptied, then when resetting, then re-personalising user folder locations, won't involve copying contents back and forward and back and forwards (which happens when user system folders are relocated)

JeremyP99 · 27 May 2020

idgat said:

A quick look at the screenshot posted by the OP indicates the user folder structure/location is a mess (either accidentally or deliberately). Some system user folders have their own (unnamed) drive and some have the user system folder icon and some don't.

E.g. F:\ drive - unnamed, but has the system user folder icon for Videos
Videos - Windows default folder icon, no drive letter

My suggestion was rather than try to fix these one by one, reset all user system folders back to default. If the (existing) folders are abcked up and wemptied, then when resetting, then re-personalising user folder locations, won't involve copying contents back and forward and back and forwards (which happens when user system folders are relocated)

That may well be the way forward! The Music folder is fine - and that's another drive; Downloads and Pictures were moved to a data drive. All are backed up, so I shall do that. Thanks.

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JeremyP99 said:

That may well be the way forward! The Music folder is fine - and that's another drive; Downloads and Pictures were moved to a data drive. All are backed up, so I shall do that. Thanks.

Weird error message prevents me doing this, despite emptying the Videos folder. Pain tin the butt.

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Try3 said:

I suggest checking what path is recorded for your videos user folder in the Registry

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
and, even though it should not be any different,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

In both places you are looking for the entry My video so you can see what path is stored for it but, while you are there, check for anything else that refers to the same path.

The reason that I am suggesting this is that the Videos folder, in the upper-right part of your last diagram, has a general folder icon not a Videos icon so I think that a fault in user folder designations might be involved in the problem. I do appreciate that the chances are low because the same condition exists on two computers.
Attachment 280301

Denis

I must have been typing very slowly. I can see that part of my post duplicates part of Keith's.

Thanks will look at that also, wondered where the Registry entries were.

idgat · 27 May 2020

JeremyP99 said:

Weird error message prevents me doing this, despite emptying the Videos folder. Pain tin the butt.

Yeh, thats' happened to me too when I tried to do it manually (right-lick folder > properties > location > set default) but when I downloaded and ran the .reg files available from that above site, worked a breeze (does the registry entries as shown above but you don't have to go into the registry manually). Just download the videos one, save it to Desktop and double click.

JeremyP99 · 27 May 2020

KeithM said:

So, all three display the same content? Just different path in Address bar? If so, try the following two commands in the Address bar and see if the displayed paths differ:

Code:

shell:my video
shell:local videos

Open regedit, navigate to:

Code:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Capture a screenshot and post in reply,

Both shell commands produce the same result.

File Explorer : Left hand column anomaly, drv letter, not name-capture.png

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idgat said:

Yeh, thats' happened to me too when I tried to do it manually (right-lick folder > properties > location > set default) but when I downloaded and ran the .reg files available from that above site, worked a breeze (does the registry entries as shown above but you don't have to go into the registry manually). Just download the videos one, save it to Desktop and double click.

Maybe being dumb but cannot see " that above site" - is it by any chance

https://www.askvg.com/windows-10-tip...ne-of-this-pc/

idgat · 27 May 2020

JeremyP99 said:

Maybe being dumb but cannot see " that above site"

Sorry, try this one ...
Restore Default Location of Personal Folders in Windows 10

Scroll down that site, there are some .bat files to run to reset the default system location of user files.

JeremyP99 · 27 May 2020

idgat said:

Sorry, try this one ...
Restore Default Location of Personal Folders in Windows 10
Scroll down that site, there are some .bat files to run to reset the default system location of user files.

Cheers! It seems that despite the error message, the default location was in fact re-instated. Still got the two icons! But what the hell - as my Mum used to say "Worse things happen at sea". Just restoring my Video library. If anyone can think HOW to get rod of the folder duplication, I'll buy 'em a (virtual) beer or four!

Try3 · 27 May 2020

Jeremy,

Your screenshot of Registry User shell folders entry is not the Registry Key that I or Keith suggested.

When somebody gives you a Registry address to check and it is in the proper format, as mine & Keith's were, you can paste it straight into the Registry's address bar so you can get straight there without going off down the wrong branch.

Denis

idgat · 27 May 2020

JeremyP99 said:

Still got the two icons!

What's in that F:\ drive when you open it? Is it a virtual drive for Videos ?

Is it a physical drive ...download a partition managment program (like EaseUS and/or AOMEI, botyh freeware) and see what your drive/partition structure looks like.

Can that F:\ drive (partition) be deleted and the adjacent partition expanded ?

JeremyP99 · 27 May 2020

idgat said:

What's in that F:\ drive when you open it? Is it a virtual drive for Videos ?

Is it a physical drive ...download a partition managment program (like EaseUS and/or AOMEI, botyh freeware) and see what your drive/partition structure looks like.

Can that F:\ drive (partition) be deleted and the adjacent partition expanded ?

Straightforward HD. None of my drives other than OS drive are partitioned.

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Try3 said:

Jeremy,

Your screenshot of Registry User shell folders entry is not the Registry Key that I or Keith suggested.

When somebody gives you a Registry address to check and it is in the proper format, as mine & Keith's were, you can paste it straight into the Registry's address bar so you can get straight there without going off down the wrong branch.

Denis

Mea culpa. Here is how the first looks now.

and here is the second (above)!

Wondering whether it is a case of the Video folder being assigned at the Drive level, whereas Music is to the top level folder on that drive?

Try3 · 27 May 2020

Jeremy,

I wouldn't think that using a drive as the user folder location would lead to your problem but you could change it temporarily [without letting it move any files] just to find out one way or another.
- Changes can be made directly in the User shell folders key but do make sure that the folder path exists beforehand and copy its path from the File explorer address bar
- then double-click on the relevant User shell folders entry to bring up its dialog so you can change its 'Value data'
- then paste it into the 'Value data' input box.
- Doing it this way avoids the danger of typing pistakes that make Windows throw a wobbly.
- You should not have to reboot to see the results but, given the strange responses you have, you could restart just to be on the safe side.

I did notice one entry in your User shell folders. The entry near the top labelled
{35286a68-3c57-41a1-bbb1-0eae73d76c95}
is your "Local videos" user folder. Try changing that entry to something else temporarily as a test [without letting it move any files] just to find out if it makes a difference.
- I don't know what a "Local videos" user folder is used for. I have never found an explanation. I just know they exist and that you have one set.
- You could read this if you wanted to be sure that I had not just made this up Fix Shell Folders entries - RameshSrinivasan {I have just re-read it for the same reason}

Denis

Additional
- In Ramesh's article, under the heading Method 2: Fix the merged Shell folders by Resetting their paths manually, he mentions "Local videos" user folder
- He suggests deleting that entry altogether
- As long as you have backed up the Registry key I think you might try that instead of merely altering it.
- I should have mentioned backing up Registry keys before but did not think of it
- To backup a Registry key, right-click on it [in this case, User shell folders], select Export, leave the 'Save as type' as .reg, then give it a useful name such as User shell folder - before local video changes
- You can restore this later if you need to by double-clicking on it then saying yes to all the questions [doing this is called 'merging' the .reg file rather than 'running' it].
- You would not have been able to restore it if you had seleted the other Export format [text file] so .reg is much better and the layout of the .txt version is awful as well
- You can always read the .reg file contents by

- drag & dropping it into a Notepad window, or
- by adding .txt to the end of the file name which is what I do - so I end up with things like User shell folder - before local video changes.reg.txt so they are easy to read but also easy to bring back into action by deleting the .txt from the end.