Retargeting the MSIE Favorites folder

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,alt.security.pgp (More info?)

On my old computer, I set things up so the MSIE Favorites folder was
located on my PGPdisk volume. The purpose of this is to ensure the
privacy of all entries in the MSIE Favorites folder, because if my
laptop is ever stolen that would be sensitive information.

The way I did that was to have a folder called Favorites located on
the PGPdisk volume, and a shortcut called Favorites.lnk pointing from
the \windows directory to the folder Favorites on the PGP volume. This
arrangement worked fine. It was achieved by a simple copy /
paste-shortcut.

I cannot get this arrangement to work on my new computer. I have
similarly created a Favorites folder (denoted with a star in Windows
Explorer) on the PGPdisk volume, and created a Favorites.lnk shortcut
in the directory where MSIE locates its Favorites folder. The problem
is that I cannot delete MSIE's original Favorites folder. If I try to
delete it in Windows Explorer it says 'Favorites is a Windows system
folder and is required for Windows to run properly. It cannot be
deleted'. If I issue a command rmdir /s Favorites then the folder
is magically recreated.

While that folder exists, Windows takes no notice of my Favorites.lnk
shortcut, which points to the desired Favorites folder on my PGPdisk.

How can I get rid of this damn system Favorites folder without it
reappearing on next reboot? Merely moving it to the PGPdisk volume is
no good because then it gets recreated on next boot whereupon the
PGPdisk will not mount into that directory, and mounts instead as a
drive letter.

Alternatively, I have looked for a registry setting for the MSIE
Favorites folder, but haven't achieved any result there.

Help, please.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

[crossposting removed]

You can change the value of Favorites in the Registry in these
two keys: (ignore the second if the value is not there)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders

For Windows 2000/XP:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Window­s\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders]
Set the Favorites path to : %USERPROFILE%\Favorites


The above should be a REG_EXPAND_SZ value, not REG_SZ


Ref: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFAQ.htm#favorites
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm



....Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/index.html

On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 00:47:14 +0100, rta897@mynot.spam wrote:

>On my old computer, I set things up so the MSIE Favorites folder was
>located on my PGPdisk volume. The purpose of this is to ensure the
>privacy of all entries in the MSIE Favorites folder, because if my
>laptop is ever stolen that would be sensitive information.
>
>The way I did that was to have a folder called Favorites located on
>the PGPdisk volume, and a shortcut called Favorites.lnk pointing from
>the \windows directory to the folder Favorites on the PGP volume. This
>arrangement worked fine. It was achieved by a simple copy /
>paste-shortcut.
>
>I cannot get this arrangement to work on my new computer. I have
>similarly created a Favorites folder (denoted with a star in Windows
>Explorer) on the PGPdisk volume, and created a Favorites.lnk shortcut
>in the directory where MSIE locates its Favorites folder. The problem
>is that I cannot delete MSIE's original Favorites folder. If I try to
>delete it in Windows Explorer it says 'Favorites is a Windows system
>folder and is required for Windows to run properly. It cannot be
>deleted'. If I issue a command rmdir /s Favorites then the folder
>is magically recreated.
>
>While that folder exists, Windows takes no notice of my Favorites.lnk
>shortcut, which points to the desired Favorites folder on my PGPdisk.
>
>How can I get rid of this damn system Favorites folder without it
>reappearing on next reboot? Merely moving it to the PGPdisk volume is
>no good because then it gets recreated on next boot whereupon the
>PGPdisk will not mount into that directory, and mounts instead as a
>drive letter.
>
>Alternatively, I have looked for a registry setting for the MSIE
>Favorites folder, but haven't achieved any result there.
>
>Help, please.

....Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/index.html

 

[Jim]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,alt.security.pgp (More info?)

rta897@mynot.spam wrote...
> On my old computer, I set things up so the MSIE Favorites folder was
> located on my PGPdisk volume. The purpose of this is to ensure the
> privacy of all entries in the MSIE Favorites folder, because if my
> laptop is ever stolen that would be sensitive information.
>
> The way I did that was to have a folder called Favorites located on
> the PGPdisk volume, and a shortcut called Favorites.lnk pointing from
> the \windows directory to the folder Favorites on the PGP volume. This
> arrangement worked fine. It was achieved by a simple copy /
> paste-shortcut.
>
> I cannot get this arrangement to work on my new computer. I have
> similarly created a Favorites folder (denoted with a star in Windows
> Explorer) on the PGPdisk volume, and created a Favorites.lnk shortcut
> in the directory where MSIE locates its Favorites folder. The problem
> is that I cannot delete MSIE's original Favorites folder. If I try to
> delete it in Windows Explorer it says 'Favorites is a Windows system
> folder and is required for Windows to run properly. It cannot be
> deleted'. If I issue a command rmdir /s Favorites then the folder
> is magically recreated.
>
> While that folder exists, Windows takes no notice of my Favorites.lnk
> shortcut, which points to the desired Favorites folder on my PGPdisk.
>
> How can I get rid of this damn system Favorites folder without it
> reappearing on next reboot? Merely moving it to the PGPdisk volume is
> no good because then it gets recreated on next boot whereupon the
> PGPdisk will not mount into that directory, and mounts instead as a
> drive letter.
>
> Alternatively, I have looked for a registry setting for the MSIE
> Favorites folder, but haven't achieved any result there.


changing this setting should do the trick. I can't remember off-hand which one
to change, but they are both linked.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell
Folders

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,alt.security.pgp (More info?)

On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 10:37:56 +1000, Alan Edwards
<edwards@southcom.com.au> wrote:

>You can change the value of Favorites in the Registry in these
>two keys: (ignore the second if the value is not there)
>
>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
>Folders
>
>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
>Shell Folders
>
>For Windows 2000/XP:
>[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Window­s\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
>Shell Folders]
>Set the Favorites path to : %USERPROFILE%\Favorites

I found the answer to the Favorites-on-PGPdisk problem. What I did was
to create a JUNCTION in the NTFS filesystem at C:\ for my 'personal'
encrypted folder, using the linkd command from the Windows resource
kit.

The actual PGPdisk is set to mount on a drive, say D: and the junction
is created so that 'c:\personal' points to D: . So when XP boots it
cannot recreate the Favorites folder on the junction because the
junction doesn't yet exist. Next the PGPdisk is mounted on D:, then
the junction becomes valid and MSIE Favorites on \personal\Favorites
works as it should.

The shortcut Favorites.lnk is completely unconnected and unnecessary.

The Favorites folder can be dragged / moved in Explorer from its
previous location to \personal\Favorites, which also updates the
registry keys.

Sorted.