Move Location of Documents Folder in Windows 10  

SonicMojo said:

Hello

Bit of an old thread but I am wondering - I have been successful with this tutorial for years now on all our home machines.

On my recording machine - I made the mistake of installing One Drive a few weeks back and now I am experiencing all sorts of oddball behavior with this specific tutorial.

All is well when I go to actually "move" the documents from the defualt (C:\Users\Username\Documents) to my desired location (M:\Documents) but I am seeing that not everything moves?

I end up with a series of folders that are duplicated and I am baffled as to why. Of course this turns into a marathon session trying to fix the standard folder icons and a load of other crap.

Any tips on why this move is not happening cleanly world be most appreciated.

Cheers!

Sonic.

Hello Sonic,

It sounds like your Documents folder may be syncing to OneDrive. Double check your OneDrive settings to make sure Documents is not being saved/backed up to OneDrive.

Turn On or Off OneDrive PC Folder Backup Protection in Windows 10

SonicMojo said:

Brink

I just tried this again - but before I did anything - I uninstalled One Drive completely.

And even after all of that - 6 folders remained in the old "C" location AFTER a move. I examined all the files and folders for read-only or oddball permissions but nothing obvious stood out.

So I just moved all the files/folders over to M:\Documents manually and everything seems to be fine (for now). I need to test a few of my virtual instruments to see if they are picking up their standard presets - which always sit in the My Documents folder.

Also checked the registry (HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders) and all is good - everything is correctly pointed to "M:" as it should be. Except for Downloads - I always seem to see two entries for that specific folder and I do not know why.

In my standard User folder (The one with my name) on the desktop - when I double click the Downloads folder - it's all good. Pointed to M:\ and all files are as they should be.

And - all those pesky overlay icons are correct.

Cheers!

Sonic.

Sounds good so far.

Odd. Usually, the Downloads folder is referenced once by a GUID number in the registry.

WolfieGamer37 said:

Is it supposed to say sharing afterwards? Also, my document's properties started not responding after I hit apply. So, I couldn't hit "Ok". It also said copying the files but not moving them. It says that the documents are being shared. The icon on the copied documents is the document icon but everything from the original location is still in place. The location target still says on the lapt and not the external drive. Did I do something wrong?

Hello, and welcome.

It shouldn't say sharing afterwards. You can double check using options 3, 5, 8, and 9 below to stop sharing if it shows sharing there.

Share Files and Folders Over a Network in Windows 10

WolfieGamer37 said:

Okay, I removed access to the file system I think. This is what it's showing me when I enter into the properties of both locations. Also, why would the document properties stop responding after I hit Yes for it to move the documents? I hit Ok this time around when I went to redo it which it allowed then it started not responding afterward even though the files were still being copied over. They finished without any problems. Here are two screenshots of what it's saying now.

Were you able to move the Documents folder where you wanted?

If not, then check to see if you may have the Documents folder set to be backed up to OneDrive. If so, turn it off below for now, and see if you are able to move the folder afterwards.

Turn On or Off OneDrive PC Folder Backup Protection in Windows 10

WolfieGamer37 said:

It didn't have the stop back-up button. I unchecked the documents folder though then exited out. I'm not exactly sure what to do now.

If you have Documents set to not back up to OneDrive, then you could see if you are able to successfully move the Documents folder where you want.