SOLVED Custom location of Windows 10 Shell Folders (Desktop, Start Menu, etc.)

[c627627]

Changing this value in Windows 10 Home registry no longer works:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

What is the new way set a custom location for Desktop in Windows 10 Home?
Windows 10 Pro appears to still be customizable with that registry key.

 

[c627627]

Answer:

Original locations can be viewed at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
but do not change registry values directly inside Windows registry.

To move a special Windows shell folder such as Desktop, create the new destination folder first so you can browse to it later.

Right click on the *current* Windows shell folder > Properties > Location TAB > Move >
Browse to new location > Apply > Yes > OK

 

[medo145]

Did you check to see if this key exists?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

 

[c627627]

Aha. So User Shell Folders instead of Shell Folders, interesting.

Perhaps User Shell Folders would control the folder locations on systems where Shell Folders does not... Thanks for that tip.


I think that might be quicker, sure.
I can only report that doing the (perhaps longer) way I posted does work on all systems I tested...

 

[medo145]

Both 'User Shell Folders' and 'Shell Folders' exist on win7 and win8. I've always used Shell Folders, after doing some reading this morning, I should really be using User Shell Folders. It appears that Shell Folders was there just for legacy support.