Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of zzhang2006
zzhang2006Flag for United States of America

asked on

Windows 7, folder and path name different -- "My Documents" or "Documents"

I noticed that the "My Documents"  folder at :    
 C: ->  users -> zzhang ->My Documents ->

Turns into a path:

C:\Users\zzhang\Documents

, when I clicked the path slot on the Window.  Not that I really care this normally, but when I install a software package (AGK -- developmet kit) , it  requires the package  to be insetalled at "My Documents"  not just "Documents"

And I got a messages from the system (don't exactly where)  "AGK not installed properly".
Before I start using the AGK under VC++ 2010,  I'd like to know everything setup properly.

Windows experts, AGK experts?  Thanks in advance

Ze
Avatar of John
John
Flag of Canada image

C:\Users\zzhang\Documents  is the correct representation and that is where Windows will find documents and some installation folders. I see that on my machine.

Windows uses junction points with names that point to real folders. So AGK should know this. Have you contacted the vendor (developers) to see if they can fix this?

.... Thinkpads_User
Avatar of Steven Carnahan
On my windows 7 machine I have both a c:\users\<user>\documents and c:\users\<user>\My Documents

Confirmed by using a command prompt and cd to each folder.

The contents of each is different.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Member_2_5069294
Member_2_5069294

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of zzhang2006

ASKER

Can I understand this way, one is the real folder name and one is a link to a real folder(like on symbolic link on Linux)? But even that I still confused, it makes "My Documents" like a shortcut to "Documents" , and I wonder which one is a shortcut to which. In my machine these two really just one single folder.
Avatar of Member_2_5069294
Member_2_5069294

It is confusing and you do get multiple links to the same folder with different paths.  When a program asks for the users documents directory, Windows give it a path.  A program should use that path and not consider what it contains.

Windows has a setting for each user which is the location of their document folder.  The folder itself can use any vaild folder name.  To confuse things, certain parts of windows UI link to that folder by using a 'Documents' link.  This is what you might see on the Desktop and in the File Open dialog.  These are like Unix style symbolic links.

In Windows, folders don't have to relate to physical storage.  Desktop is not an actual folder, nether is Network, Printers, Control Panel and many other.  The 'Documents' icon you see most often is one of those icon types, it points to the physical storage path.