User Name and Music Library Directory Fused Together (Awkwardly)

dalchina · 10 Apr 2023

Please note that the tutorials here covering relocating these folders include, on my suggestion if i recall, that a disk image/system image be created before undertaking this hazardous action.

I note that you wish to avoid a clean install.

Are you therefore using disk imaging regularly and routinely so as to try to avoid doing that when things go wrong- as they will?

Put another way, what precautions have you put in place so you don't have to do a clean install should your system disk fail or an unecoverable problem arise?

Personally I'd never move those. I'd create my own, free of any folders created by 3rd party programs when they are installed, and allocate them to libraries as I wished.

As for customisations- ensure what you choose to do is readily reproducible, documented, and will withstand an upgrade or an in-place upgrade repair install (same 'mechanism') - or can readily be reapplied.

Earthlost · 10 Apr 2023

The fix is:

Right click a missing icon pin > More> Open file location

Here in Start Menu > Programs the shortcuts do display correctly, but we're going to change them anyway!
Right Click the shortcut for the program which you want to fix the Start Menu pin icon for > Properties > Change icon. Select the icon (it does not have to be a different one) > OK > Apply.
Your computer may request administrator permission; click "Continue" to provide.
There's your fix for any missing pinned Start Menu program icons.

Thank you all and have a nice day

Earthlost · 14 Apr 2023

You know that problem? It's back! or... maybe I missed something when I thought it was fixed.
#1. The Music library is still the Music library, that's awesome!
#2. The registry edits we made ARE STILL IN EFFECT! Cool, so nothing changed my Music library. We fixed that.

User Name and Music Library Directory Fused Together (Awkwardly)-1.jpg

#3. The user folder IS NOT THE USER FOLDER anymore. It thinks the user folder is named Music.
The registry entries we made seem to still be in place, and yet the Two Word user folder was fixed by them, wasn't it? Now it's not fixed.

User Name and Music Library Directory Fused Together (Awkwardly)-2.jpg

Earthlost · 21 Apr 2023

Create second administrative user account.

In account 2 copy out the NTUSER.DAT from account 1 to a safe place in account 2. (in C/ Users/second user/puthere/)

There were also
ntuser.dat.LOG1
ntuser.dat.LOG2
NTUSER.DAT{numbers}.TM
NTUSER.DAT{numbers}.TMContainer000...
NTUSER.DAT{numbers}.TMContainer000...
and ntuser.ini

I tried moving those also but, they were not there in the second account safety folder after I'd switched back between accounts. I'm guessing all of the files but one, were not successfully copied to the second account (only the NTUSER.DAT file was copied successfully), or; maybe they were, but the second user did not have permission to see them?
I should mention that before I did all this I gave my 1st account ownership of it's own file directory (they had been owned by SYSTEM).

Retracing my steps as best as I can remember it:
1. Take ownership of your account folders (necessary or not this is what I did).
2. Move/copy hidden files related to NT and User Logs to a safe folder in the second administrator account.
3. Send those to the recycle bin if they didn't cut themselves during the move between accounts.
4. login to second account and notice only one of the files is visible (were the others not successfully moved, or were they there but invisible due to being owned by the 1st user?)
5. log in to the 1st account and get an error message warning that windows can not log into your account. It suggests you logout again to fix it. The whole start bar, task bar, and desktop should look like a fresh install with widgets and thingamajiger that normally you might have had removed.
6. logout of 1 and log into account 2.
7. Copy back the one file that make it cleanly to your second account's safe space. That ought to be NTUSER.DAT

Surmised: Moving NTUSER.DAT and deleting the other files mentioned, switch logged in user accounts (by logging out), logged back in to see it was resetting, then returning the NTUSER.DAT (and only that file).

*Note, DO NOT DELETE NTUSER.DAT after copying it, mine was in my recycle bin, and it asked if I wanted to empty my recycle bin which would have deleted my NTUSER.DATa; leaving me with the chaos of the over-widgitized "fresh user" look. Don't let them bloat your skin, when you put it in the recycle bin, "undo delete" that file, and get back your account style.

** You might lose your start menu stuff and have to rebuild your program icons in your start menu folder. Start Menu subfolders most programs secrete when they install have vanished for me in this process. I actually really like that happy side effect! I've been wondering how to better customize my start menu by getting rid of bloat -accidentally have now.
Microsoft Edge's icon is still there -- despite having been cleaned of it's presence in the registry).