Fix Quick Access Links in Windows

The Quick Access links is a feature in Windows that gives the user an easy way to access the folders which use frequently by pinning them to the top of the left pane in ‘File Explorer’. Sometimes the file that stores the pinned items can get corrupted and thus you loose access to the Quick Access pinned items. Here’s a few ways to fix it.

Method 1

We can reset the Quick Access Recent Items. This method will only apply to “stuck” recent folders, and won’t affect your pinned folders.

Right click on the Quick Access star icon and then click on ‘Options’.

Click the ‘Clear’ button under ‘Privacy’.

All of your Recent folders will be cleared from the Quick Access list.

Method 2

This method will reset and clear the Quick access shortcuts. But in my opinion this is the better way to fix it, as you can always re-pin your shortcuts.

Open File Explorer and copy/paste the following folder location:

%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations

Look for and then delete this file from the folder:

cmd.exe /c del “%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations\f01b4d95cf55d32a.automaticDestinations-ms”

*Or you can open a ‘Run’ dialog (Windows key + R) and copy/paste the following command into it to delete the file.

cmd.exe /c del "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations\f01b4d95cf55d32a.automaticDestinations-ms"

This method will remove and clear any custom pinned items and frequent items from the Quick Access list. Windows will automatically regenerate the “f01b4d95cf55d32a.automaticDestinations-ms” file the next time that you launch File Explorer and wil list the default Quick Access links which you can expand upon.