You can modify the placement of your user folders in Windows 10 and transfer them to wherever you wish. To keep the Downloads folder independent from your operating system, you can have moved it from its default position on your C: disk to another partition or drive.
You may have done something similar with your Pictures, Documents, and other user files. The problem is that moving a user folder to a new place also moves everything in it. What if you need or want to return one or more of your own user folders to their default location? In such case, keep reading to learn how to restore the Downloads folder and other user folders in Windows 10 to their default locations.
NOTE: If you came to this tutorial looking for a means to rename user folders, you should read this post instead: How to change user folder locations in Windows 10 (Documents, Downloads, etc.).
How to restore user folders to their default locations
If you altered the default location of one or more of your user folders (such as Downloads, Documents, Music, Videos, Images, Screenshots, and so on) and they are now located in other locations, follow the steps below to restore their original positions. We’ll teach you how to restore the Downloads folder to its default location as an example. However, the technique is the same for restoring any other user folder.
To begin, open File Explorer and go to the user folder you want to restore to its original location. That’s the Downloads folder in our situation. C:\Users\[Your User Folder]\Downloads should be the default destination. However, as you can see below, we transferred it to the D: drive.
Right-click or press-and-hold on the user folder once you’ve found it. Select Properties from the contextual menu that appears.
The Properties pane for the user folder now appears in Windows 10. Select the Location tab from the drop-down menu.
Then click or tap the Restore Default option to return the user folder to its original location.
Pushing the Restore Default button, as you may have noticed, returns the folder’s path to its original location.
The Downloads folder’s path changed from “D:\Downloads” to “C:\Users\codru\Downloads” in my situation. When Windows 10 was first installed, the Downloads folder was located there by default.
Apply or OK should be clicked or tapped. Whether the original user folder is no longer present in its default location, Windows 10 informs you and asks if you want to recreate it right away. Answer Otherwise, the user folder will not be able to be restored.
If you have files and folders in your user folder, Windows 10 will additionally ask if you wish to “[…] you want to move all the files from the old location to the new location”. You should do so by answering Yes. Otherwise, even if a new user folder with the same name is established in the normal Windows 10 location, your old user folder will remain where it is, with all of its files.
Wait for Windows 10 to restore your user folder to its original position before clicking or tapping OK again.
Is it simple? 🙂
An alternative way of restoring user folders
If the techniques we gave earlier fail to restore your personal user folders to their default locations because something horrible occurred to them, there is one surefire way to accomplish so. It’s not nice, but you can accomplish it by creating a new user account and transferring all of the files from your damaged folders to the new user account’s good folders.
If you don’t know how to establish a new account, these articles will walk you through the process:
- How to add a Microsoft account to Windows 10
- 6 ways to add a local (non-Microsoft) user to Windows 10
After you’ve created the new user account, copy all of the files from the old account’s directories to the new account’s folders. Unfortunately, this is a time-consuming process that also requires you to re-customize Windows 10 for your new user account.
How to find your user folders if you changed their default locations
As you can see, restoring the default placements of your user folders is simple. But what if you have no idea where you transferred them to begin with? Fortunately, there’s a simple way to find out that information as well. To find each of your user folders, open File Explorer and type the correct shell command from the list below into the address bar:
- 3D Objects: shell:3D Objects
- Contacts: shell:Contacts
- Desktop: shell:Desktop
- Documents: shell:Personal
- Downloads: shell:Downloads
- Favorites: shell:Favorites
- Links: shell:Links
- Music: shell:My Music
- Pictures: shell:My Pictures
- Saved Games: shell:SavedGames
- Searches: shell:Searches
- Videos: shell:My Video
If you wish to find your Downloads folder, for example, type shell:Downloads.
In this video, we are gonna show you how to restore user folders to their default locations on Windows 10:
Did you manage to restore your user folders to their default locations?
You now know how to restore Downloads and other user folders in Windows 10 to their original positions. As you can see, it’s really simple to accomplish. However, software (in general) is difficult to understand, and problems might arise at any time. Did you run into any problems restoring user folders to their default placements, or did everything go smoothly? Please share your thoughts in the comments area.
