General Move or Restore Default Location of Music Folder in Windows 11


Music_folder_banner.webp

This tutorial will show you how to move or restore the default location of the Music folder for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

The Music folder (shell:My Music) is a component of the user profile that is used as a unified location for storing personal data. By default, the Music folder is a shell folder in the user's profile (%UserProfile%) that is used as a default storage location for saved music or audio files.

If you like, you can move the Music folder and its content to a location you want it at instead.

If the current Music folder path is incorrect or is no longer available, you can use the Restore Default option to restore the default path.


Contents

  • Option One: Move Location of Music Folder in Properties
  • Option Two: Restore Default Location of Music Folder in Properties
  • Option Three: Restore Default Location of Music Folder using BAT file




Option One

Move Location of Music Folder in Properties


1 Open File Explorer (Win+E).

2 Navigate to the location (ex: "D") you want to move your Music folder to, and create a new folder named Music at this location. (see screenshot below)

Move_Music_folder-1.png

3 Right click on the Music folder in the navigation pane of File Explorer, and click/tap on Properties. (see screenshot below)

If you don't see the Music folder in the navigation pane, then type shell:My Music into the address bar of File Explorer, and press Enter to open the Music folder no matter where it may be located.

You can then right click or press and hold on an empty area in the opened Music folder, and click/tap on Properties.


Move_Music_folder-2.png

4 Click/tap on the Location tab, and click/tap on the Move button. (see screenshot below)

Move_Music_folder-3.png

5 Navigate to and select the new Music folder from step 2, and click/tap on Select Folder. (see screenshot below)

Move_Music_folder-4.png

6 Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

Move_Music_folder-5.png

7 Click/tap on Yes to move all the files from the old location to the new location. (see screenshot below)

Move_Music_folder-6.png




Option Two

Restore Default Location of Music Folder in Properties


1 Open File Explorer (Win+E).

2 Right click on the Music folder in the navigation pane of File Explorer, and click/tap on Properties. (see screenshot below)

If you don't see the Music folder in the navigation pane, then type shell:My Music into the address bar of File Explorer, and press Enter to open the Music folder no matter where it may be located.

You can then right click or press and hold on an empty area in the opened Music folder, and click/tap on Properties.


Move_Music_folder-2.png

3 Click/tap on the Location tab, and click/tap on the Restore Default button. (see screenshot below)

Restore_Music_folder-2.png

4 Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

Restore_Music_folder-3.png

5 If prompted to create a Music folder at the default location, click/tap on Yes. (see screenshot below)

Restore_Music_folder-4.png

6 Click/tap on Yes to move all the files from the old location to the default location. (see screenshot below)

Restore_Music_folder-5.png




Option Three

Restore Default Location of Music Folder using BAT file


This option can be very useful if Option Two is not available.

This option will not move the contents of the Music folder from the old location to the default location. You will need to manually move the contents after restoring the default location if wanted.


1 Click/tap on the download button below to download the Restore_default_location_of_Music_folder.zip file.


(Contents of BAT file for reference)
Code: 
@echo off

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe

timeout /t 2 /nobreak >nul

if not exist "%UserProfile%\Music" mkdir "%UserProfile%\Music"

reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "My Music" /t REG_SZ /d "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Music" /f

reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders" /v "{A0C69A99-21C8-4671-8703-7934162FCF1D}" /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d %%USERPROFILE%%"\Music" /f

reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders" /v "My Music" /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d %%USERPROFILE%%"\Music" /f

attrib +r -s -h "%USERPROFILE%\Music" /S /D

timeout /t 1 /nobreak >nul

start explorer.exe

2 Save the ZIP file to your desktop.

3 Unblock the ZIP file.

4 Extract the BAT file from the ZIP file.

5 Run the BAT file.

6 You will now see a command prompt open and close to kill the explorer process, run the commands to restore the default location and attributes of the Music folder, and restart the explorer process.

7 You can now delete the BAT file if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink


Related Tutorials

 

Attachments

Last edited:
Click to expand...
In Windows 10, I wanted to make D:\Current the target for My Music, Pictures, and other such folders. That is, everything that wanted to be saved in %USERPROFILE%\Music would instead be saved in D:\Current. Within my efforts, at least, this did not work well.

The solution here would apparently require separate Music, Pictures, etc. folders in D:\Current. I would be interested in a Win11 solution that would have them all dump into that one D:\Current folder.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 & 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Various homebuilt
raywood said:
In Windows 10, I wanted to make D:\Current the target for My Music, Pictures, and other such folders. That is, everything that wanted to be saved in %USERPROFILE%\Music would instead be saved in D:\Current. Within my efforts, at least, this did not work well.

The solution here would apparently require separate Music, Pictures, etc. folders in D:\Current. I would be interested in a Win11 solution that would have them all dump into that one D:\Current folder.
Click to expand...
Hello, :alien:

You could have them in your "D:\Current" folder, but it would have to be something like "D:\Current\Music". Each separate folder in "D:\Current" instead.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC
    CPU
    Snapdragon X Elite (12 core) 3.42 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15" HDR
    Screen Resolution
    2496 x 1664
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD
    Internet Speed
    Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Maybe I should work on a scheduled batch file that would periodically sweep their contents (from e.g., %USERPROFILE%\Music) to D:\Current.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 & 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Various homebuilt
raywood said:
Maybe I should work on a scheduled batch file that would periodically sweep their contents (from e.g., %USERPROFILE%\Music) to D:\Current.
Click to expand...

That would be a good option.

If wanted, you could also create a new library with the "D:\Current" location as the default save location, and add the %USERPROFILE% folders you want to include their contents in the library. This way you can access them all from the library.

www.elevenforum.com

Create New Library in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to create a new library for your account in Windows 11. Windows 7 introduced libraries, which provide users with a single, coherent view of their files even when those files are stored in different locations. Libraries can be configured and organized by a user...
www.elevenforum.com www.elevenforum.com
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC
    CPU
    Snapdragon X Elite (12 core) 3.42 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15" HDR
    Screen Resolution
    2496 x 1664
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD
    Internet Speed
    Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar Windows 11 Tutorials

  • Article Article
General Move or Restore Default Location of Screenshots Folder in Windows 11
Replies
2
Views
9K
Brink
Brink
  • Article Article
Browsers and Mail Move Favorites into Different Folder in Microsoft Edge in Windows 11
Replies
0
Views
1K
Brink
Brink
  • Article Article
Phone Change Default Downloads Folder for Phone Link app in Windows 11
Replies
0
Views
820
Brink
Brink
  • Article Article
Apps Customize New Tab Menu for Windows Terminal in Windows 11
Replies
0
Views
1K
Brink
Brink
  • Article Article
General Open Desktop Folders and External Folder Links in New Tab in File Explorer in Windows 11
Replies
0
Views
2K
Brink
Brink
  • Article Article
Browsers and Mail Rename Favorites in Microsoft Edge in Windows 11
Replies
0
Views
550
Brink
Brink
  • Article Article
Network and Internet Enable or Disable Delete File from Cloud Confirmation Prompt in Windows 11
Replies
0
Views
963
Brink
Brink

Latest Support Threads

Latest Tutorials

Back
Top Bottom