OneDrive, Desktop, and Total Commander (W10)

[hunt@stu.ca]

I'm using a W10 laptop temporarily. TC on my regular W10 machine showed "Desktop" as a folder like any other directory, but TC's menu on this laptop displays no such entry. It does find a Desktop folder under OneDrive, which includes listings for some items that show on my visible desktop, but not others. It doesn't, for instance, show some programs -- Total Commander or Chrome or LibreOffice -- but does show others -- e.g., Zoom. It does display folders and files which I've saved to my visible desktop.

There is also a folder under Users/Public/Desktop which _does_ list the programs not shown in OneDrive but which do appear on my actual, visible desktop.

I don't understand what OneDrive is doing here, and I've not seen this behavior on my main computer (also running W10). I don't regularly use OneDrive on either machine. Can anybody help me figure out how to get a usable folder called Desktop that will let me use it like a folder?

-- Russ Hunt

[beb]

What you see visualized as your desktop is being rendered as a mixed content of two physical folders:
- a user's desktop.
- an all users' desktop.
The former can be accessed by the Total Commander button:

Code: Select all

TOTALCMD#BAR#DATA
cd %$Desktop%

wcmicon2.dll,27
Desktop

0
-1

The latter can be accessed via the Total Commander button:

Code: Select all

TOTALCMD#BAR#DATA
cd %Public%\Desktop

%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,110
Public

0
-1

Otherwise, you can locate your desktop folders (their actual paths) by the PowerShell script:
Where_my_desktop_folders_reside.ps1

Code: Select all

[Environment]::GetFolderPath("Desktop")
[Environment]::GetFolderPath("CommonDesktopDirectory")
pause

I may assume that if the OneDrive corresponding option (OneDrive - Settings - Sinc and Backup - Back up important PC folders to OneDrive) is activated, it can affect the said folders and how Windows would handle that. Unfortunately, I cannot predict it, and describe it, since I don't utilize OneDrive to control/backup my desktop, as seen in the screenshot, and therefore I do not get proper experience on the matter:
Image: https://i.imgur.com/ijpiQDW.png
I might suppose, that if the backup option is activated, OneDrive rather should just keep a copy of the above-mentioned folders.
Since I do not use that OneDrive option, Windows handles my desktop folders as usual, as if I didn't have the OneDrive at all.
Still, I believe it may give you some hints.
In its turn, here's a related Microsoft support page:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/back-up-your-folders-with-onedrive-d61a7930-a6fb-4b95-b28a-6552e77c3057
So, as a first approach, I would dare to recommend you set up identical settings regarding OneDrive backup options on each of your PCs. For instance, If the backup is turned off on your main machine (which behaves the way you used to), turn it off on the secondary machine as well, and vice versa.