General Restore Default Libraries in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to restore deleted default libraries for your account in Windows 11.

Libraries are virtual containers for users' content. A library can contain files and folders stored on the local computer or in a remote storage location. In File Explorer, users interact with libraries in ways similar to how they would interact with other folders.

Including a folder in a library doesn't physically move or change the storage location of the files or folders; the library is a view into those folders. However, users interacting with files in a library are copying, moving, and deleting the files themselves, not copies of these files.

The Camera Roll, Documents, Music, Pictures, Saved Pictures, and Videos folders are automatically included in the default libraries and set as the default save location. That is, when users drag, copy, or save a file to the Documents library, the file is moved, copied, or saved to the Documents folder.

If you delete any of the default libraries, you can easily restore them as needed.

Reference:







1 Open File Explorer (Win+E).

2 Right click on Libraries in the navigation pane of File Explorer. (see screenshot below)

3 Click/tap on Show more options.

4 Click/tap on Restore default libraries.

5 Any missing Camera Roll, Documents, Music, Pictures, Saved Pictures, and Videos library will all be restored at once.

This option can be handy if say you only wanted to restore one or two libraries and not all of them so you don't have to delete the ones you didn't want again.

1 Download the Default_Libraries.zip file below.


2 Save the Default_Libraries.zip file to your Desktop.

3 Unblock the Default_Libraries.zip file.

4 Extract All the Default_Libraries.zip file.

5 Open a separate File Explorer (Win+E) window.

6 Copy and paste the path below into the address bar of this separate File Explorer window, and press Enter.


7 You can now Copy any libraries you want to restore from the extracted Default_Libraries.zip file, and Paste them into the %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries folder to restore them. (see screenshots below)




That's it,
Shawn Brink