move Downloads folder in File Explorer

Hi. I would like to move the Downloads folder which currently is not displayed in the File Explorer window,
to the upper left corner under my personal folder (which does show some folders e.g. Documents).

I followed a procedure I located on the web up to the point where I was asked a Q about redirection.
I'm not overly familiar with Windows 11 and was surprised that this folder and Music as well did not
display when I started File Explorer.

My concern is the part about not being able to restore defaults.

See attached for the popup window posing the redirection Q.

I'm old school, if I'm not sure, I don't hit the 'enter' key.

Any help and advice when I'm doing this will be greatly appreciated.

If you create a new Downloads folder on another drive (other than C:, assuming you have that 2TB drive partitioned), you can pin it to Quick Access and set your browsers to save downloads to IT, rather than to the Users ... Downloads folder. Actually, I never use a special downloads folder. I have a catch-all folder on my D: drive where I put things I want quick access to (temporarily). I call it AATemp, so that it's at the top of the D: File Explorer window. Both of my browsers send all downloads to AATemp. Just a thought.

I have attached the file which should have been attached as part of my initial post.

I am surprised the Downloads and Music folders are not present. As you say I thought they were default folders as well. I see these folders in my File Explorer and when I highlight them there is no option to delete them so, if they are fixed in place owned and by the OS I don't know how you could have deleted them by accident. Maybe your OS is corrupt? As a first step try running this batch file and if that doesn't work then consider in an-place upgrade. See Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade Tutorial .

The screenshot indicates to me that you have manipulated the navigation pane in some way. The pinned items section is missing.
It appears you have removed quick access, leaving only Favorites and recent. Re-enable Quick Access to see if the pinned section returns. If it does , pin the Downloads and Music folders to quick access and they will show up in your Home folder as well.

Normally when you click on HOME, you see this. Notice that the items I have pinned also show up in the Home folder. (middle section of navigation pane. The sections are divided by the horizontal lines) Note: I have Recent Items turned off. That's why you do not see it in the Home folder.


When a MS account is used to login, desktop, documents, and pictures folders are located in Onedrive by default.
However, Music and Downloads folder do not default to Onedrive but default to the user account folder, the reason being these 2 folders use so much data, your 5gb free onedrive space will run out quickly unless you either buy more onedrive storage or use Office365 which allows you a lot of storage. Most people who do not want Downloads or Music to be located on their system drive, move these folders to a secondary drive, but not Onedrive, for the reason I just mentioned.