User Profile Tip: Windows Explorer Favorites

Some of us are big on redirecting most folders to the server.

Some of us have learned the hard way to leave AppData and its contents alone on the local desktop. ;)

By default we redirect Desktop, My Documents/Documents, and Favorites.

We recently did a profile refresh using our Event ID 1511, 1515 Profile loss to TEMP method for one of our clients. Their profile had become hopelessly corrupted.

Now, to date we’ve not encountered too many folks that avidly use the Windows Explorer Favorites (pinning):

The above is a snip of my own Windows Explorer pins.

Okay, so we don’t redirect that folder and we’ve not really had to migrate those links before.

That begged the question: Where the chicken are they?!?

Our search foo both on the local machine, via AppData where we thought they should be, and via Internet turned up nothing but one clue: %UserProfile%\Links.

Bingo!

We copied the files from the UserProfile–OLD folder into their new UserProfile\Links folder and they were happy to have them back.

We’ve since added this step to our checklist and will pay a bit more attention to our client’s environments to see if we need to redirect %UserProfile%\Links to save on some time later on.

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book