My Documents Icon Is Missing

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The user attempts to use the My Documents folder and the My Documents folder is not available on the desktop or in Windows Explorer.

Possible Causes:

  • The My Documents icon has been deleted.

  • There is a Group Policy setting that disables the My Documents icon.

Diagnostic Tests:

If the My Documents icon is deleted or disabled by the user, it can be restored by using the following procedure:

To restore the My Documents icon

  1. Open My Computer .

  2. Click Tools, click Folder Options , and then click the View tab.

  3. Click the Show My Documents on the Desktop check box to select it.

  4. Log off and then log back on.

You can apply a Group Policy setting that restricts access to the My Documents folder. The name of the Group Policy setting that controls this is:

User Settings\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar\Hide My Documents icon on Desktop

To see if this Group Policy setting is applied, run Gpresult.exe in verbose mode on the client computer. Look at the output of this tool to see if the following registry setting is applied:

KeyName: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\NonEnum

ValueName: {450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}

ValueType: REG_DWORD

Value: 0x00000001

If this is present, the Hide My Documents folder on the Desktop Group Policy setting is enabled.

note-iconNote

When you apply the Hide My Documents icon on the Desktop Group Policy setting to a user, it is impossible for a user to override it. Although the user can turn the My Documents icon on and off as shown in the procedure listed earlier, the Group Policy setting still takes priority.