How to Backup and Restore Recent Items, CustomDestination, and AutomaticDestinations to a new laptop/computer

Question

Using robocopy I have been able to make copies of the recent items, customdesitnation, and automaticdestination folder on our server. I had to run the same command line a second time to be able to change the attributes on the backup folders so that the contents are viewable.

This is all fine and dandy my problem is, when I restore the items to a new laptop c:\users\username\appdata\roaming\microsoft\windows folders, the items are not appearing in the folder view of quick access.

The Quick Access and Recent panes remain empty. What is the proper way to backup and restore these files/folders?

Users at work are very frustrated when they are issued a different laptop for one reason or another and they've lost all there "quick access", "recent" items.

I have never had an issue with this in the past, we are using OneDrive to sync, desktop, documents, etc. in the cloud.

Answer 1

Hello there,

Windows can't export and transfer quick access pinned folders. You can try the below steps to copy the content to new device.

Press Windows + R to open the Run box. And type %appdata%\microsoft\windows\recent\automaticdestinations. Press Enter to see all files under Quick Access.

type quick access path

Copy the file named as f01b4d95cf55d32a.automaticDestinations-ms. Paste it to the location - external hard drive, USB, or a separate folder.

Hope this resolves your Query !!

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