My Documents Startup Fail

[Snakebyte999]

Windows 7
I misclicked and dragged "My Documents" to another folder.
Tried to restore to default and delete the erroneous folder from the misclick and now vortex will not open even though "My Documents" are in "C:\Users\<Name>\Documents".
I tried reinstalling vortex after the default restore and still nothing.

Edit: If I restore the misclicked folder, vortex runs and so do my games but the folder is empty whereas the one in the default location has all the files...

Edit: Reinstalling caused even further complications such as my save files missing and vortex not being able to find my mods... fml

Edit: The missing files might be because it's still trying to use the restored and empty (misclicked) My documents folder instead of the one in the default location. When I delete the empty one, vortex still won't start.

[HadToRegister]

Did you just try and drag your Documents folder back to where it was?


Because it sounds like you've deleted all of the info for Vortex in the Documents folder.

 

I'm not sure why you reinstalled Vortex, that had nothing to do with fixing the Documents folder.

[Ronskiman]

In a normal Windows installation the actual files would be stored under C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\Documents as you know, now it's possible that the dragging and then again moving the files has mucked up the symbolic link that windows has for the actual location.

 

Right click on the normal Documents folder (not the one under users), select properties, and the location tab, then click find target - this should open an explorer window to where Windows thinks the files are actually stored.

 

 

So make sure the target is pointing to the correct location, if it isn't you need to correct it, you have options of restore default and move, just make sure you have a backup of your actual documents. Hopefully its as simple as this, if not hopefully someone else will be able to offer more help.

 

A couple of months ago I managed to somehow lose the normal links to my Documents folder whilst moving it - I'd selected the route folder rather than the folder I wanted to, in the end I had to edit the registry to fix it, but you need to be very careful if delving in there.

[Snakebyte999]

I'm not sure why you reinstalled Vortex, that had nothing to do with fixing the Documents folder.

 

I restored the location of "My Documents" to default from the erroneous location by "right-click, Properties, Location, Restore to Default".

 

Then I deleted the now empty erroneous folder and tried to launch vortex. I received the same error from op.

So, at this point, I was assuming there was something with vortex still trying to find the erroneous folder and since I cannot actually get into vortex, I reinstalled in the hopes that this would tell vortex to look in the correct location.

 

Now I assume it is still looking in the wrong location because if I restore the erroneous empty folder, vortex will launch but my saves and mods are missing. If only I could tell it to look in to proper location....

[Snakebyte999]

Right click on the normal Documents folder (not the one under users),

 

I can't find that other folder or do you mean the one in "library"? Otherwise, I think it's a possibility that's the one I dragged and tried to restore.

[Snakebyte999]

Just to clarify, I haven't physically lost the mods, I always kept them in a backup, so I can reinstall them when this issue is solved. Though my save files may be gone for good because I'm pretty sure they were being managed by vortex and never backed them up. :sad:

[Snakebyte999]

Right click on the normal Documents folder (not the one under users), select properties, and the location tab, then click find target - this should open an explorer window to where Windows thinks the files are actually stored.

 

 

So make sure the target is pointing to the correct location.

 

 

Oh damn, changing the target of the bad folder I had to have restored for Vortex to work to "C:\Users\<Name>\Documents" got rid of the bad folder from the incorrect place AND still lets Vortex open.

I used the "Restore Button" the first go but that didn't get rid of the bad folder only made another folder in the original location. Manually entering the target in the bad folder properly merged them... wtf...

 

Anyway, I think it's fixed!! I'm going to be a lot more careful from now on. Thank you so much for the help!