Help - made a mistake and can't fix...

jrathma · 07 Jun 2020

I just bought a Synology NAS and connected it to my home network. I am using it as the central storage for all files. I wanted the Desktop on my CPU to be a location on that NAS (in other words, instead of things I save on my Desktop residing on my c drive (or OneDrive), the desktop would 'point' to a NAS network location. I went to Win Explorer, right clicked on Desktop, went into properties, then location. In the 'you can change the location where files in the is folder are stored to another place...' box, I intended to change it:

from: C:\users\[me]\OneDrive\Desktop
to: \\[SynologyDrive]\[folder] (where I had created a '[me]Desktop' folder to point to)

..but I think I changed it to: \\[SynologyDrive (without the specfic folder added)

I hit 'ok' and then all of the folders on my SynologyNAS appeared on my desktop (which was certainly not my intention). They don't seem to have copied over, but basically my desktop now looks 'mirrored', eg just like if I went into Win Explorer and clicked on that drive. There is no longer a 'Desktop' folder in Win Explorer, so I can't revisit the change. I can't figure out how to reverse this. Please advise. thank you.

Running Windows 10

dalchina · 07 Jun 2020

Hi, I have warned people numerous times about the dangers of using the Location tab.

If you examine the tutorials on using Location you will see they all warn you should create a system image (disk image) before making the change. I asked for that to be added to the tutorial because of the risk.
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Again and again tenforums members recommend the routine and regular use of disk imaging to give you an easy way of reversing mistakes, dealing with unbootable situations, ransomware and even disk failure. E.g. Macrium Reflect (free).

Do you use disk imaging?

I'm also wondering why you would want to rely on a network connection for your desktop- which is better not containing anything vital. Problems with erratic networking are reported quite frequently.

MS deems errors with using Location 'uncorrectable' although one or two members have managed to resolve this sort of disaster- in one case that took days of effort and experimentation.

There is this, which includes restoring the default location of the desktop folder:
Restore Default Location of Personal Folders in Windows 10

In your case, OneDrive adds another possible layer of complication.

I suggest before making any further changes, you make sure you have appropriate backups.

Barman58 · 07 Jun 2020

The special nature of the folders such as Desktop is merely a hidden/system Desktop.ini file that is constructed in a defined way ....

There should be enough instruction in our tutorial Restore Default Location of Personal Folders in Windows 10 or linked tutorials, to recover your original location (you may need to manually copy the contents of your original Desktop after creating your new local folder

Windows has got a known problem with Special folders being moved to a Network location, I have seen it done using s "double re-direction" , where a remote location is assigned to a network location and the local folder location is used to redirect the Special folder.

I would however strongly advise against redirecting ANY windows System folders to a remote network location

jrathma · 07 Jun 2020

Thanks guys, much appreciated. The BAT file solution at the link you both provided worked

dalchina · 07 Jun 2020

That's good news- you're one of the lucky ones.

Recommended to stave off disaster and quite often avoid a clean install: routine disk imaging.