Default screenshot folder messed up! Help!

Hello there guys,

I'm running Windows 10 Home. I changed my default screenshot folder from OneDrive>Pictures to my desktop. Now when ever I take screenshots, they are directly saved onto my desktop instead of a "screenshots" folder on my desktop. The only way I can think of fixing this is to move my default screenshot folder to another location, but the problem here is that my DESKTOP has become my default screenshot folder. So basically I don't have a default folder named "screenshots" where my screenshots go. Screenshots are directly saved ONTO my DESKTOP!

I have no clue how to fix this. I don't want my desktop all cluttered with screenshots I take. Please help me fix this.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to TenForums @saadsohal

If you are talking about the screenshots made with WinKey+PrtSc then the default folder is usually %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\Screenshots unless you are saving to OneDrive. The correct way to stop saving to OneDrive is in this tutorial. Turning off save to OneDrive should have returned it to saving to ...Pictures\Screenshots.
Turn On or Off Auto Save Screenshots to OneDrive in Windows 10

The correct way to move the default save-to folder is to right-click on the Screenshots folder, select 'Properties' and use 'Move' on the 'Location' tab.

How exactly did you move yours? Without knowing exactly what you did it is difficult to say how to undo it. Probably your best approach would be to do a system restore to a time before you made the changes then move it in the intended way (and best to move it somewhere other than Desktop this time, just to be safe). I'd suggest leaving it in the default Pictures\Screenshots, and if you want access to it from the Desktop just put a link to the Screenshots folder on your Desktop.

TenForums Tutorial said:

System Restore is a way to undo system changes by using restore points to return your system files and settings to an earlier point in time without affecting personal files of users.

System Restore Windows 10

Bree said:

Welcome to TenForums @saadsohal

If you are talking about the screenshots made with WinKey+PrtSc then the default folder is usually %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\Screenshots unless you are saving to OneDrive. The correct way to stop saving to OneDrive is in this tutorial. Turning off save to OneDrive should have returned it to saving to ...Pictures\Screenshots.
Turn On or Off Auto Save Screenshots to OneDrive in Windows 10

The correct way to move the default save-to folder is to right-click on the Screenshots folder, select 'Properties' and use 'Move' on the 'Location' tab.

How exactly did you move yours? Without knowing exactly what you did it is difficult to say how to undo it. Probably your best approach would be to do a system restore to a time before you made the changes then move it in the intended way (and best to move it somewhere other than Desktop this time, just to be safe). I'd suggest leaving it in the default Pictures\Screenshots, and if you want access to it from the Desktop just put a link to the Screenshots folder on your Desktop.

System Restore Windows 10

Thank you for the detailed and fast response @Bree.

So this is how I moved the default screenshots folder:

Right clicked the screenshots folder in OneDrive > Properties > Location > Move > I selected desktop

Instead of moving the screenshots folder to the desktop, it made my desktop the screenshots folder itself. I want to undo that but that means I'll have to right click the desktop folder in my user files and move its location rather than moving the screenshots folder (since I don't have a separate screenshots folder anymore :P ). That way, my whole desktop will move. So basically I want to undo what I did. I figured that I should've made a new folder on my desktop and renamed it to screenshots and then moved my OneDrive screenshots folder to the newly made folder (I'll do that next time).

I don't want to restore to a previous point, because the previous point is from yesterday when I installed this fresh copy of windows on my notebook. It will undo all my updates and the programs I installed after installing this copy of windows.

Is there any other way of fixing it?

Bree said:

The correct way to move the default save-to folder is to right-click on the Screenshots folder, select 'Properties' and use 'Move' on the 'Location' tab.

While that is true if you move a system folder to another system folder you get this (I put the bold myself)

I've not managed (or even tried) to undo it

[Window Title]
Folder Redirection

[Content]
Do you want to redirect folder "Videos" into another system folder "Desktop" located at "C:\Users\Hali\Desktop"? If you proceed with redirection you will not be able to separate them or restore default location.

Do you still want to proceed with redirection?

[Yes] [No] [Cancel]

Yeah I read that and misunderstood the bold part. Dumb of me.

So that means I'll have to either restore windows or reinstall it! Sigh.

Anyways, thank you so much for the replies. I really appreciate it. Kudos.

lx07 said:

While that is true if you move a system folder to another system folder you get this (I put the bold myself)

I've not managed (or even tried) to undo it

Hmm, I don't use OneDrive, but that would seem to be a BIG problem. I wonder if it would create a 'Videos' folder (in your case, 'Screenshots' for the OP) which could then be moved to the User folder? If not it would seem saving to OneDrive is an irreversible option.

saadsohal said:

So that means I'll have to either restore windows or reinstall it! Sigh.

It's a personal setting for each user account. You could just create yourself a new user account, remember to make it an Administrator if you do.

Bree said:

It's a personal setting for each user account. You could just create yourself a new user account, remember to make it an Administrator if you do.

Oh wow. That sounds like a good idea. Will I be able to delete this user account though? I just need 1 user account on this PC.

You could try to move it back - I'm just not sure what would happen.

Alternatively make a new account as @Bree said.

Move all your documents from C:\Users\OldName to C:\Users\Public
Make a new Administrator account and sign onto it.
Move all your documents from C:\Users\Public to C:\Users\NewName
If all is OK next week, delete the old account.

Moving things (rather than copying) takes seconds so it would be the fastest way and deals with any authority issues.

WOW!!!! IT WORKED! Thank you SO much guys. You guys are amazing!

I created a new user account with administrator rights and deleted the old one! You don't know how thankful I am to you guys for the fast replies and the help.

THANK YOU AGAIN!