Pinned Files on Taskbar Don't Work, Can't Unpin, Can't Pin New

Hi!

Did the Win 10 update last night. Now I can't run my pinned Excel files ("The item you selected is unavailable. It might have been moved, renamed, or removed. Do you want to remove it from the list?") But when I say Yes, it's not removed. If I click the icon for "Unpin from this list" it is also not removed. If I right click the item on the Pinned list and click "Unpin from this list" it is not removed. If I drag the file from its folder down to the icon ("Pin to Microsoft Excel") nothing changes.

The update apparently changed the locations of all the pinned files from my nonstandard location (D:\Dropbox\Current where D is my Data drive) to elsewhere (C:\Users\Dave\Documents\Dropbox\Current, which location does not exist). I can't figure out how to change this. The pinned list seems to be somehow locked so I can't change it, and this is the essence of the problem. Any ideas, anyone? Anti-kudos to Microsoft for forking this up.

Brink said:

Hello Dave, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

You might see if resetting and clearing all pinned apps on the taskbar may help. You'll need to pin them all again though afterwards.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3...dows-10-a.html

OK, I did that, Indeed all apps were cleared. I then re-pinned Excel. When I right click, the same list of pinned files is there, as described in the original post, and those items cannot be changed, deleted or overwritten. Can you point me toward something that will clear the pinned FILES list? Thanks!

Here is a screenshot:



As I said in the first post, all those files listed under "Pinned" point to a bogus location. I can't delete them, modify them, or overwrite them. It would appear that something is locked.

I've tried unpinning Excel from both Start and Taskbar and rebooting, then re-adding. This list of files won't go away, and items can't be deleted or modified. Repeat from first post, this began today after I did the Windows Update.

ADDENDUM: I even tried something else, in desperation: I created folders/subfolders at the bogus location these pinned items pointed to, so the location was no longer bogus, then copied a few of the files referred to there. Rebooted. The files won't open (from the jump list), nor, still, can the pinned items be deleted.

Brink said:

If this is only happening with Excel, then you might see if completely uninstalling and reinstalling Excel may be able to clear it.

Well, somehow last November I solved this problem. But I can't remember how I did it! Now, with the Anniversary Edition Win10 update, I have the same *&%~#} problem! I've done all the things mentioned above, up to and including uninstalling Excel (with Revo in Advanced mode) and reinstalling it, and the cursed files are still pinned where they were, and nothing will remove them. Windows updates insist on resetting where my data is, changing the pointer to C:/Users . . . I have an SSD for operating system and another (spinning) drive for files, so I need to point the data to the data drive. Suggestions, anyone? Help?

That didn't work. What did work was found in this thread:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/6...a.html#option2

The file is called Clear_File_Explorer_History.bat.

I'll make a note of this so that when the next update breaks this I'll know what to do. But it would be much better if updates wouldn't break this in the first place!