Duplicate Icons? Not really but I can't tell what the difference is. HELP

Two questions:
1.  What's the difference between these two My Pictures Icons?
2.  Right clicking them does not tell me the full path of where they lead.  the "target" field shown when I right-slick displays no data!   How can I determine where this leads?
brothertruffle880Asked:
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Joe Winograd, Fellow&MVEDeveloperCommented:
> these two My Pictures Icons

I assume you meant to attach/embed two images.
David Johnson, CD, MVPOwnerCommented:
The 1st one is your users account pictures the 2nd one is the pictures libray which can hold many folders
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brothertruffle880Author Commented:
I thought I uploaded the icon graphic but for some reason it didn't "take".    This was not the only post where I wasn't able to successfully upload the icons. Once again, my question is:  What is the difference between these two "MY Picture" icons?
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JohnBusiness Consultant (Owner)Commented:
They are the same thing listed in different places pointing to the same folder. No difference.
Joe Winograd, Fellow&MVEDeveloperCommented:
Where do those shortcuts appear? In the Navigation Pane of Windows Explorer? On the Desktop? In the Start Menu?

In any case, they're almost surely a shortcut to the My Pictures folder, which is located here:

C:\Users\<username>\Pictures

The reason that the Target field doesn't contain the location may be because it's an Advertised Shortcut. If you do a web search for "advertised shortcut" you can learn all about it, and there are even scripts out there that claim to be able to determine the location, but I haven't tested any of them. Regards, Joe
brothertruffle880Author Commented:
If you look at my graphic, the icons are not identical.  And they're not pointing to the same location.  I'm trying to sort out what the difference in the two icons are.  I'm trying to integrate my folders and hope to get rid of one of those shortcut icons.
JohnBusiness Consultant (Owner)Commented:
Right click on the shortcut and select Properties. In the General Tab it should show you the location.  Do that for both and paste both shortcut locations here.
Joe Winograd, Fellow&MVEDeveloperCommented:
You said this in your original question:
Right clicking them does not tell me the full path of where they lead. the "target" field shown when I right-slick displays no data!
So that means you're looking at the General tab, where the Target field is, indeed, blank. But try clicking the Sharing tab. The "Network Path" should show you its location, which is probably this:

\\<computer name>\Users\<user name>\Documents\My Pictures

Regards, Joe
brothertruffle880Author Commented:
Dear Joe and everyone else:
Here are screen captures of my properties.  This is bizarre..  No information on where they're pointing to?   There's gotta be a way
Help!
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Joe Winograd, Fellow&MVEDeveloperCommented:
Where do those shortcuts appear? In the Navigation Pane of Windows Explorer? On the Desktop? In the Start Menu?
brothertruffle880Author Commented:
Hi Joe:  Here's where I'm getting that display:
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David Johnson, CD, MVPOwnerCommented:
is there any difference if you click on them both?
brothertruffle880Author Commented:
Hi David:
Yes.  One of them is empty.  The other has contents.  I want to determine where they are pointing to.  It is positively bizarre that I can't see some sort of display or dialog box that shows this?   Simple request that can't be answered.  And this is windows 7.  I'm frightened about what "gotchas" I'll find Windows 10 has if I can't get this simple request answered in Windows 7.

Time to evaluate MAC or Linux or??????   Feel free to chime in people.
David Johnson, CD, MVPOwnerCommented:
if you click on the explorer bar you will see the location
BeforeAfter
Joe Winograd, Fellow&MVEDeveloperCommented:
> One of them is empty. The other has contents.

When you go to those folders in Windows Explorer, what does the address bar show for the empty one? For the non-empty one?

Windows Explorer address bar
> Time to evaluate MAC or Linux or?????? Feel free to chime in people.

I don't use Mac or Linux, but they are surely not trouble-free. Wherever there's a large, complex, robust program (and an OS is certainly that), there will be bugs, glitches, and gotchas. Regards, Joe
brothertruffle880Author Commented:
When I click on the icons, the address bar just shows "documents" (see graphic).
No matter which one I click, I just see "documents"
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David Johnson, CD, MVPOwnerCommented:
if one is blank then simply delete that shortcut
brothertruffle880Author Commented:
I want to know where they are pointing to.  That's my issue.
☠ MASQ ☠Commented:
There normally are two locations where you can view your Pictures folder. The first is the Library location. This is a system defined location and should use the Icon David posted. When you navigate through that icon you get redirected to your own Pictures folder. The second place you have your Pictures folder is at %userprofile%/Pictures. That uses the Folder contents type icon "Pictures" but can be customised.

The easiest way to find out where the empty folder is is to drop a file in there with a unique name, then type that name into Windows search box in the Start button menu.  When it appears in the search results, right-click on it and choose "Open File Location".  Look at the top of the Windows Explorer bar to see where it's taken you.

Looking at the two icon properties I'd have thought the older file actually points to your real My Pictures folder (go to %userprofile%/Pictures to check) and the more recent folder has been accidentally created in July by dragging and dropping it.

Let's see where they both actually point to ...
MereteCommented:
It looks to me that when the Explorer folder was created  and pinned to the taskbar it contained an old My Pictures dated 2009 and now a new one was created 2015.
They are probably libraries shortcuts.
Open computer then look on the left explorer navigation and click on Libraries, what do you see in the libraries folder?
Possibly a shortcut was in an old My Pictures folder not shared So you still have the folder from the public network but is nolonger shared.
To illustrate on my system
Library folder My Picturesinside the Library Folder My Pictures
pictures library 3 locations
pictures library 3 locationsMy Pictures Library location
Library location

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rindiCommented:
One of the points to the Pictures folder of your user profile. The other points to the Pictures folder for the Public user, which is an area for data that all user accounts on your PC can normally access.

It is the C:\Users\Public\.... folder.

I store data in that folder that should be seen by others, and in my User account I store my private data.
giltjrCommented:
I agree with Rindi, I have seen the same thing except with "My Documents".  One of the links points to the documents folder under a specific user-id folder and the other points to the one in Public folder.
rindiCommented:
You could save a picture in the Public Picture's folder. Then open the 2nd icon you have. It will show there is that picture in there. You can rename the 2nd folder in your library to "Public Pictures" so it is easier to keep apart....
marsiliesCommented:
Those icons are for Junction Points used by Windows for compatibility with older software. They're hidden folders normally and only seen when you opt to view hidden files and folders in Explorer (it's why they look lighter than other icons) .

One redirects the old C:\Documents and Settings\~username~\My Documents\My Pictures location to the new C:\Users\~username~\Pictures folder, and the other redirects the old C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\My Documents\My Pictures to the new  C:\Users\Public\Pictures folder.

More info on these Junction Points. Basically from Vista onward these folders exist:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/930128
http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/jpoints.htm

These folders are essential for compatibility, take up little to no space, and are invisible if you don't choose to show hidden files and folders. I don't think Windows will let you delete them even if you wanted to.
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