issue with deleting duplicate Desktop folder

Hi Denis,
1) I agree about the cross purposes here, and I blame mostly myself. In my last post, I did say this:

[Denis, I checked the "Downloads" folder, right clicked, and selected Properties. It does have a Location tab, which does direct me back to the User folder with all of the rest of the System files in it. I think we are good there.]

I didn't show the results though, and I will post the actual results in a snip below for you to see.


2) You said:
[- Nothing yet indicates that your Downloads folder itself [C:\Users\%UserName%\Downloads] is at all corrupted.]

All I can say is that the Downloads file suddenly started appearing and disappearing in the Users Folder. I didn't bring it up here, because it would have just one more thing for you and Keith to work on. I ran SFC, it said that it found an error, and and it stopped acting that way. I'm just glad that it's behaving normally now.

- - - Updated - - -

Keith,
Thank you for the clarification about PowerShell. No, I had not used PowerShell before. I found it though and you can see the results in the snip below. Thank you immensely for your patience in with this issue.




Your second question:

[Other than that, from the Address bar in your other screenshots, it looks like the folder under This PC is your Desktop folder & the Downloads folder has been removed or hidden from This PC, was that something Denis had you do?]

No, it has been a problem from the beginning. We have just been focusing on one problem at a time. I have been stating regularly that the Downloads folder isn't showing up in ThisPC. SFC found a corrupted file with the Downloads folder, and it now has stopped appearing and disappearing in the Users folder, but is still missing from the ThisPC. Thank you again in advance for anything that you can see that can be done to fix either of my remaining issues.

Attached Thumbnails

I see the problem ( or part of it. ). What I have nicknamed the "core" UserShellFolders --- Downloads, Docuemts, Music Pcitures & Videos --- each have a oair of FolderDescriptons/KnownFolder items that refer to them. The "Local" parallels to Personal, My ..., an Downloads are not explicitly defined under HKCU\...\User Shell Folders, they are only created when you redirect a folder, and they are named for their GUID rather than their human-friendly name.

But you have Local Downloads ( {7d83ee9b-2244-4e70-b1f5-5393042af1e4} )

pointing to your desktop folder.

First, to avoid confusiton caused by LocalizedRssourceName in desktop.ini files, turn those off by copying the following bit to a Run dialog ( trying to make PowerShell easier ) :

Code:

PowerShell -c "gci $env:UserProfile -ad|? {gi "$($_.FullName)\desktop.ini" -Force -ea silent} | %{$_.Attributes -= 'ReadOnly'}"

You can undo the above later with the following:

Code:

PowerShell -c "gci $env:UserProfile -ad|? {gi "$($_.FullName)\desktop.ini" -Force -ea silent} | %{$_.Attributes += 'ReadOnly'}"

Then, you can safely delete the following GUID-named values from the User Shell Folders registry key:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

• {754AC886-DF64-4CBA-86B5-F7FBF4FBCEF5} ThisPCDesktopFolder
• {f42ee2d3-909f-4907-8871-4c22fc0bf756} Local Documents
• {7d83ee9b-2244-4e70-b1f5-5393042af1e4} Local Downloads
• {a0c69a99-21c8-4671-8703-7934162fcf1d} Local Music
• {0ddd015d-b06c-45d5-8c4c-f59713854639} Local Pictures
• {35286a68-3c57-41a1-bbb1-0eae73d76c95} Local Videos

Then restart. I think we still need to restore an entry to HKLM\...\MyCOmputer\NameSpace or set System.ISPinnedToNamespaceTree for the missing folder. But which one is missing will be clearer after you do the abouve, If you need clarification, just ask!

KeithM,

Thank you for finding out the problem. I followed your instructions, but wasn't expecting the results that happened after running the first code. I pressed the Windows icon and the "R" key on my keyboard, and what looked like a Command Prompt or PowerShell window came up, it ran some red code very quickly and disappeared. I've never seen that before, and wanted to clarify that it was what should happen in order for me to proceed.

