Vista directories

[Bozette]

I'm trying to help a friend of a friend whose laptop won't boot to Windows. It has Vista Home Basic as the OS which I've never used. My question is.. does Vista have any different features that would save the users jpgs or mp3s to some place other than the C drive? (The drive is not partitioned. The D drive is the cd/dvd drive.) I can search and find jpgs that are Windows wallpaper, etc but none of the users photos. Before I do a total reinstall back to the factory settings I wanted to be sure there's not some virtual or hidden directory that might have user files. Seeing the X drive made me wonder
Thanks for any help
Boze

 

[zelgar]

No, Vista doesn't normally save things off the C: drive. The default location for pictures are in the picture directory off of the user's home directory.

Make certain that you run the search based off of the root directory (e.g., C or select all of the drives.

 

[Bozette]

Thanks. Wish there had been a secret stash. I did the search at the C prompt with "dir *.jpg /s" so found some jpgs but they were images for wallpaper, etc. None in the users home directory. Didn't find any mp3s anywhere.

I appreciate the reply. Looks like we'll try a total reinstall to see if it will boot to Vista.

 

[linney]

Sometimes Windows get over protective and dumps files in a super hidden location similar to this.

"C:\Users\usernamexxxx\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Virtualized\C\Users\usernamexxx" typed in Start Run box with the correct username and the whole line includes quotes. Check out the sub-folders in that location, especially any called Pictures. You CANNOT browse to this location you must use the Start Menu/ RUN box (not any Search box).


If you want a good search program with GUI for searching deep inside Vista or Windows 7 then I recommend this program. It wont search that hidden location I mentioned however.

SearchMyFiles v1.55

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/search_my_files.html

Startup Repair.

Startup Repair is a Windows recovery tool that can fix certain problems, such as missing or damaged system files, that might prevent Windows from starting.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Wi...809f-ed90-415f-a83f-89b42108b3551033.mspx#EFF

Startup Repair: frequently asked questions

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/5c59f8c1-b0d1-4f1a-af55-74f3922f3f351033.mspx

See this if you have no install DVD.

Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download

http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/