Member Avatar for saliva

Recently I moved IE favorites from the administrative account folder into the "All User" folder hoping that it could be shared among different users. Unfortunately, I (an administrator) cannot see anything in my favorites folder. Could anyone advise?

  • 3 Contributors
  • 2 Replies
  • 132 Views
  • 2 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by MAD_DOG

Dani AI

Generated

A few practical points that explain why moving your Administrator favorites into the shared folder can make them disappear, and what to check next.

— IE and the Windows shell treat Favorites as a "special folder" with both a per-user folder and a common (All Users / Public) folder. Different Windows versions use different physical paths (for example, XP uses C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Favorites and C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Favorites; Vista+ uses C:\Users\<user>\Favorites and C:\Users\Public\Favorites). Confirm both locations by pasting the following into Explorer: %USERPROFILE%\Favorites, %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Favorites, and %PUBLIC%\Favorites. See the shell special-folder docs for details: CSIDL and special folders.

Common causes when a moved Favorites set vanishes for a user

  • Permissions: the All Users/Public folder or the shortcuts inside may not grant Read/List rights to the Users group.
  • Hidden/system attributes or desktop.ini rules preventing shell merge.
  • Folder redirection or group policy overriding the Favorites target.
  • Registry user-shell-folder values changed so IE is pointing at a different folder.

Quick diagnostic checklist

  • Verify the shortcuts actually exist in the All Users/Public folder and are not marked Hidden or System.
  • Check NTFS permissions: right-click the shared Favorites folder -> Properties -> Security, and ensure Users (or the relevant group) can List and Read.
  • Check for Folder Redirection policies: run gpedit.msc (or ask your admin on a domain) and look under User Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Folder Redirection -> Favorites.
  • Inspect the user-shell-folder registry value: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Favorites to confirm it points to %USERPROFILE%\Favorites.

If the goal is truly shared favorites for many accounts, use Folder Redirection or Group Policy Preferences to deploy and manage them (more reliable than ad-hoc moves). See Microsoft guidance on folder redirection and centralized management for the supported way to share Favorites across users: .

(Thanks to and for pointing out the copy-vs-move issue; the safest long-term fix is to use proper shared-folder permissions or policy-based deployment rather than a one-time move.)

Recommended Answers

All 2 Replies

Member Avatar for caperjack

You should just copied /paste it and not moved it

Member Avatar for MAD_DOG

Or just copy it to the admin favs now and you will be set simple easy 5 minutes.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.