I want to make sure how to proceed though. According to your instructions I run the first code, run the second code, and then proceed to delete the keys you suggested? I wasn't sure about your wording as to:

[You can undo the above "later" with the following:]

Code:
PowerShell -c "gci $env:UserProfile -ad|? {gi "$($_.FullName)\desktop.ini" -Force -ea silent} | %{$_.Attributes += 'ReadOnly'}"


When was later? After deleting the keys or right after running the first code?




This is probably as simple as turning on a computer to you, but I rarely touch registry keys and work with Run, Command Prompt, Power Shell, etc. How this mess with my User folders happened is confusing too, since I never went in there to change them in the first place. I simply turned on my laptop one day and it was like this. I've reinstalled a BIOS before, used SFC, MSconfig, Services settings, and now (thanks to you) used PowerShell. Thank you immensely for your patience. As you suggested, I am asking for clarification on just how to proceed, and what to expect as I proceed. Thank you, again. Cindi

Just sw this, Will e a few hours before I can reply in detail.

Ken Cindi G said:

KeithM,

Thank you for finding out the problem. I followed your instructions, but wasn't expecting the results that happened after running the first code. I pressed the Windows icon and the "R" key on my keyboard, and what looked like a Command Prompt or PowerShell window came up, it ran some red code very quickly and disappeared. I've never seen that before, and wanted to clarify that it was what should happen in order for me to proceed.

I want to make sure how to proceed though. According to your instructions I run the first code, run the second code, and then proceed to delete the keys you suggested? I wasn't sure about your wording as to:

[You can undo the above "later" with the following:]

Code:
PowerShell -c "gci $env:UserProfile -ad|? {gi "$($_.FullName)\desktop.ini" -Force -ea silent} | %{$_.Attributes += 'ReadOnly'}"


When was later? After deleting the keys or right after running the first code?




This is probably as simple as turning on a computer to you, but I rarely touch registry keys and work with Run, Command Prompt, Power Shell, etc. How this mess with my User folders happened is confusing too, since I never went in there to change them in the first place. I simply turned on my laptop one day and it was like this. I've reinstalled a BIOS before, used SFC, MSconfig, Services settings, and now (thanks to you) used PowerShell. Thank you immensely for your patience. As you suggested, I am asking for clarification on just how to proceed, and what to expect as I proceed. Thank you, again. Cindi

OK.

The order was supposed to be:

1. Code snippet #1 -- clear read-only on folders so desktop.ini isn't processed. THat was intended to make sure folders displayed their actual file sytem names in your UserProfile folder. But if you saw red text fly by, there was some sort of error (not sure what), so it's quite likely the folders have their read-only attribute set. But this may not be necessary. As long as you can match up all folder names under your UserProfile when comparing an Explorer view of your UserProfile folder with a listing of c:\users\<username>, you're ok.
2. This is the important step, and you can proceed with it.
3. This is when the second code snippet should have been run. But if the first errored out, this will be unnecessary. Until I can check that code, you can go with an alternative route --- add the Attributes column to a Detals view of your UserProfile folder in Explorer.

The reason I worry about this is htat with display names coming from desktop.ini, this is possible:

Try3 said:

Sorry to butt in but you do realise that the problem symptom is only with a shortcut in the Folders group of ThisPC not with the subfolders of C:\Users\%UserName%\ themselves?


Denis

Yes.

Remember this:

The location of the second Desktop folder states that is in the Users folder for our laptop, but when looking in that folder, there's not a duplicate Desktop folder there. Neither is there a Download folder for that matter.

's
That's because of:
{7d83ee9b-2244-4e70-b1f5-5393042af1e4} --> c:\Users\<UserName>\Desktop

under HKCU:\...\User Shell Folders.

and with Windows habit of "repairing" the desktop,ini files for shell folders, c:\Users\<UserName>\Desktop was having both the Desktop & Downloads .ini ifles thrown at it -- hence the "disappearing/reappearing " Downloads in the UserProfile folder was the Desktop folder with the Downlloads .ini file.