"Camera Roll" and "Saved Pictures" folders: permanently delete on Windows 10

On my Windows 10, inside the Pictures folder, I see two empty folders I didn't create: one is called Camera Roll and the other Saved Pictures.

I tried deleting them, but after a while they get re-created. It's really wrong to create items in users folders; when I try to create a clean, tidy structure that works for me, somebody else's "contributions" get to be irritating.

So I have a few preliminary questions, trying to understand this issue:

Which process is creating these folders?
At what time are they getting recreated (log ons, restarts?, when some app runs? I'm not sure, from my experience...)?

And finally my big question:

How do I delete them permanently?

windows-10

pgr

Posted 2016-05-13T11:22:00.217

Reputation: 861

Camera Roll is used by Camera App. Saved pictures is used by Photos app. They're created when the App runs. To delete them permanently, you can uninstall the respective App packages using PowerShell.

Or you can relocate these folders somewhere outside Pictures, and then "hide" those Libraries. Remove Camera Roll, Saved Pictures and Screenshots Folders & Libraries in Windows 10?

– w32sh – 2016-05-13T14:05:36.093

That's a very nice answer. I read the article you pointed to and decided to simply cut-paste them elsewhere. Let's see if this holds. Thanks! – pgr – 2016-05-13T14:37:12.637

Answers

The Camera Roll folder is created by the Camera app.
The Saved Pictures folder is created by the Photos app.

If you simply delete the folders those apps will recreate them based on the location stored in the registry at:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
When viewing this location in Regedit, if the purpose of each key isn't obvious, look them up on Microsoft's KNOWNFOLDERID page.

To truly delete the folders you must Uninstall the Camera and Photos Apps and then delete the folders.

If you just want to move them somewhere more convenient the article commented by @w23sh above is very thorough.
Remove Camera Roll, Saved Pictures and Screenshots Folders & Libraries in Windows 10?

It boils down to "Cut and paste the folder to a location of your choosing."

GollyJer

Posted 2016-05-13T11:22:00.217

Reputation: 4 896

I'm pretty sure that those folders are default by other default apps on the computer. The camera roll is used by the camera app. Any pictures you take with the camera will go to that folder.

A. P. Walaberry

Posted 2016-05-13T11:22:00.217

Reputation: 1

-2

got new desktop with same issue in windows 10. i "cut" the 'camera roll' and 'saved pictures' folders then "pasted" them into a removable flash drive - it seems to work (they did reappear when system updated to windows 10 creators). i repeated the cut/paste and restarted - so far so good - no camera roll and saved pictures folders

robal

Posted 2016-05-13T11:22:00.217

Reputation: 1