Accessories Folder Missing from Start Menu

Anonymous
2011-01-14T20:16:03+00:00

Hello - I just purchased a new cpu with Windows 7 Home Premium installed.  When I first started using the system I know that the traditional Accessories Folder which usually includes System Tools and other files/folders was on my Start Menu.  After using the maching for a bit of time and installing many new programs I noticed that the folder is missing.  Is there a way to get this back on the Start Menu without a system restore as that will cause me to loose my newly installed programs from what I have read on other threads.  Thanks for your feedback.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2011-01-14T20:25:34+00:00

You are correct that System Restore may cause you to have to reinstall your recently added programs.  Here's one possible alternative:

Restore Previous Versions of a File or Folder

1 - Click your Start button, then right-click the "All Programs" link at the bottom.  Choose "Open All users".

2 - In the window that opens, right-click the Programs folder and choose "Restore Previous Versions". The Properties window may take a moment to load in all the available old copies of that folder.  Cool Fact: These previous versions come from the same place as System Restore backups, except these let you restore individual files instead of your entire system :)

3 - Click a old version of the file from a date when you know the Accessories folder was still there, then click "open" and look around.  From there you can right-click the backup copy of Accessories, and paste it into your actual Programs folder (that you opened in step 1).

Hope this helps.

If this solves your issue, click the 'Propose as Answer' link below, and vote as helpful by clicking the green triangle to the lelft. Thanks!

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-04-25T13:37:54+00:00

    I had a problem with that, caused by a 'hide files' virus.  My entire start menu went blank & I had to download a 'unhide' program.

    In the meantime though, all the start menu shortcuts were deleted.  I had to recreate many.  My accessories file is there, but it was completely empty - as was administrative tools, which I was able to reload.

    There are a few accessory programs/shortcuts within the accessory files, but not many.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-06-19T19:06:23+00:00

    It was already unchecked

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-12-28T14:12:40+00:00

    Copying the Accessories Folder from another source

    If your Accessories folder and/or icons in ProgramData and possibly AppData\Roaming are completely missing, then the only thing you can do is copy them onto your machine from a different system. Using the System File Checker (SFC) won’t restore them and neither will the trick of creating another user a account and copying the icons from there. That will get back some of the icons but those gone from ProgramData, which is most of them, will still be missing.

    For your convenience we have zipped up the default Accessories folders for Windows Vista and 7. Simply download the correct 2 files for your o/s, extract the archive and copy the “Accessories” folder inside, pasting it to the location given.

    Download:

    Accessories folder for Windows 7 ProgramData

    http://www.raymond.cc/blog/download/did/761/

    Accessories folder for Windows Vista ProgramData

    http://www.raymond.cc/blog/download/did/762/

    Extract, copy “Accessories” and paste to:

    C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\

    Download:

    Accessories folder for Windows 7 User

    http://www.raymond.cc/blog/download/did/763/

    Accessories folder for Windows Vista User

    http://www.raymond.cc/blog/download/did/764/

    Extract, copy “Accessories” and paste to (Replace username with the name of your user account):

    C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\

    If everything has gone correctly, the Windows default accessories shortcuts should be back!

    Windows Vista/7 Accessories Shortcuts

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-01-02T20:02:13+00:00

    This helped, and worked! Tried the restore previous versions like 10 times and didn't work at all. Got frustrated and stopped trying.

    Finally found your post and Works Great! Thanks for the info.

    \0/  Hoo Rah!

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