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The Painful Process of Removing My Sharing Folders
When I installed Windows Live Messenger on my laptop, it also installed a folder named My Sharing Folders. Sometimes, when I try to drag a file to a different folder in Windows Explorer, it accidentally touches the My Sharing Folders, a message appears, and the copying freezes solid. Forever. Actually, I get tired of waiting after a few seconds, and use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to shut it down, and start over.
After it happened again today, I was determined to get rid of the annoying folder, but there’s no obvious way to delete it. It would make sense to right-click on the folder and select Delete from the list of commands, but it’s not available. So, the Googling started.
Failed Attempt #1
The first suggestion that I found said to install Tweak UI and uncheck the folder name in there.
No problem installing Tweak UI, or unchecking the box, but it had absolutely no effect on the folder, even after a reboot. Back to Google.
Failed Attempt #2
The next suggestion was to open Windows Live Messenger to determine its version number. I have Build 8.5.1302.1018 and of course there’s no way to copy that number onto the clipboard, so I typed it into a text file and copied from there.
Then, I closed the Help window, clicked the Windows Start button, and clicked Run.
I typed the long line below, pasting in my build number:
regsvr32 -u “%PROGRAMFILES%\MSN Messenger\fsshext.8.5.1302.1018.dll
I clicked OK, but unfortunately, that didn’t work either. All I got was an error message.
Failed Attempt #3
Back to Google, where I found a variation of attempt 2, but with a different path. I had to retype the ” which was slanted in the notes.
regsvr32 -u \”%programfiles%\\windows live\\messenger\\fsshext.8.5.1302.1018.dll
This line ran without problems, and removed the My Sharing Folders. The victory was short-lived though — the next time I restarted the laptop, it was installed again.
Success At Last
Finally, I found an article on the SuperWasp site. Their solution requires registry edits and file name changes, but it removed My Shared Folders and there was no re-installation when I restarted the laptop.
Woohoo! But why does it have to be so complicated?
Filed under: Windows
Comment from Ken Puls
Time: September 23, 2008, 12:52 am
{snip}…freezes solid. Forever. Actually, I get tired of waiting after a few seconds…{snip}
LOL! A few seconds = forever. You’re as patient as I am!
Re the comment about copying the text from the messenger version.. there is a way. Use SnagIt. it’s got a cool feature that will essentially OCR a screen shot. (It’s under Text From Window in your profiles section.) I find it super helpful when you’re debuggering code and get one of those irritating boxes with a message you can’t copy.
Comment from Jon Peltier
Time: September 23, 2008, 7:26 am
Deb -
So what is Windows Live Messenger used for? It even sounds like it would be problematic. I would be a s likely to uninstall that than try to hassle with a worthless folder that only reminded me to take a break every so often.
Ken -
After you hit the Debug button, run this from the Immediate Window:
?err.number & “: ” & err.description
Comment from Debra Dalgleish
Time: September 23, 2008, 9:08 am
Ken, thanks, that’s great! I just tried it, and it worked perfectly.
Jon, I was one failed attempt away from removing WLM. I can’t remember why I installed it — probably it was automatically installed with my webcam. I guess the folder’s for sharing stuff while using WLM, but since I never use it, it’s no use to me.
Comment from Ken Puls
Time: September 23, 2008, 11:16 pm
Jon,
99.9% of the time it works, but there is always that .1% that you can’t get the exact wording. It’s also very useful for picking up error text from programs whose code I can’t access.