How do you deal with "Desktop" being both a parent and a child in Win 11 File Explorer

I'm a Win 11 newbe. Haven't even transferred all my info and apps from my Win 10 PC. But NOT new to PC's. In File Explorer, the top entry is "Desktop." So is the first one under "Home" which is also under "Desktop." And no, the contents are similar, but not the same. My 30 years as a PC user cannot make my 80 year old mind, recognize and deal with the concept of the Desktop being both a parent & a child. The OS is Windows 11 22H2, build 22621.2134. It was installed with assistance from Microsoft Support as the best version, last week. My version that came with the PC caused a BSOD at startup and local shop couldn't fix it. However, the older version also had the same File Explorer scenario, so it must not be an accident.

Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

Harris

Hi, welcome.
I haven’t yet thanked @Ghot , but the first 3 Tweaks in this post (especially the 2nd & 3rd link) saved me from File Explorer frustrations. Also, check out the last link in his post, he’s a good man and has taken time out to make life easier for us 11 newbies.

Cheers

There are reg files in the 2nd and 3rd post that are simple to just run and “Hey Presto” file explorer takes on a form that is more reminiscent to Windows file explorer in win10

Hguilmette said:

I'm a Win 11 newbe. Haven't even transferred all my info and apps from my Win 10 PC. But NOT new to PC's. In File Explorer, the top entry is "Desktop." So is the first one under "Home" which is also under "Desktop." And no, the contents are similar, but not the same. My 30 years as a PC user cannot make my 80 year old mind, recognize and deal with the concept of the Desktop being both a parent & a child. The OS is Windows 11 22H2, build 22621.2134. It was installed with assistance from Microsoft Support as the best version, last week. My version that came with the PC caused a BSOD at startup and local shop couldn't fix it. However, the older version also had the same File Explorer scenario, so it must not be an accident.

Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

Harris

Click to expand...

Hi, Harris @Hguilmette. Welcome to ElevenForum.

Without a screenshot, I can't be sure of exactly what you're seeing, but what I think is going on is that there should be a very small cloud in front of one of the "Desktops", which means OneDrive. Unless you tell Windows not to store your stuff in the cloud (OneDrive), that's where Windows puts it.

I'm still trying to figure out how to control my files and folders.

@Wynona is right, onedrive, if you don’t use it, get rid of it. @Brink has tutorials here for that also.

Welcome to the forum.
@Wynona is exactly right . When you set up a device using a Microsoft account, the default location for Desktop, Documents, Pictures is Onedrive.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/turn-on-or-off-onedrive-folder-backup-syncing-across-windows-11-devices.4321/

Hguilmette said:

Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Welcome to ElevenForum.


These may be of some help...

glasskuter said:

Welcome to the forum.
@Wynona is exactly right . When you set up a device using a Microsoft account, the default location for Desktop, Documents, Pictures is Onedrive.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/turn-on-or-off-onedrive-folder-backup-syncing-across-windows-11-devices.4321/

Click to expand...

Yeppers, I turned OneDrive off on a student's lappy. And now she wants me to teach 'em all about OneDrive! Thing is, if you don't have a subscription to Microsoft 365 (Office), you only have 100 GB O/D storage, so might as well get rid of it.

Hguilmette said:

I'm a Win 11 newbe. Haven't even transferred all my info and apps from my Win 10 PC. But NOT new to PC's. In File Explorer, the top entry is "Desktop." So is the first one under "Home" which is also under "Desktop." And no, the contents are similar, but not the same. My 30 years as a PC user cannot make my 80 year old mind, recognize and deal with the concept of the Desktop being both a parent & a child......

Click to expand...

Welcome to Eleven Forum.

That top level 'Desktop' is not a folder, it is more akin to the Libraries that came in with Windows 7. It is a composite that contains things from many sources. Some are real files and folder from your actual Desktop folder, others such as Home (the equivalent of Windows 10's 'Quick Access') or Network are not physical folders on your hard drive at all.

The real physical folder for Desktop is the one you described as the 'child'. The one at the top isn't a real folder at all so can't be a parent. Think of it as the 'executive overview' and it will be less confusing.

Wynona said:

you only have 100 GB O/D storage

Click to expand...

Hey Wy, Unless one has Ofc365 only 5GB free storage is included with a MS account shared across files and photos in OneDrive and attachments in Outlook.com. 365 users get 1TB.

glasskuter said:

Hey Wy, Unless one has Ofc365 only 5GB free storage is included with a MS account shared across files and photos in OneDrive and attachments in Outlook.com. 365 users get 1TB.

Click to expand...

Urghhhh! I don't know where I got the "100 GB" info, but it looks like I goofed. Thanks for the correction.

Thank you to all for your input. I had pasted a picture in my submission, but apparently did it wrong. I will go through the references from Ghot, but the response from Bree more easily works on my brain. Too bad it will continue to plague me. No kidding about one drive and I will get rid of it. But believe it or not, there is a third edition of desktop under one drive!
Consider me "solved" but not satisfied with win 11 file explorer.

Hguilmette said:

But believe it or not, there is a third edition of desktop under one drive!

Click to expand...

Do you sign in with a Microsoft account? If so that could very well be OneDrive's synced copy of your Desktop. Have a look at posts #4 and #6 again.

It's not necessarily the OneDrive one. Because with the one in OneDrive, there are 3 Desktop items.

Bree said:

That top level 'Desktop' is not a folder, it is more akin to the Libraries that came in with Windows 7. It is a composite that contains things from many sources. Some are real files and folder from your actual Desktop folder, others such as Home (the equivalent of Windows 10's 'Quick Access') or Network are not physical folders on your hard drive at all.

The real physical folder for Desktop is the one you described as the 'child'. The one at the top isn't a real folder at all so can't be a parent. Think of it as the 'executive overview' and it will be less confusing.

Click to expand...

This. Unless you start modifying it, 22H2 gives you 2 without OneDrive, and 3 with OneDrive.

Thank you both. Noted it's the same with "documents." Problem is, which one is the system recognized one? Twice I did a "save as" to my desktop and twice got different results!
Right now my visible desktop shows 16 icons.
What I call the "parent" shows 26. The one under Harris - Personal shows "empty.". The one at the bottom (I think I called this one, the "child" shows 10. See attached photos. The one of my visible desktop is too large but you can see it on the left side of each of the others.
In addition, I discovered another "desktop" so far down I can't even tell what it's under. It also showed 16.
I'm not trying to be difficult, but how can anyone set up a pc like this?
Would the winaeron tweaker mentioned earlier be any better?
Thank you to everyone again. I appreciate everyone's help. But I'm more confused than ever.

Harris

Hguilmette said:

The one under Harris - Personal shows "empty."

Click to expand...

'Harris -Personal' is your personal OneDrive, if that Desktop is showing empty then you are not syncing your Desktop to the cloud.

Bree, thank you. That's great because I used one of the prior tutorial to stop synching one drive before I took these pictures. It worked!

Harris