How to Move Shell Folders (and contents)


by Kent W. England MS-MVP

Shell folders are special folders that Windows uses to
indicate the default location for many types of
settings and data. These shell folders may be moved in
a bewildering variety of ways: by a right-click Move
Here in Windows Explorer, by a registry key edit, or by
using TweakUI for XP.

Be certain that no documents are open before you start
a move process, otherwise the move will be incomplete
and your old folder will not be deleted. You will have
to close open processes and then manually move any
files that were not moved in the move operation. Best
to do this right after a logon.

One way to move My Documents is to right-click the My
Documents folder under Desktop in Windows Explorer and
select Properties. Move the folder with the Move
button. This is the only shell folder that can be moved
from its properties tab. Be careful to enter the path
to the new "My Documents" folder, not to its parent. In
other words, if you want the new "My Documents" folder
to be D:\My Documents, then you must enter that string
in the Target box.

To change most shell folder locations immediately and
move the contents, right-click the shell folder in
Windows Explorer, drag the folder to the new location,
release the mouse button, and select the Move Here
item. If Windows Explorer complains, then you must use
the registry to move the folder location and manually
move the contents.

The default user shell folders location is in
%USERPROFILE% which is "C:\Documents and
Settings\user".

Administrative Tools system utilities folder (Shell
Folders)
Application Data location for applications to store
user settings
CD Burning location for temporary storage of files for
ISO burn
Cookies IE cookie folder
Desktop desktop shortcuts
Document Templates default location for application new
document templates
Favorites IE URL links
My Documents Application default document folder
\My Music default music file folder
\My Pictures default graphic file folder
\My Videos default movie file folder (Shell Folders)
SendTo right-click context menu item
Start Menu user All Programs menu
\Programs user All Programs shortcuts
\Startup user logon startup folder

The shell folder locations are in the Registry at
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Exp lorer\User
Shell Folders and/or in \Shell Folders. Edit the key in
User Shell Folders if present. If not, edit the key in
Shell Folders. There is no need to edit both keys if
both keys are present.

Changing these keys will change the shell folder
location but will not move contents. The Administrative
Tools and My Video shell folders are located at
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Exp lorer\Shell
Folders and are not present in User Shell Folders.

Recent (My Recent Documents) cannot be moved in Windows
Explorer, but must be moved in the registry. It is best
to leave the Local Settings shell folders alone or
change the location in the registry at User Shell
Folders. The Temporary Internet Files can be moved in
the Internet Options control panel.

The following shared shell folders are located in the
All Users profile and are in the Registry at
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Exp lorer\User
Shell Folders or \Shell Folders. These shell folders
are available to any user, but are not network shared.
The path is %ALLUSERSPROFILE% and is "C:\Documents and
Settings\All Users" by default. Some of these common
folders may be moved in Windows Explorer.

Common Admin Tools (Shell Folders)
Common AppData
Common Desktop
Common Documents cannot be moved in Windows Explorer
\Shared Music cannot be moved in Windows Explorer
(Shell Folders)
\Shared Pictures cannot be moved in Windows Explorer
(Shell Folders)
\Shared Video cannot be moved in Windows Explorer
(Shell Folders)
Common Favorites
Common Programs
Common Start Menu
Common Startup
Common Templates

To change the location of some fifteen shell folders
without moving contents, use TweakUI for Windows XP; go
to My Computer>Special Folders, select the shell
folder, and change the location. Contents may then be
copied or moved in Windows Explorer.

CD Burning
Desktop
Document Templates
Favorites
Installation Path Windows Installer default install
folder location
My Documents
My Music
My Pictures
Programs
SendTo
Shared Documents
Shared Music
Shared Pictures
Start Menu
Startup

Probably the easiest way to approach moving shell
folders is to try to move the folder in Windows
Explorer. If that doesn't work, then try TweakUI and if
it isn't available in TweakUI, then edit the
appropriate registry key. Don't forget to move the
contents manually if you use TweakUI or the registry to
change the location.

Windows Explorer puts special labels on the "My
Documents" folder for each user account. For example,
if an account full-name is "Marion Robertson" as
displayed on the Welcome Screen, the My Documents
folder is labeled "Marion Robertson's Documents".

The path for each "My Documents" folder is controlled
by account-named keys in
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Exp lorer\DocFolderPaths.
Windows Explorer also special-labels the account Recent
folder to "My Recent Documents", but I have been unable
to find the registry key that controls this behavior in
order to restore this special status to Recent folders
that have lost the magic.

Remembering the Shell Folder locations

If you move your user shell folders, you should save
the registry keys in case you need to re-do the changes
after a reinstall. The following commands can be used
to save these changes to .reg files that can be
right-clicked and "merged" into the registry after a
reinstall. The following command will backup the
current account user shell folders:

C:\>reg
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ex plorer\User
Shell Folders" UserShellFolders.reg

and to backup the common shell folder locations:

C:\>reg
"HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ex plorer\User
Shell Folders" CommonShellFolders.reg

After a re-install, your user shell folders will be in
their default location and empty. You need only merge
these .reg files to repoint the shell folders to the
location where the files are. No files are moved, nor
need to be moved.

Taking Ownership of Folders after a re-install

When you reinstall XP, new accounts are created and you
may need to "take ownership" of the old shell folders
with the new account(s). This is another KWE help file
and more information is available in the XP Help and
Support Center. You may need to take ownership of your
shell folders before you can access the files.


Home Page Win98 - 02/12/2003 06:44 PM - Home Page WinXP
© Copyright Kelly Theriot MS-MVP(DTS) 2003. All rights
reserved.





On Tue, 6 Jan 2004 11:52:50 +0100, "Sven Erik Matzen"
<sven.matzen@dontspamme.com> wrote:

|Is there a way to move the whole "Documents and Settings" folder and the
|folder "Program Files" to a different location? We have all user data and
|all installed programs on defined partitions. We want the "user data" to
|include the users desktop, too. Also when the user starts a setup, the
|default path should be the "installed programs" partition.
|

Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.