Hidden shortcuts in root

[Shawn]

Hi
As the title states I noticed two hidden shortcuts in my root c drive. A shortcut to programs and a shortcut to documents and settings. I have not created them myself and I apparently don't have permission to open them even though I'm using the main admin user I get an error stating "permission denied".

I hope someone have insight regarding this, since I would really like to know what created them and why. Thanks.

 

[Regedit32]

Hi Shawn,

Welcome to the Forum.

The Hidden Documents and Settings shortcut you can see in the root directory after un-hiding protected operating system files is intended to be there as legacy support from Microsoft for those with older PCs that were upgrade from XP, to Vista, 7, 8 then on to Windows 10. It's inaccessible as its only intended to be a joint file to connect old with the new [ in Windows 10's Case C:\Users is the equivalent of XP's Documents and Settings.

I'm not certain about your Programs shortcut you mentioned, unless you mean C:\Data\Programs which would likely be another legacy feature for older PCs now using Windows 10. That directory would store installed apps, so again this would be a joint file to connect to Windows 10's C:\Windows\SystemApps and probably intertwined with the Start menu too. Someone else may be more familiar with the shortcut you mean though, so do not take this as Gospel.

Regards,

Regedit32

 

[Grizzly]

Hi
As the title states I noticed two hidden shortcuts in my root c drive. A shortcut to programs and a shortcut to documents and settings. I have not created them myself and I apparently don't have permission to open them even though I'm using the main admin user I get an error stating "permission denied".

I hope someone have insight regarding this, since I would really like to know what created them and why. Thanks.

Do you mean this:

???

If so then check this:

 

[Shawn]

Hi Regedit32.
Ah that makes sense, thanks! So that's the Documents and Settings shortcut resolved. The other shortcut is to Programs, I guess it's another legacy folder, but I would like to know for sure.

Thanks for joining in Grizzly. Yes that's one of the folders I was in doubt about. I know how to hide them from view by doing what you posted a screenshot of, but I want to figure out the origin of those files, not just hide them.