Desktop moved to a USB drive

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[Rhino]

I did something…don’t know what…or how…or even when this happened. I had one external drive plugged in, G, which has been plugged in for some weeks while I sorted out photographs. Having done what I needed to do I ejected G.  I didn’t just pull it out, clicked on the “Safely eject media” icon. ALL the Desktop icons vanished and I was left looking a blank desktop.

I rebooted and to my relief every thing came back, or so I thought. However, I had not physically removed G drive, it was still shown in Windows Explorer. When I  looked at G: in Windows Explorer I saw that the Desktop, which of course had been on C drive had been moved to G. When this happened I do not know, but I cannot copy or move them back to C.  Everything is fine, except that I can’t eject the external drive, G.

How do I get out of this hole?

Rhino.

• This topic was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Rhino.

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In the left pane of File Explorer, Desktop should be one of the options, by default at least. If you right-click that, then go to Properties, then the Location tab, does it show the drive letter of the USB drive? If so, you should be able to use Move… to put it back where it belongs.

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Thank you for your response Ascaris. I am using Explorer2 which is a vastly better file explorer than the one that is built into Windows, it has had tabs and multiple panes for more than 20 years. As you can see from the attached image the Desktop icons are now in G drive. However, if I try to move them to the Desktop that is shown at the top of the left hand column I get a warning, “The source and destination are the same” so of course they don’t move.

I looked at my wife’s Win 10 laptop to compare it to mine (Win 11). Hers is different again. The path is shown as “C:\Users\Julie\OneDrive\Desktop. This has never been changed since she got the machine. I assume that if she tried to use the laptop without an Internet connection she wouldn’t  get a Desktop either, not that I’m about to mess about with her laptop to find out!

One other option that occurs to me is to install the 2H22 version of Windows. Anyone know if that would/might unscramble the Desktop location?

Rhino

 

Rhino

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Suggest checking the basics.

Ensure you have a “Desktop” folder under your user name.

C:\Users\username\Desktop

If so, turn off your internet connection and unplug any external disks and restart your computer.

If your machine boots to a blank desktop, right click anywhere on the screen and check if “Show desktop icons” is toggled on:

 

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The Desktop link on the left panel is just a link to your Desktop, wherever that may be (which in this case is on G:). You need to change what Windows thinks the Desktop location is. That’s what the location tab in properties should do. This should accomplish what Energy Saver suggested by changing rhe registry key that points to the Desktop location.

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There is a registry setting for the Desktop location, if you change the one that says desktop back to C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Desktop  , then log out and log in, that should change what Windows thinks is the desktop.  After that you will have to copy the files from where they are (key) to where you want them (C)

https://superuser.com/questions/328763/can-you-change-the-location-of-the-desktop-folder-in-windows

Updating I expect will not fix this.

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TechTango

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Rhino wrote:

I looked at my wife’s Win 10 laptop to compare it to mine (Win 11). Hers is different again. The path is shown as “C:\Users\Julie\OneDrive\Desktop. This has never been changed since she got the machine. I assume that if she tried to use the laptop without an Internet connection she wouldn’t get a Desktop either, not that I’m about to mess about with her laptop to find out!

It depends, if the desktop folder and files have a cloud symbol in front of them, they might not. If they have a white circle with a green tick, they should be there. If they have a green circle with a white tick, they will be there. If they aren’t the last then you can right click on the folder and click on ‘Always keep on this device’. My desktop is in c:\users\username, so doesn’t have this issue (actually all my files are marked as always keep on this device). Perhaps move the desktop to that position.

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Thanks for all the advice. It’s about 30 years since I last delved into the Registry, Win 3.11 if I remember correctly, and some vital neurons seem to have perished because I’m getting nowhere.

In Settings > Recovery there is an option”Reset this PC” with a choice of “keep or remove personal files, then re-install Windows”.

I have backed up my personal files to another drive. If I choose to keep them will that leave the Desktop on G drive? If so wiping out everything would be the best, and possibly the quickest way out of this hole. Anyone have any experience of resetting with, and without, keeping personal files?

Rhino.

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Some functions will only be in windows File Explorer, not other tools.  If the registry isn’t comfortable, try windows key + R, run explorer.exe.  On the left column, right click on Desktop and properties, then go to the “location” tab.  If it says G:, change it to C:.

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Energy Saver, you hit the nail on the head, thank you, it worked. The Desktop is back in C drive!

The irony of this saga is that I have been religiously making images every week, but I only keep the two most recent images and as it happens the USB drive, G, has been plugged in for more than two weeks so both images that I had were made after the Desktop had been moved. I suppose the lesson is don’t leave thumb drives plugged in.

Rhino

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