ONEDRIVE Removed, How to restore User Shell Folders path?

Max Hanna 0 Reputation points
2026-09-11T17:07:41.1266667+00:00

After removing 1drive via uninstaller and after following the guide here to completely "erradicate" 1drive, my folder path to desktop, pictures, documents (etc) got switched from C:\Users\b11111\Desktop to now everything residing in the "Public" user folder : (C:\Users\Public\Desktop). How do I force my desktop and document folders back to the right user folder?

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows
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  1. Hendrix-V 18,605 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-09-11T23:31:24.9866667+00:00

    Hi Max Hanna,

    Thank you for providing the details. Since the issue appeared after removing OneDrive and making additional configuration changes, it is possible that Windows is still referencing alternate locations for your known folders rather than your user profile folders.

    As an alternative approach, you can create a new local test account and check whether the Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders point to the correct locations there. If the new profile uses the expected paths (for example, C:\Users<username>\Desktop), this can help determine whether the issue is isolated to the current user profile or affects the entire system.

    Quick check that you can try:

    1. Create a new local Windows account.
    2. Sign in to the new account.
    3. Open Desktop, Documents, and Pictures and verify their locations.
    4. Compare those paths with the affected profile.

    If the new account behaves normally, the current profile may contain configuration settings that need further repair. At that point, migrating personal data to a new profile could be a simpler and more reliable solution than manually correcting multiple folder references.

    I hope this helps narrow down the cause of the issue. Let me know if you need further assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment" or "Add Answer" if you cannot add comment so your response will be visible. Thanks for your effort.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-09-11T17:07:55.7+00:00

    Warning: editing the registry incorrectly can cause serious problems. Back up the registry before making changes.

    Reset the affected User Shell Folders entries to their default values:

    1. Press Win + R, type regedit.exe, and press Enter.
    2. Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
    3. Change these values back to the defaults for the current profile:
      • Desktop = %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
      • Personal = %USERPROFILE%\Documents
      • My Pictures = %USERPROFILE%\Pictures
      • My Music = %USERPROFILE%\Music
      • My Video = %USERPROFILE%\Videos
      • Favorites = %USERPROFILE%\Favorites
      • {374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B} = %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
    4. If any of those entries point to C:\Users\Public\..., replace them with the matching %USERPROFILE%\... value above.
    5. Restart Explorer.exe from Task Manager, or sign out and sign back in, or restart the PC.

    After that, Windows should resolve Desktop, Documents, Pictures, and the other known folders back to the signed-in user profile instead of C:\Users\Public.

    If files were physically moved into C:\Users\Public\Desktop, C:\Users\Public\Documents, or similar locations, the registry fix restores the folder paths, but the files may still need to be moved manually into the matching folders under the user profile.

    References:

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