Hello there I was wondering if it is possible to change the pathway which windows looks for your desktop icons. I want to do this to conserve space on my boot drive by moving the desktop folder to another hard drive but windows needs to know where to look for this new folder of course.
Windows Desktop
- Thread starter sarfraz
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It used to be possible to edit the registry to point to a different location, in fact there are numerous folders listed there, and I believe it is still possible. I found the location in the registry in my Win 7 as refered to in this MS article but I could not find any articles about actually changing it in 7.
Please note editing the registry is extremely risky and can leave your system inoperable so always make a backup b4 making any changes.
Registry Location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell
MS Article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/242557
EDIT:
Try This Easier Method: It turns out there a GUI option which does the registry changes for you. Open Windows Explorer and go to C:\Users\UserID where UserID is your logon, so for me this is TrainableMan In that folder should be the Desktop folder (if you do not see it then you may need to adjust your settings to show system files). Select Desktop and Right-click. Select Properties. Choose the Location Tab. Click Move. Move it where you want it to be.
Please note editing the registry is extremely risky and can leave your system inoperable so always make a backup b4 making any changes.
Registry Location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell
MS Article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/242557
EDIT:
Try This Easier Method: It turns out there a GUI option which does the registry changes for you. Open Windows Explorer and go to C:\Users\UserID where UserID is your logon, so for me this is TrainableMan In that folder should be the Desktop folder (if you do not see it then you may need to adjust your settings to show system files). Select Desktop and Right-click. Select Properties. Choose the Location Tab. Click Move. Move it where you want it to be.
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In my opinion, storing anything other than links on desktop is a bad habit. Even by Microsoft's standards, that is what "Documents and Settings" are used for. All my things are stored on a separate drive completely ignoring where Microsoft has designated for them.
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Well I have always believed in an uncluttered desktop, mine contains the Recycle Bin and one sticky note. I am satisfied with the documents folder, the download folder, and my D: (second partion) and F: (external USB) Harddrives BUT I understand some people like to see their items right in their face when/if they need them.
I believe that choice should be left up to the individual unlike the Microsoft gods when they removed my beloved Classic Start Menu, Separate search window, and several other changes to the way windows explorer looks/works. At least once a day I start a search and decide to check out a folder while it is searching and OOPS, that stopped my search.
I believe that choice should be left up to the individual unlike the Microsoft gods when they removed my beloved Classic Start Menu, Separate search window, and several other changes to the way windows explorer looks/works. At least once a day I start a search and decide to check out a folder while it is searching and OOPS, that stopped my search.
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davehc
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Going back to the OP's query. What are we discussing here? Is this the desktop, with its usual shortcut icons?
If you have loaded a few programs on there, it can be a different and more significant problem. I have 8 shortcut icons on my desktop. This includes the OS's 5 standard ones. It takes up 158 mbs of space on my hard disk. Am I worried about this??
If you have loaded a few programs on there, it can be a different and more significant problem. I have 8 shortcut icons on my desktop. This includes the OS's 5 standard ones. It takes up 158 mbs of space on my hard disk. Am I worried about this??
I think the OP wants to know how he can move C:\Users\%User%\Desktop to a different drive, as you can with the Documents.
I too think of an uncluterd desktop; I only have the Recycle Bin icon.
Though, I don't understand why change the place of it? It doesn't take much space if you use for what it was designed for.
Cheers,
Fire Cat
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If all you have is shortcuts then it is quite small and not worth moving but many people use it like you would the documents or download folder. Put some excel spreadsheets, a few avi files and an mkv on your desktop (not just a pointer to them) and it will be quite large.
I suspect from the question that this poster may use their desktop this way, so I answered the question as best I could to handle this scenerio.
Some background on me:
I was searching for a method to change the start menu back to classic view and a replacement for explorer that functioned like the old explorer. The first forum I found in my search didn't seem to answer any questions, they just asked the poster why they would want to do that and said things like "this is the way it is now, get used to it". I found it to be a very unwelcoming place and so I ended up in here.
Here, the people actually try to answer questions and I thought, wow this is a much friendlier place. So if I answer a question it is because I think I can help and I will try not to judge why they asked, I assume they have a reason. I may also offer other recommendations or alternatives if I think it might help.
On occasion, it's possible I may misunderstand the question or give advice that is outdated for the Win 7 environment, heck, sometimes I may be flat out wrong (though not as often as my ex-GF said I was), so please correct me (politely) in the interest of helping the poster and improving my knowledge if this happens. I'm not perfect, just forgiven, but I will also try to keep my answers in the friendly tone I perceived when I arrived.
I suspect from the question that this poster may use their desktop this way, so I answered the question as best I could to handle this scenerio.
Some background on me:
I was searching for a method to change the start menu back to classic view and a replacement for explorer that functioned like the old explorer. The first forum I found in my search didn't seem to answer any questions, they just asked the poster why they would want to do that and said things like "this is the way it is now, get used to it". I found it to be a very unwelcoming place and so I ended up in here.
Here, the people actually try to answer questions and I thought, wow this is a much friendlier place. So if I answer a question it is because I think I can help and I will try not to judge why they asked, I assume they have a reason. I may also offer other recommendations or alternatives if I think it might help.
On occasion, it's possible I may misunderstand the question or give advice that is outdated for the Win 7 environment, heck, sometimes I may be flat out wrong (though not as often as my ex-GF said I was), so please correct me (politely) in the interest of helping the poster and improving my knowledge if this happens. I'm not perfect, just forgiven, but I will also try to keep my answers in the friendly tone I perceived when I arrived.
Hum.. So getting back to the main question by the OP, you could do the registry edit.
I don't like doing resgistry edits, so instead of storing your files onthe desktop, you could perhaps store them in the place of your choice, and make LINKS to them on the desktop.
Like that, you could have easy acces to all your docs, while only using a fraction of the space
Hope this helps,
Fire Cat
I don't like doing resgistry edits, so instead of storing your files onthe desktop, you could perhaps store them in the place of your choice, and make LINKS to them on the desktop.
Like that, you could have easy acces to all your docs, while only using a fraction of the space
Hope this helps,
Fire Cat