Windows Vista's Home Folder Layout.
-
I noticed in Vista that the folder layout for a user's home folder is a bit different. I am curious as to why there are shortcuts to folders in various locations. An example is that there is a shortcut to the Documents folder in the home folder called My Documents. It says "Access Denied" if I double click on it. Why would there be a shortcut to a folder that is already accessible in the same location? It just seems weird. I noticed these shortcuts after I disabled the Hide hidden files "feature". I want to see all hidden files but I don't want my folders to be cluttered with messy shortcuts that don't make since.
█▒▒▒▒▒██▒█▒██ █▒█████▒▒▒▒▒█ █▒██████▒█▒██ █▒█████▒▒▒▒▒█ █▒▒▒▒▒██▒█▒██
-
I noticed in Vista that the folder layout for a user's home folder is a bit different. I am curious as to why there are shortcuts to folders in various locations. An example is that there is a shortcut to the Documents folder in the home folder called My Documents. It says "Access Denied" if I double click on it. Why would there be a shortcut to a folder that is already accessible in the same location? It just seems weird. I noticed these shortcuts after I disabled the Hide hidden files "feature". I want to see all hidden files but I don't want my folders to be cluttered with messy shortcuts that don't make since.
█▒▒▒▒▒██▒█▒██ █▒█████▒▒▒▒▒█ █▒██████▒█▒██ █▒█████▒▒▒▒▒█ █▒▒▒▒▒██▒█▒██
Those are junctions (analogous to symbolic links in Unix) for backcompat. There are many of those in place to keep old badly-written apps working, if they had hard-coded paths. For example
C:\Documents and Settingsis a junction toC:\Users--Mike-- Visual C++ MVP :cool: LINKS~! Ericahist | PimpFish | CP SearchBar v3.0 | C++ Forum FAQ Ford, what's this fish doing in my ear?
-
Those are junctions (analogous to symbolic links in Unix) for backcompat. There are many of those in place to keep old badly-written apps working, if they had hard-coded paths. For example
C:\Documents and Settingsis a junction toC:\Users--Mike-- Visual C++ MVP :cool: LINKS~! Ericahist | PimpFish | CP SearchBar v3.0 | C++ Forum FAQ Ford, what's this fish doing in my ear?
But why cant we manually go into them (say, by double clicking the shortcut) from explorer?
:badger:
-
But why cant we manually go into them (say, by double clicking the shortcut) from explorer?
:badger:
Probably to prevent users from doing stupid things - no normal user knows how junctions work. "My files are already in C:\Users, so I'll delete the content of C:\Documents and Settings"
-
Probably to prevent users from doing stupid things - no normal user knows how junctions work. "My files are already in C:\Users, so I'll delete the content of C:\Documents and Settings"
Why do they build these things that cannot be understood by a normal user? Yet, they are intended for the normal user; no expert needs it.
-
Those are junctions (analogous to symbolic links in Unix) for backcompat. There are many of those in place to keep old badly-written apps working, if they had hard-coded paths. For example
C:\Documents and Settingsis a junction toC:\Users--Mike-- Visual C++ MVP :cool: LINKS~! Ericahist | PimpFish | CP SearchBar v3.0 | C++ Forum FAQ Ford, what's this fish doing in my ear?
Could they not have done this with a simple shortcut, and shown "C:\Users" when they navigated there?