User Folder/Desktop path getting reset after Windows Explorer crashed

So my laptop was screwy this morning, mozy Home backup froze up and when tryign to kill the process, Windows Explorer crashed along with it. Windows 7 tried to do its normal recover, which went ok, but it was still sluggish, so i decided to do a reboot.

When I log back in to my local account, it was as if I created an all new account. The wallpaper, start menu, icons, etc were all back to the windows defaults. I paniced thinking all the stuff on my desktop was gone.

I located all my stuff in C:\Users\Neil\Desktop ...

I confirmed that I was indeed logged in to the same account, so what wasnt it showing? I created a folder on my new blank desktop, opened it to check the full path. It now points to: C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\Desktop\

How do I reset the user folder path to where all my stuff is?

Neil N

Posted 2010-08-12T14:46:00.360

Reputation: 221

Answers

It looks like your profile got damaged and the system's default profile was loaded instead. Use this tutorial to check whether your profile path is correct: http://www.windows7hacker.com/index.php/2009/05/how-to-change-user-profile-default-location-in-windows-7/ (Take a look at step 3)

BloodPhilia

Posted 2010-08-12T14:46:00.360

Reputation: 27 374

And that link is dead. This is why you should always write the important content in the answer itself. – user628418 – 2017-01-04T11:02:08.517

Yep, just found that same site, fixed the registry key, and my profile is now back to the correct folder, thanks! – Neil N – 2010-08-12T15:05:22.513

@NeilN Good it worked for you! :D – BloodPhilia – 2010-08-12T15:06:33.353