My Documents won’t open

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[Susan Bradley]

Topic says it all.
I looked into properties/sharing and whatever I try it says “can’t be shared.”
I am the only user.Mel (W11 home 21 H2 22000.978)

 

• This topic was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Susan Bradley.

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I’m assuming you are in file explorer when you are browsing to documents?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Yes.

I am in C/Users/Myname/MyDocuments and it won’t open. In fact, a number of folders won’t open. There is one thing I noticed:

In all these folder designations, to the left of the name (in the left pane of File Explorer), there is a tiny picture of a folder with an arrow in the lower left. I’ve uploaded a screenshot

 

Mel

 

 

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In Control Panel\File Explorer Options
On the “View” tab
Check the box to “Hide protected operating system files”
Click “Apply” then “OK”

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You are in the Default, not “your name” user.

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TechTango

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PK: When I check the “Hide…” box, it just hides the MY Documents folder.

 

I want to open that folder.

 

Geek: If I try Default user, same exact issue. My Documents won’t open.

 

Mel

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In Win10/11, “My Documents” is a POINTER to the “Documents” folder. “My Documents is NOT a folder. That’s why there’s an arrow on it, it’s like a shortcut.

It is NOT Windows XP/Vista. The nomenclature is different. “My Documents” in Win10/11 is HIDDEN by default. The actual location of  your Data is the “Documents” folder, NOT “My Documents.”

Check the box to “Hide Protected System files and folders”. And forget about “My Documents.”

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You need to be in “your username”, not Default.

In the Explorer address bar, type this and press Enter: %userprofile%
You should now see a “Documents” folder. Try to open it.

cheers, Paul

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Paul:

I tried your suggestion. It does not open.

Yes, I did use my user name:  C/Users/Myname/MyDocuments

As I said, there are a few folders that do not open. They all have a little folder next (left of) the title with a tiny arrow in lower left side of the folder

 

Mel

 

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compiler wrote:

Yes, I did use my user name: C/Users/Myname/MyDocuments

Not quite.  You need C: with backslashes with Documents

See here:

C:\Users\YourName\Documents

Click on “Documents”. Do not click on “My Documents”.

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Right click on the folder.
Properties.
Security.

What is the current setting? Maybe post a screenshot (save as png and attach via Select File).

cheers, Paul

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Geek:

Yes, that’s what I did. (I was typing too fast here).

It gives me folders: pictures, music, videos. For each folder, access is denied. However, those folders are in Quick Access and they open. STRANGE.

 

Mel

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See #2490057 above.

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geekdom

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PK:

That’s what I did. I ignored MYDOCUMENTS and just looked in DOCUMENTS.

It gives me folders: pictures, music, videos. For each of those folders, access is denied. However, those folders are in Quick Access and they open. STRANGE.

 

Mel

 

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This is Public user on my computer. Note the structure.

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And within documents I get Music, Pictures and Videos. None of these folders open. They are also located in Quick Access, where they open just fine.

 

Mel

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Inside the Documents Folder, you will see something that looks like this:

These are not folders and they will never opoen:
My Music
My Pictures
My Videos

The folders containing your Music, Pictures, and Videos is in the folder shown earlier along with Documents:
Music
Pictures
Videos

My Music is not Music folder.
My Pictures is not Pictures folder.
My Videos is not Videos folder.

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The following are junction points:

My Documents
My Music
My Pictures
My Videos

Here is more information on junction points:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/vss/junction-points

Don’t play with them. Don’t delete them. They are part of your Windows system.

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Thanks. This is also what the tiny folder with embedded arrow must mean.

I get it. I appreciate your (and Cano’s) patience with me

 

Mel

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While you were typing, so was I. There’s a little more information in my post above.

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