{"id":20702,"date":"2014-06-05T18:01:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-05T10:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/?p=20702"},"modified":"2023-04-06T19:22:14","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T11:22:14","slug":"restore-default-libraries-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"Restore Default Libraries Shortcuts in Windows (Step-by-Step Guide)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/windows-8-keyboard-shortcuts\/\" rel=\"noopener\">work on Windows<\/a> you would know the Libraries folder. In Libraries, all the files on your computer or external hard drives will be categorized into Documents, Music, Picture and Videos automatically. These libraries are very convenient to have, particularly when you have a lot of files in your hard drives.<\/p>\n<p>If for some reason any of these shortcuts somehow get deleted (woops!), don\u2019t worry, there\u2019s a way to restore them. Here\u2019s what you do.<\/p>\n<h2>Restoring Default Libraries<\/h2>\n<p>There are <strong>two methods to bring back the default libraries shortcut<\/strong>, the first is really simple; the second requires you to download a registry file. If the first method doesn\u2019t work, try the registry file method.<\/p>\n<h2>Method #1<\/h2>\n<p>To begin, open up <strong>Windows Explorer<\/strong> via the icon which looks like file folders (see image). If you do not have that icon on your taskbar, just search for<strong> Windows Explorer<\/strong> from the <strong>Start menu<\/strong> if you\u2019re on Windows 7 or or Windows 8.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/windows-explorer.jpg\" alt=\"Windows Explorer\" width=\"500\" height=\"286\"><\/figure>\n<p>Next, look for <strong>Libraries<\/strong> on the left sidebar, right click, then choose \"Restore default libraries\". If your libraries have been restored, then you\u2019re done. If not, move on to method #2.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/restore-default-libraries.jpg\" alt=\"Restore default libraries\" width=\"500\" height=\"442\"><\/figure>\n<h2>Method #2<\/h2>\n<p>Method 1 didn\u2019t get the job done? Then you\u2019re going to need this <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sevenforums.com\/tutorials\/581-libraries-restore-default.html\">here<\/a>. Double click on it and choose <strong>Run<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/run-registry-key.jpg\" alt=\"Run registry key\" width=\"500\" height=\"381\"><\/figure>\n<p>Your computer will ask you whether you want to give permission to this file to make changes on your computer; click <strong>Yes<\/strong>. If you see another window saying \"adding information can unintentionally change or delete values and cause components to stop working correctly,\" keep calm and click <strong>Yes<\/strong> again.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/registry-editor.jpg\" alt=\"User Account Control\" width=\"500\" height=\"385\"><\/figure>\n<p>You will be shown a third window. This one will say that \"the keys and values have been successfully added to the registry,\" which means you\u2019re done.<\/p>\n<p>Just <strong>restart your computer<\/strong> to have your default libraries restored.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/successfully-added.jpg\" alt=\"Successfully added registry key\" width=\"500\" height=\"195\"><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you work on Windows you would know the Libraries folder. In Libraries, all the files on your computer or external hard drives will be categorized into Documents, Music, Picture and Videos automatically. These libraries are very convenient to have, particularly when you have a lot of files in your hard drives. If for some&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3397],"tags":[171,1962],"topic":[4521],"class_list":["entry-content","is-maxi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.8 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Restore Default Libraries Shortcuts in Windows (Step-by-Step Guide) - Hongkiat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you work on Windows you would know the Libraries folder. In Libraries, all the files on your computer or external hard drives will be categorized into\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Restore Default Libraries Shortcuts in Windows (Step-by-Step Guide)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you work on Windows you would know the Libraries folder. In Libraries, all the files on your computer or external hard drives will be categorized into\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hongkiatcom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-05T10:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-06T11:22:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/windows-explorer.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nels Dzyre\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nels Dzyre\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nels Dzyre\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9ddeeebe9a13534fe79269d6c72397f9\"},\"headline\":\"Restore Default Libraries Shortcuts in Windows (Step-by-Step Guide)\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-05T10:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-06T11:22:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":318,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/windows-explorer.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Microsoft Windows\",\"rr\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Desktop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/\",\"name\":\"Restore Default Libraries Shortcuts in Windows (Step-by-Step Guide) - Hongkiat\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/windows-explorer.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-05T10:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-06T11:22:14+00:00\",\"description\":\"If you work on Windows you would know the Libraries folder. In Libraries, all the files on your computer or external hard drives will be categorized into\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/windows-explorer.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/windows-explorer.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/restore-default-libraries-windows\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Restore Default Libraries Shortcuts in Windows (Step-by-Step Guide)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hongkiat\",\"description\":\"Tech and Design Tips\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Hongkiat.com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/hkdc-logo-rect-yoast.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/hkdc-logo-rect-yoast.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":799,\"caption\":\"Hongkiat.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/hongkiatcom\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/hongkiat\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.com\\\/hongkiat\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9ddeeebe9a13534fe79269d6c72397f9\",\"name\":\"Nels Dzyre\",\"description\":\"Nels Dzyre is a tech enthusiast from the age of dial-ups, an Android follower since we had Cupcake, and a gamer.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/nels_dzyre\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Restore Default Libraries Shortcuts in Windows (Step-by-Step Guide) - Hongkiat","description":"If you work on Windows you would know the Libraries folder. In Libraries, all the files on your computer or external hard drives will be categorized into","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Restore Default Libraries Shortcuts in Windows (Step-by-Step Guide)","og_description":"If you work on Windows you would know the Libraries folder. In Libraries, all the files on your computer or external hard drives will be categorized into","og_url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/","og_site_name":"Hongkiat","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hongkiatcom","article_published_time":"2014-06-05T10:01:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-06T11:22:14+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/windows-explorer.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Nels Dzyre","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@hongkiat","twitter_site":"@hongkiat","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nels Dzyre","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/"},"author":{"name":"Nels Dzyre","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9ddeeebe9a13534fe79269d6c72397f9"},"headline":"Restore Default Libraries Shortcuts in Windows (Step-by-Step Guide)","datePublished":"2014-06-05T10:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-06T11:22:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/"},"wordCount":318,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/windows-explorer.jpg","keywords":["Microsoft Windows","rr"],"articleSection":["Desktop"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/","url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/","name":"Restore Default Libraries Shortcuts in Windows (Step-by-Step Guide) - Hongkiat","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/windows-explorer.jpg","datePublished":"2014-06-05T10:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-06T11:22:14+00:00","description":"If you work on Windows you would know the Libraries folder. In Libraries, all the files on your computer or external hard drives will be categorized into","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/windows-explorer.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/windows-explorer.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/restore-default-libraries-windows\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Restore Default Libraries Shortcuts in Windows (Step-by-Step Guide)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/","name":"Hongkiat","description":"Tech and Design Tips","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Hongkiat.com","url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/hkdc-logo-rect-yoast.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/hkdc-logo-rect-yoast.jpg","width":1200,"height":799,"caption":"Hongkiat.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hongkiatcom","https:\/\/x.com\/hongkiat","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/hongkiat\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9ddeeebe9a13534fe79269d6c72397f9","name":"Nels Dzyre","description":"Nels Dzyre is a tech enthusiast from the age of dial-ups, an Android follower since we had Cupcake, and a gamer.","url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/author\/nels_dzyre\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4uxU-5nU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20702"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66069,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20702\/revisions\/66069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20702"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=20702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}