''desktop'' file

[Star-Com]

Hello,

I use MS Windows XP PRO and when i open the folder My Documents a file called ''desktop'' appears to be there along with my other files and folders, it looks like is not the right place for this file to be. When i open this file says :

[DeleteOnCopy]
Owner=ANDREAS
Personalized=5
PersonalizedName=My Documents

Also, if i go ''delete'' a window pops up saying that :

The file 'desktop is a system file'.
If you remove it, your computer or one of your programs may no longer work correctly. Are you sure you want to move it to the Recycle Bin?

What is this file for? How can i find out the right place that it should be and put it there?

Thank you,
Star-Com.

[pillainp]

Do not try to delete that file. The full name of it is desktop.ini. It is a descriptor for the folder and its ownership attributes, and is necessary for Windows XP to access the folder properly. Also it describes any customizations that you may have applied to the folder so that the system can remember them.

To se the full name of the file (with the extension), go to My Computer>Tools>Folder Options>View and uncheck Hide File Extionsions for known file types.

[Star-Com]

Originally posted by pillainp Do not try to delete that file. The full name of it is desktop.ini. It is a descriptor for the folder and its ownership attributes, and is necessary for Windows XP to access the folder properly. Also it describes any customizations that you may have applied to the folder so that the system can remember them. To se the full name of the file (with the extension), go to My Computer>Tools>Folder Options>View and uncheck Hide File Extionsions for known file types.

Thank you Pillainp for your answer, i did what you said and the extension .ini showed up.

You said ''It is a descriptor for the folder and its ownership attributes, and is necessary for Windows XP to access the folder properly''. A 'descriptor for the folder', what is that mean? Please elaborate a bit on this.

Also, why is this file in My Documents folder? Is it the right place for it? If not how can i move it to the right place/folder?

Thank you,
Star-Com.

[RJ]

As far as I know the desktop.ini is just if you customize a folder like with its own background picture and something like that, the settings are then saved to desktop.ini. You can find desktop.ini in almost every folder.

I always deleted them because I don't like to have extra files in my own folders. If you don't customize your folders, then just delete the desktop.ini.

I don't get any new desktop.inis anymore, I believe you can set that up in Explorer: Extras > Folder Options, View, and uncheck "save apprearance options for every folder" or something similar. That way if you delete the desktop.ini, Windows won't create a new one.

RJ

[Star-Com]

Originally posted by RJ As far as I know the desktop.ini is just if you customize a folder like with its own background picture and something like that, the settings are then saved to desktop.ini. You can find desktop.ini in almost every folder. I always deleted them because I don't like to have extra files in my own folders. If you don't customize your folders, then just delete the desktop.ini. I don't get any new desktop.inis anymore, I believe you can set that up in Explorer: Extras > Folder Options, View, and uncheck "save apprearance options for every folder" or something similar. That way if you delete the desktop.ini, Windows won't create a new one. RJ

Thank you RJ, if i delete this 'desktop.ini' file which is in the My Documents folder then ONLY the My Documents folder will be, well, affected?

Regards,
Star-Com.

[RJ]

Yep. The desktop.ini file affects only the folder that it resides in. If you look around you might find a hundred more desktop.ini files in a hundred more folders. But I was never able to find them all using the search function, they just didn't appear there.

RJ

[Star-Com]

Originally posted by RJ Yep. The desktop.ini file affects only the folder that it resides in. If you look around you might find a hundred more desktop.ini files in a hundred more folders. But I was never able to find them all using the search function, they just didn't appear there. RJ

RJ thank you very much, please last one.
So when you make any configurations for a folder these configurations are saved in these 'desktop.ini' files, right? What if you want to go back to the default configurations? How do you do it? You delete these 'desktop.ini' files?

Thankful Regards,
Star-Com.