Moving the Vista equiv. of "My Docs" to "F" drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter six-h
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six-h

I've just been instructed on how to move the XP "My Docs/Pics/etc." to a
different drive, away from the OS, whilst maintaining their special
properties.
Having Vista Ultimate on my Main PC, I've struggled for a year with the
set-up that was installed, and every time I want to file something, I have to
painfully navigate to my "F" (data) drive, and the required folders.

I don't know anyone else with Vista, so nt sure if what I have is usual.
On the desk top, I have a folder "Admin", holding a variety of folders that
seem to be the ones that are opened when ever I try to "save".
Is this normal?
If so, is there a prescribed way to "move" it to my data drive whilst
maintaining any special properties with which it may be imbued??
 
six-h said:
I've just been instructed on how to move the XP "My Docs/Pics/etc." to a
different drive, away from the OS, whilst maintaining their special
properties.
Having Vista Ultimate on my Main PC, I've struggled for a year with the
set-up that was installed, and every time I want to file something, I have to
painfully navigate to my "F" (data) drive, and the required folders.

I don't know anyone else with Vista, so nt sure if what I have is usual.
On the desk top, I have a folder "Admin", holding a variety of folders that
seem to be the ones that are opened when ever I try to "save".
Is this normal?
If so, is there a prescribed way to "move" it to my data drive whilst
maintaining any special properties with which it may be imbued??
Click to expand...

It's really quite simple:

Right-click the folder you want to move, select PROPERTIES, then
LOCATION from the tabs on top.

I think you can take it from there.
 
Thanks Bill,
Fell at the first hurdle!
Right clicking the "Admin" Folder gives only the following options:-
Open: Explore: Scan: Groove: Backup: Copy: Create s.cut: Delete:
 
Admin might have been created to contain some of the folders that have
special meaning to the OS, while Admin itself has no special meaning.

Look at those folders contained within Admin. The ones that have the
Location option are special to the OS. You can create a new Admin (or
whatever) folder elsewhere, and then use the Location option to move the
other folders into that new Admin folder.

You could then consider what to do with the remaining folders in the current
Admin. If the dialogs are still defaulting to these folders there may be
some other reason, such as defaults that exist within specific applications
(these defaults are usually managed from options within those applications,
not with options available from an Explorer view of the folders). If you
can indicate which applications are defaulting to an inappropriate location,
someone may be able to advise how you can change that default.
 
Sorry Bill,
You meant those instructions for the "Blue folders" inside the "Admin"
folder don't you?
There is a location tab on each of those, except for one blue folder
entitled "Desktop"??? why is that there?
If you follow me, explorerview lists in decending order:-
Desktop: Admin: Public: Computer!
Which means I can't find where these first three are located.
The only one that appears on my desktop screen is "Admin", it's not a
shortcut, so if I move it from desktop, where does it go?
I have also no idea where "Public" resides! This is most confusing!!
 
Thanks Brink, your link has scared me from doing anything at all!!
First off the screenshot of the music folder properties window shows a row
of 5 tabs, mine has 2 rows of 3 tabs. the extra one is "Sharing".
I have an inbuilt fear of following instructions that don't quite correspond
to what happens lol.

The intro also seems to say that doing this will sever any links that your
programmes have with these files!!

I have no idea which bits of software use them.
Strikes me that Vista has made life unnecessarily difficult for folk like me
to use it in comfort and convenience.

Am I destined to continue hunting for the "MyDocs: Videos: Music" folders
that I have over the last year created on my "F" drive.?
 
Thanks Jeff,
It seems that Microsoft has gone out of it's way to make the simple task of
seperating the OS sector from the Data sector impossible for the majority of
people like me.
If I move these folders, I've no Idea what might suddenly stop working.
or what effect it might have on my network's ability to allow my Lappy (XP)
to continue sharing those folders it currently does.
Setting up this network has been my finest Hour!
I was advised not to use the "Wizard" since typically it offers too many
confusing and unnecessary choices for the simple home user.

