Confusing display

[bradr]

I was recently forced to move from xp to w7. My old file manager
no longer worked so after trying several, tc 7.56a seems the most
useful. But...

I go to root and find Documents and Settings. Where does that
come from?

Pretending D and S is not there I go to \users\brad\desktop where
I find some of my shortcuts and some of my files. Tc displays 14
out of 22 that exist.

W7 has a myriad of special and virtual directories. If tc
handles these as well as it's handling my desktop it looks like
I'm stuck using the mighty explorer. That'll be as much fun as
using notepad instead of an editor.

Please tell me I'm doing something completely stupid.

Thanks for your attention.

Brad

[Hacker]

Hello bradr,
I admit I am not fluent in the intricacies of the Win7 directory structure, but I'll try a quick answer before a guru jumps in and fills in all the details.

I go to root and find Documents and Settings. Where does that
come from?

Hmm, should it not be there? Here it is shown in both TC and Explorer.

I go to \users\brad\desktop where
I find some of my shortcuts and some of my files. Tc displays 14
out of 22 that exist.

The virtual desktop folder also includes files from \Users\All Users\Desktop, try having a look there.

HTH
Roman

[bradr]

Ah, it's starting to make sense. All my files appeared in the tc
Desktop display. The missing items were links to programs that
by carelessness or default were installed for all users. I found
them in \users\public\desktop. So w7 desktop and explorer
displays files from both directories. That actually makes sense.
Score 1 for M$. Someday I will play around with ownerships and
perhaps remove the problem.

The Documents and Settings is still a mystery. Explorer does not
show it. I will probably find that it's a system directory. I
will set the system stuff to display as soon as I can find the
command. I am still pretty clueless with w7.

Thank you for your advice, Roman. I'm sure to be back for more.

Brad

[petermad]

"c:\Documents and Settings" is a junction or reparse point put there by Windows for backward comptability. If you click it you wil enter the new "c:\Users" directory - Note that "c:\Documents and Settings" is not marked as DIR but as LNK under Win 7.

Windows Explorer doesn't show these links by default - that is why you don't see them there.

If you set Explorer to show protected operative system files, you will also see "c:\Documents and Settings" in Explorer.