Question

Clear the "My Documents" flag from a network folder

Asked by: HISOSU

My network user volume is slowly becoming a giant directory full of "Documents" folders.  The paths are still correct, but the folders apparently have a flag or whatever Windows uses to identify what is and isn't a user's Documents folder.  It makes things very annoying to browse through, though mostly just for the IT staff that can actually see everything...

How do I go about clearing that flag or what-have-you so our Windows machines will stop thinking half the user folders on my server are a "My Documents" folder?

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Asked On
2009-10-30 at 12:49:09ID24859224
Tags

Windows Server 2003

,

My Documents

,

flag

Topics

Windows 2003 Server

,

Microsoft Server

,

Microsoft Windows Operating Systems

Participating Experts
2
Points
250
Comments
3

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Answers

 

by: oBdAPosted on 2009-10-30 at 13:19:37ID: 25706458

There is probably a desktop.ini inside these folders. Delete it, and remove the Read Only flag in the folder's properties, and you should be good again. Try it in a folder, and if it works, you can use the script below to automatically delete all "desktop.ini" (replace "D:\Users" with the path to the home root folder).
A bit of information about this:
Customizing Folders with Desktop.ini
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb776832(VS.85).aspx

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /r "D:\Users" %a in (desktop.ini) do (
  attrib -s -h "%%a"
  set Folder=%%~dpa
  attrib -r "!Folder:~-1!"
)
                                              
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by: gatekeeper6838Posted on 2009-10-30 at 16:40:45ID: 25707489

Also, ensure "Show Hidden Files and Folders" is enabled in Windows Explorer, otherwise you won't see the Desktop.ini files. They are typically marked with the "Hidden" attribute.

In Windows Explorer:
Tools -> Folder Options -> View Tab

 

by: oBdAPosted on 2009-10-31 at 03:39:47ID: 25709151

Just noticed that I forgot to add the actual delete command:

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /r "D:\Users" %a in (desktop.ini) do (
  attrib -s -h "%%a"
  del "%%a"
  set Folder=%%~dpa
  attrib -r "!Folder:~-1!"
)

                                              
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20120131-EE-VQP-002

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