Everything was working fine and then it wasn't.



When I download files, they go into the downloads folder and when I open the downloads folder, it won't open. I notice every time I click on the downloads folder, the File Explorer folder adds another copy of the DL folder.

I then click on the FE folder and it shows multiple copies of the DL folder. I click on one of the copies of the DL folder and nothing happens. The DL folder doesn't open.

This happens on every folder I try to open; they don't open and instead, the FE folder instantiates holding the folders I tried to open. But when I click on one, it won't open.
The only way I can open files is to go to the parent app like Word for Word files and use that to open the file I choose.

Anybody got an idea of how this happened and how I can fix it?
Thanks!

Out of interest copy the following blue text: %userprofile% – and then open any File Explorer window. Left click the Address Bar, then right click the highlighted path then paste what you had copied. Now press the Enter key.
Right click the Downloads folder, then click Properties, you may need to scroll down.
In the open dialog box, click the Location tab.
What is showing in the location path?

The location is c:/users/myname/downloads.....
Should I change this to c:/users/myname/desktop?

No - C:/Users/myname/Downloads - is correct.