{"id":494,"date":"2008-08-25T20:44:01","date_gmt":"2008-08-25T15:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=494"},"modified":"2019-06-10T07:08:43","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T07:08:43","slug":"dragging-folder-to-favorite-links-moves-the-folder-instead-of-creating-shortcut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/dragging-folder-to-favorite-links-moves-the-folder-instead-of-creating-shortcut\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragging a folder to Favorite Links moves the folder instead of creating Shortcut"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you drag a folder to the Favorite Links area in Windows Explorer, the shortcut to the folder is placed in the Links folder. This was not the case in one of my Windows Vista systems, where the entire folder and sub-folders were moved to the Links folder when dragged to Favorite Links.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig 1: Folder being moved when dragged to Favorite Links.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before this problem was seen, I had reset the Links folder by deleting its contents and rebuilt using the shell:Links<\/code> command in order to fix the Links folder icon.\u00a0When I compared the Desktop.ini file in the Links<\/b> folder of my user account with that of the Guest account, I found the following line missing in the Desktop.ini file in my profile:<\/p>\n

DefaultDropEffect=4<\/pre>\n
Per the DESKTOP.INI Documentation<\/a>, the DefaultDropEffect<\/b> line sets the default drag-and-drop action. Setting it 4 creates a shortcut of the dragged folder in the Links folder. The problem was resolved<\/b> after I added the DefaultDropEffect<\/code> line to the Desktop.ini, set the read-only attribute.<\/p>\n
The default contents of the Desktop.ini file (for the Links<\/b> folder) is given below:<\/p>\n
Related article: <\/b>Shell folders are displayed with the standard folder icon in Windows<\/a><\/div>\n
[.ShellClassInfo]\r\nLocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\\system32\\shell32.dll,-21810\r\nIconResource=%SystemRoot%\\system32\\imageres.dll,-185\r\nDefaultDropEffect=4\r\n[LocalizedFileNames]\r\nPublic.lnk=@shell32.dll,-21816\r\nSearches.lnk=@shell32.dll,-9031\r\nRecently Changed.lnk=@shell32.dll,-32813\r\nMusic.lnk=@shell32.dll,-21790\r\nPictures.lnk=@shell32.dll,-21779\r\nDocuments.lnk=@shell32.dll,-21770<\/pre>\n
Fixing Desktop.ini in the Links folder<\/h2>\n
Method 1<\/b><\/p>\n
    \n
  1. Download DesktopINIFix<\/a> run the tool.<\/li>\n
  2. Select Favorite Links<\/b> from the list, and click Fix Desktop.ini<\/b><\/li>\n
  3. Logoff and login back for the change to take effect.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Method 2<\/b><\/p>\n
      \n
    1. To open the Links<\/b> folder of your user profile, right-click on an empty area in the Favorite Links area in Explorer, and click Open Favorite Links Folder<\/b>.<\/li>\n
    2. Delete the existing Desktop.ini file and create one with the above contents.<\/li>\n
    3. Right-click desktop.ini<\/b> and choose Properties<\/b>.<\/li>\n
    4. Place a checkmark near Read-only<\/b> attribute, and click OK<\/b>.<\/li>\n
    5. Logoff and login back.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \"\"
      Fig 2: Default drop effect changed to “create link” (normal behavior)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
      When you drag a folder to the Favorite Links area in Windows Explorer, the shortcut to the folder is placed in the Links folder. This was not the case in one of my Windows Vista systems, where the entire folder and sub-folders were moved to the Links folder when dragged to Favorite Links.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-vista"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1523,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/shell-folders-are-displayed-with-the-standard-folder-icon-in-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":0},"title":"User Shell Folders Appear With Generic Yellow Icon in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"When you open Explorer, the shell folders such as Documents, Videos, Music, or Pictures may be displayed with a standard folder icon rather than the special folder icons. 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For example, the \"Documents\" folder may show up as \"Downloads\", or \"Desktop\" may appear as \"Downloads\". However, the folder name may show\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"desktop shell folder renamed - localizedresourcename","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/desktop-name-changed-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/desktop-name-changed-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/desktop-name-changed-4.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/desktop-name-changed-4.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3094,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-10-start-menu-user-folders-do-not-open\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":2},"title":"Windows 10 Start Menu User Folders Do Not Open When Clicked","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When you click Start and click on a shortcut to your personal folders such as Documents, Downloads, Pictures or Music, nothing may happen. This problem occurs if the shortcuts in the Start Menu Places folder are missing or have been tampered with. The shortcuts in Start Menu Places are common\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/w10-smplaces-1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1543,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/desktop-ini-automatically-opens-at-startup\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":3},"title":"Desktop.ini file automatically opens when you start Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"When you start your computer, the desktop.ini file may automatically open in Notepad. It may have the following contents: [.ShellClassInfo] LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\\system32\\shell32.dll,-21787 Desktop.ini is a configuration file which can be used to customize folder icons, caption, etc., on a per-folder basis. The desktop.ini file (in your the Startup folder)\u00a0 may open\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"desktop.ini opens at login","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/desktop-ini-opens-startup.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/desktop-ini-opens-startup.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/desktop-ini-opens-startup.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27932,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/customize-contacts-folder-icon-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":4},"title":"How to Customize the Contacts Folder Icon in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"September 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Contacts folder is a shell folder that can be relocated like any other shell folder like Documents, Music, Pictures, etc. However, unlike other shell folders, the Contacts folder doesn't have a \"Customize\" tab in the property sheet. 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