If the desire to unclutter the OS Sector, is likely to cause so much trouble
jeopardise my Network and excommunicate other programmes then I don't feel
able to manage it.
 
six-h said:
Strikes me that Vista has made life unnecessarily difficult for folk like me
to use it in comfort and convenience.
Click to expand...

Strikes me that you're an idiot.
 
Desktop is a folder. It just happens to also be what you are viewing when
you look at the default Windows screen. That screen is actually a Explorer
view of the Desktop folder. It's just laid out in a completely different
format than all other Explorer windows.

Admin is a folder that is within the Desktop folder. And therefore Admin
(the folder) appears in your view of your desktop. This is a common
arrangement that makes perfect sense to some people and is really confusing
for others. (The folder within Admin called Desktop is the same Desktop
mentioned above(!), but I would recommend you ignore that for now, and leave
it as it is. Ditto for Computer Also, after making changes to other
folders within Admin, leave Admin (and it's Desktop and Computer folders)
exactly as they are.)

Any other folder that has a Location tab is special to the OS and can be
moved. It can be moved to any other location you like. For instance, if
you create a folder on the F drive called Public, you could move the
Public\Documents folder to F:\Public. Thereafter, any application that was
set up to access Public\Documents would look in F:\Admin\Public\Documents.
Note, however, that F:\ should not be a removable drive. The Location tab
tells you where the folder is currently located, and it will update to tell
you where the folder has been moved to.

While this may deal with some of your problem, I'm not sure it is the whole
issue. You may wish to give an example of an application where you go to
file something and the default location in the file dialog is not
appropriate. There are usually settings available that assist in providing
sensible options for these dialogs, or perhaps you can adjust your filing
scheme to simplify things.
-
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
 
Oh Brink!
How I wish I had not been tempted by your link to attempt moving these
blessed Blue Folders!
I've now got them all on my "F:\" drive, and I've stuffed them with the
folders I've been using for the respective items.
Now, I cannot access any of these shared blue folders from my laptop.
Furthermore, It is not now possible to create links in the Favorites folder
using IE7

What am I to do??
panic stricken!
 
It may only strike you Bill,

But you have just proved to the world that you are not worthy of further
discourse!
 
Update, if you're still willing to help me Brink!
Just repeated the same actions over again,
"Share"...."Already shared , change permissions?"
"Yes"...no changes made>"Share">Continue...done.

Did this a number of times changing nothing, and eventually got to share
Music: Video and pictures.
Documents still intransigent though get the response from the lappy..."The
network name cannot be found"

2am here, so at least I can go to bed on a good score.... Geoff 3 : Machine 2.

Hope you can give me some ideas to try on : -
"Documents" (sharing) and Favorites, (association with IE7)
 
Hi Brink,
Well I decided to persevere, Sun'll be up in about another cup of coffee!
Managed to share the individual folders in "Documents" which is better
really, gives me more flexibility but more icons in the sharing centre!
Hadn't thought of sending "Favorites" back whence it came!
Tried option two (scared of Reg edits!)
All went to plan, but still couldn't "save" to favorites, then the coffee
kicked in. lol
Opened a new instance of IE7, and magic! able to read and write to/from the
Favorites folder again!!!

My heartfelt thanks to you for sticking with me on this.
Don't know what I'd do if it were not for such kind people as yourself,
willing to share their knowledge and experience with simpletons like me!
I know it's not a world shattering achievement, but I've learned a little
more and that's just heaven for me!
Thank you.
 
six-h said:
I don't know anyone else with Vista, so nt sure if what I have is usual.
On the desk top, I have a folder "Admin", holding a variety of folders
that
seem to be the ones that are opened when ever I try to "save".
Is this normal?
Click to expand...

No this is NOT normal.
The default location for your data is C:\Users\{your account name}\

Something must have been done to your machine to have this "Admin" folder on
the desktop.
Do you log-in with an account name of "Admin" by any chance? if so then
possibly this "folder" is not a folder at all but a shortcut...
 
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