XP Command Line and My Documents

When I moved into XP from my computer I really didn't like Documents and Settings XP uses, so I created a My Documents in my root directory, similar to what Win98SE uses.

Nowadays I'm running some software that needs the Command line as a equivalent to DOS, and I ran into an odd problem.

My Documents folder seems to be invisible to the Command line. I could not enter the folder using the Command line at all. I solved the problem by renaming the folder to Bills Documents, but it is kinda odd.

Is there an attribute I'm missing somewhere? Thanks.

 

In both My Documents and Bills Documents did the folder name contain a "space"? Did you try the shortened version like mydocu~1 or maybe "my documents"?

 

Not sure what you're referring to exactly but try this, use the old 8.3 standard, My Documents will be MY DOC~1

So in cmd, or DOS, to change a directory type cd my doc~1

You may also try cd "My Documents" with the quotes, yes with the quotes.

 

Actually I don't believe the above is true.

Bills Documents becomes billsd~1 (which worked), and My Documents becomes mydocu~1 (which didn't) in the command line. Spaces are ignored, and not typed, to make it match the 8.3 format DOS used to use. I'm actually going down a deep path, around 6 folders deep.

Never tried the quotes, something to do when I'm on my machine again.

It isn't a name issue. It was ignoring the folder name entirely. I would say it isn't an attribute either, since renaming the folder allows me to access it. My current thought is the folder name My Documents is reserved somehow in XP and command line.

 

This key is where all that is located. So, if you moved it, you may want to change it here also:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

 

Hi Bill,

If you just want to move My Documents to the root of C: then doing it officially may work for your purposes. [Temporarily, rename your current folder C:\Bills Documents for safety]
Right click My Documents on the Desktop and enter the new Target of C:\My Documents. It should create a new My Documents folder on the root of C: where you can move over your files from Bills Documents. Since it is the new official location of My Documents I would hope the command line would recognize it.

 

Ah, yes, much simpler that way. Can't believe I forgot about that way.

 

Heh, that is what I had already done, and flopped. XP command line does not see "My Documents" in the root directory if you try to enter it, though it shows up on the directory. Like I said before, changing the name to "Bills Directory" in the root directory did the trick. I find it odd, but it isn't the worst thing that's happened to me on this computer.