When you right-click one of the Public folders, click Properties and select the Location tab, the buttons Restore Default, Move, and Find Target may be missing. As a result, you’re unable to move Public folders such as Public Desktop, Public Documents, Public Music, Public Pictures and Public Videos.

Microsoft article KB933127 provides a workaround for this problem. It suggests that you disable User Account Control (UAC) temporarily, restart Windows and then relocate the Public folder(s). Once done, re-enable UAC and restart Windows.

Another option is to login as Administrator or equivalent in Safe mode and move the Public folders.

This sounds somewhat tedious, requiring to restart Windows twice. Here is a quick method that I found to relocate the Public folders, without turning off the UAC. No reboot required.

Moving Public folders in Windows Vista

1. Close all folder windows.

2. Open an elevated Command Prompt window. To open an elevated (admin) Command Prompt, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

3. Terminate Explorer.exe process using the hidden Exit Explorer option. (Don’t start a new explorer.exe instance yet.)

4. Switch to the admin Command Prompt window

5. In the Command Prompt, type explorer.exe and press ENTER. This starts the Shell under elevated privileges.

6. Right-click on the Public folder that you want to relocate, and click Properties. The Location tab should now show the buttons namely Restore Default, Move, and Find Target.

7. Once you finish relocating the Public folder(s), logoff and login back. (This is very important. Read the security note below.)

Important: When Explorer.exe is running under elevated privileges, the shell extensions and the child process of Explorer.exe will run elevated as well. This is a huge security risk. Aaron Margosis of Microsoft points out that "If you shut down Explorer again, any child processes that were launched will continue to run elevated, including browsers, IM clients, etc., with all the risk that incurs."