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Because most users only have one drive. So it makes sense to put the Downloads folder inside the user folder inside the only drive the system has. If you have
by compressedgas 3y ago
Because most users only have one drive. So it makes sense to put the Downloads folder inside the user folder inside the only drive the system has.
If you have two drives, then presumably you can find out how to move either the Downloads folder or even the entire user profile directory on to the second drive. The same applies if you have instead partitioned your one disk in some way.
- revskill 3y agoNot quite, it's from Chrome. Chrome knows well that you have 2 drives the moment you install it ?
- raverbashing 3y agoI think it simply points to %USERDATA%/Downloads
- petee 3y agoSo now it must assume which drive to use? What if my second drive is only for work, and I don't want Chrome touching it? This is why they give you an option to change it instead of guessing
- revskill 3y agoNo, it never asks you to change Downloads folder when you install it.
- petee 3y agoBut it doesnt put anything in the folder either. So you open Chrome and change it, if its an issue for your local computer. Its not like it is installing a gig of data with no user control. Zero data, full control.
- compressedgas 3y agoChrome presumably isn't going to implement a setup dialog for an option that any one who wants to change it can do so either at the Windows level or in Chrome's settings. This dialog would require the user to make a choice in a dialog when the browser first starts up. Chrome doesn't do anything on first start like that. The browser just opens and puts the user right into a working setup. Chrome uses SHGetKnownFolderPath(FOLDERID_Downloads) to get the location of the Downloads folder on Windows. The default result of this call is %USERPROFILE%\Downloads but the path returned can be configured to be something different by changing the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B} key to something else other than %USERPROFILE%\Downloads If you do this and before starting Chrome for the first time, it will default to whatever path you have set in the registry key.
- revskill 3y agoOr there's a better way, just let me select the Downloads folder when installing the first time ?
- compressedgas 3y agoSo you want to burden every one else with a setup dialog that nearly all of them don't need. Say this dialog takes 10 seconds to read and dismiss. That's 10 seconds of billions of people. If I had you instead look at this dialog for 10 seconds a billion times, it would consume 317 years. Your desire has just spent your life. As this was only hypothetical, would you reconsider?
- revskill 3y agoIt's correct in THEORY. 10 seconds to configure the MOST IMPORTANT application like Chrome on your system worths every second of it. (You're trade 10 seconds for your next 5 years)
- beardyw 3y agoNot used Windows for a while but as far as I remember everything defaults to the C drive. Seems reasonable to also put downloads there. That's where User folders go isn't it?
- not_your_vase 3y agoFollowup question: why does the Windows installer defaults to creating only 1 partition, instead of creating something saner, separate system and user partition, similar Linux installers for example? (This just came to my mind: quite possibly the Linux distro from MS also does the same) That way an operating system catastrophe wouldn't be almost always fatal...