Question HELP! I somehow renamed or merged "Desktop" to "Documents"

[Fred Wax Bean Lasagna]

I have a Dell XPS 8700 desktop computer running Windows 10. The computer has an internal D drive. I had "My documents" folder located on the D drive, but my "Desktop" located on the C drive. I finally decided to move the desktop to the D drive, to make things less confusing.
Somehow, (no clue how), while moving the desktop, (right-click desktop icon in windows explorer, properties, location tab, Move button) I renamed (or maybe) merged or re-designated the desktop to be "My documents" (see picture below).

So the entire desktop is filled with all my documents folders and files. These are not just copies on the desktop, the desktop is mirroring the my documents folder, so if I delete folders from the desktop, they are deleted from my documents. UGH!

The desktop icon (in Windows Explorer) shows documents, when it should show Desktop.

I tried a system restore, and that did two things, Jack and S***. So I don't know what to do

All my documents are backed up, so is it possible maybe to delete the desktop icon (now named documents) .......which will delete everything in the actual documents folder....... and then create a new system folder named Desktop?

 

[KingLoki]

You can try an inplace windows install with the same version you are running now. If you can get the .iso, mount it in file explorer and run setup.exe and during installation, Opt to keep all files and apps, so nothing is deleted. It may repair the desktop problem.

 

[prahladyeri]

In the PC paradigm, your Home folder (%userprofile% on Windows or /home/<user>/ on Linux) is one single container for your documents, desktop items, pictures, music, etc. Parts of them shouldn't be moved to a separate partition ideally, the windows default workflow is to have all these folders inside the %userprofile% or C:\users\<username>.

Since you already have the backup, the best approach here is to simply do a factory reset and restore the system to a cleaner state. But make sure your backup EVERYTHING including your data files, apps (programs), settings, etc.

 

[Fred Wax Bean Lasagna]

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I thought I might have to do something kinda drastic. I'm just gonna reinstall the whole damn computer from a recent system image backup. screw it.
all data is backed up, but I've never done a system image restore before, I hope everything on the computer (all profiles etc) will be exactly as it was at the time of the image backup. I guess it's supposed to be, but "Supposed to's" and "gonna be's" are sometimes not the same 😉

 

[USAFRet]

Moving the location of the default Libraries can be done, but there is a specific method, depending on which specific OS.
Done wrong, and you end up in the state you're at.

But rarely is there a need to actually do it.

 

[KingLoki]

Your choice, image will be exactly as it was created at the time.

It doesn't take too long to try an inplace install either.

 

[geofelt]

Is there a suitably recent system restore checkpoint that you can reset to?

 

[Fred Wax Bean Lasagna]

I just did the system image restore. It worked. The system image was from one week ago, and it's a secondary computer, so there wasn't much at all that changed in the last week.
What angers me, is I can't remember how I moved the components of one of the profiles successfully months ago (My desktop, my documents, my downloads, my videos etc) from the c drive to the d drive, without screwing things up. It's one of those not-super important details, but one that drives you crazy because it's a mystery that has to be solved lol. I've gotta relax more in life and just leave shit alone sometimes.

thanks for all the comments everyone!

 

[USAFRet]

I just did the system image restore. It worked. The system image was from one week ago, and it's a secondary computer, so there wasn't much at all that changed in the last week.
What angers me, is I can't figure out how i moved the components of one of the profiles (My desktop, my documents, my downloads, my videos etc) from the c drive to the d drive, without screwing things up. It's one of those not-super important details, but one that drives you crazy because it's a mystery that has to be solved lol. I've gotta relax more in life and just leave <Mod Edit> things alone sometimes.

thanks for all the comments everyone!

There are methods to relocate the default Libs, but there is rarely a reason to do so.

You are not locked into using only those locations.

Desktop, for instance. You can put a shortcut to a folder on a different drive on the Desktop.
Things that appear on the DT...you can move over to that folder. They would no longer take up space on the desktop, but sort of appear to be on the desktop.