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Command Prompt Help

Anomaly1964

Anomaly1964

Platinum Member
So my daughter got a virus on her pc, it's stuck in reboot loop and can't even get into Safe Mode...

I can however get to the command prompt. I am able to get a lot of her pictures and videos by going the C:\ and using XCOPY and copying to a thumb drive...

Here is where I am stuck...

She saved some pictures and videos under LIBRARIES - Pictures - Videos, you know, what you see when you use WINDOWS Key and E. How the heck can I figure out how to get there through the command prompt? I know they are there but the are NOT under c:\users...

Any help would be GREAT...THANKS!
 
Libraries are just an aggregation of any number of directories in any number of places. You might be able to Google where the Library configuration for a user is and search the registry to see what hers is set to with the reg command, but it would probably be simpler to plug the disk into another PC or image it and mount the image on another PC and find all images that way.
 
Windows 7 Libraries aren't an actual folder location. They're multiple locations (if configured that way) presented somewhat as a single location, for convenience. The defaults for any users are c:/Users/UserName/Pictures (or Documents, Videos, etc...)

However, you can use a command line utility: shlib.exe to get the info and locations within a given library, as described here.

So, for example, to list the location(s) of my Pictures library in the command-line goes something like this:
Code: 
c:\temp\ShLib>ShLib.exe info "C:\Users\MyUserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Pictures.library-ms"
Option flags: LOF_PINNEDTONAVPANE
Folder type: FOLDERTYPEID_Pictures
Icon path: imageres.dll,-1003

Library contains 3 folders:
* C:\Users\MyUserName\Pictures
# C:\Users\Public\Pictures
  C:\Users\MyUserName\Desktop

c:\temp\ShLib>
 
Gooberlx2 said:
Windows 7 Libraries aren't an actual folder location. They're multiple locations (if configured that way) presented somewhat as a single location, for convenience. The defaults for any users are c:/Users/UserName/Pictures (or Documents, Videos, etc...)

However, you can use a command line utility: shlib.exe to get the info and locations within a given library, as described here.

So, for example, to list the location(s) of my Pictures library in the command-line goes something like this:
Code: 
c:\temp\ShLib>ShLib.exe info "C:\Users\MyUserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Pictures.library-ms"
Option flags: LOF_PINNEDTONAVPANE
Folder type: FOLDERTYPEID_Pictures
Icon path: imageres.dll,-1003

Library contains 3 folders:
* C:\Users\MyUserName\Pictures
# C:\Users\Public\Pictures
  C:\Users\MyUserName\Desktop

c:\temp\ShLib>
Click to expand...


But I am in Vista, not windows 7...

From the command prompt, when I go here, c:/Users/UserName/Pictures that seems to be a different place the files that might be under LIBRARIES/Music/Pictures per se...

From windows it looks like two different places to save stuff, either the folder already set up in windows (i.e. pics, docs, music) or when you create folder on the C drive...

Either way, arent they ALL on the C drive, so why cant I find them through the command prompt?
 
Hmmm libraries aren't a Vista feature...so I'm not sure what's going on in your situation. She just created a folder called "libraries" somewhere on the filesystem? (which could explain the confusion)

Yeah, as Nothinman mentioned, try just plugging the drive into another PC to better search/browse for the folder(s) you want. Or try booting in to a Linux LiveCD, like Ubuntu.
 
Gooberlx2 said:
Hmmm libraries aren't a Vista feature...so I'm not sure what's going on in your situation. She just created a folder called "libraries" somewhere on the filesystem? (which could explain the confusion)

Yeah, as Nothinman mentioned, try just plugging the drive into another PC to better search/browse for the folder(s) you want. Or try booting in to a Linux LiveCD, like Ubuntu.
Click to expand...

Yeah, just gonna get one of those external hard drive mounts from best buy and pull the files that way...

I just like learning new stuff...

I cant figure out why I cant find the files though...
 
Take the hard drive out, put it in another computer as a non-boot drive.

Then use the operating system of the other computer to scan the drive.

Sometimes you can clean the drive up enough so that it can boot on its own.
 
Texashiker said:
Take the hard drive out, put it in another computer as a non-boot drive.

Then use the operating system of the other computer to scan the drive.

Sometimes you can clean the drive up enough so that it can boot on its own.
Click to expand...


All my wiring is cleaned up to pretty in my other PCs to put another drive in...LOL!
 
Anomaly1964 said:
All my wiring is cleaned up to pretty in my other PCs to put another drive in...LOL!
Click to expand...

You don't have to actually "put it in". Just hook it up, and lay it on a foam pad outside the case. Keep an eye on it though. They sometimes like to walk off table edges :^D
 
Another way is to list all the movies in the drive using the "dir *.avi /s" command and "cd" into the folder that contain the video you're looking for. You could do the same for pictures.
 
Badkarma said:
Another way is to list all the movies in the drive using the "dir *.avi /s" command and "cd" into the folder that contain the video you're looking for. You could do the same for pictures.
Click to expand...

That only covers files with that extension, images and videos have dozens of potential formats with varying extensions.
 
Just do a brute copy of everything in every folder that might possible have pictures.

For example:

Code: 
xcopy C:\Users\MyUserName\Desktop\*.* F:\Desktop /d /e /y /v
xcopy C:\Users\Public\Pictures\*.* F:\PublicPictures /d /e /y /v
xcopy C:\Users\MyUserName\Pictures\*.* F:\MyPictures /d /e /y /v
xcopy C:\Users\MyUserName\Documents\*.* F:\Documents /d /e /y /v

(The switches needed might have to be modified)

Or preferably if you have a big enough flash drive:

Code: 
xcopy C:\Users\*.* F:\Users /d /e /y /v
 
Last edited:
Nothinman said:
That only covers files with that extension, images and videos have dozens of potential formats with varying extensions.
Click to expand...

That's true. But the most popular video container is avi and most likely to get a hit. Once he finds it, he can browse to that directory and list its content. If it's the videos he's looking for, most likely the other medias is in the same folder since most people like to store their personal stuff in the same place. If that doesn't return anything he can try other extensions.

From the OP, it sounds like he only wants to look for the location of the Library folder. If you kinda know the content of the folder I dont see why my method wouldn't work. It's the same thing if you were using file explorer but with more typing.
 
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