Library-ms is no longer working - Fix in Windows 7 and 8

How to Fix the Library-ms is no longer working Error in Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to fix the 'Library-ms is no longer working' error when you attempt to open a library in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

EXAMPLE: "Documents.library-ms is no longer working. This library can be safely deleted from your computer. Folders that have been included will not be affected" Error

• Pictures.library-Ms is No Longer Working
• Documents.library-Ms is No Longer Working
• Videos.library-Ms is No Longer Working
• Music.library-Ms is No Longer Working

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Here's How:

1. Open Windows Explorer (Windows 7) or File Explorer (Windows 8).

2. Delete any library that you are getting this error with. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Do not worry. Deleting a library does not delete the contents of the library.

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3. If prompted by Recycle Bin, click/tap on Yes to confirm deletion of library. (see screenshot below)

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4. When finished deleting affected libraries, right click on Libraries in the navigation pane, and click/tap on Restore Default Libraries. (see screenshot below)

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Fix Libraries when Hidden and Empty in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Fix Cannot Rename Library in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Restore the Default Libraries in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Add or Remove "Libraries" from the Navigation Pane in Windows 8 Explorer
• How to Add or Remove "Libraries" from the Navigation Pane in Windows 7 Explorer
• Hide or Show a Library in Navigation Pane in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Add or Remove Libraries Desktop Icon in Windows 8 and 8.1

 

[jlbrecher]

Shawn,
Thanks so much! I hadn't put my files onto my external drive for some time. Guess I need to set a schedule to do that so this isn't so big of a deal.
Again, thanks Shawn.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome JL. I'm glad it could help.

If you like, you could add/include the folder on your external drive that you are saving files to into a library, then set this folder to be the default "save" folder for the library. This way anything you save to the library actually get's saved to the folder on the external drive. Of course you'll need to keep the external drive connected and turned on to always be accessible when needed.

 

[Leeeeemonz]

Whenever I restore my default libraries, the only ones that were restored are the pictures and documents. The music and video libraries didn't appear.

 

[Brink]

Hello Lee, and welcome to Eight Forums.

As a test, use the tutorial below to set all libraries to not be hidden to see if the missing libraries may just have been hidden by mistake.

Libraries - Hidden and Empty Fix - Windows 7 Help Forums

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[Leeeeemonz]

I tried doing both methods but none of them work.

 

[Brink]

Ok Lee. If you like, let's try this bit more drastic measure to restore all the default registry entries for all libraries. You'll need to download the .reg file below to your desktop, double click on it to merge, and approve (yes/ok) all prompts for the merge. You may get an error that not all registry entries were merged. If so, that's normal if they have not been tampered with previously. When finished, restart the PC to apply, then see if the libraries have returned.

View attachment restore-libraries.reg

 

[Cuyahogen]

Thank you Shawn - I love Windows 8 ...

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Cuyahogen, and welcome to Eight Forums.

 

[tylerwangen]

So, I created my own library. And named it Admin. That one also gets the Admin.library-ms is no longer working error. How can I fix this, and make sure I don't lose any of my files in it? Thanks

 

[Brink]

So, I created my own library. And named it Admin. That one also gets the Admin.library-ms is no longer working error. How can I fix this, and make sure I don't lose any of my files in it? Thanks

Hello Tyler, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Luckily files in a library are actually saved in the folders you include in the library and not the library itself.

You could delete the broken Admin library, create a new library with a different name, include the same folders from the Admin library in the new library, and set your default save folders.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[mrp192]

Hi, I think I've been a dunce and hope I haven't lost all my son's work. Our PC has no space left on the C drive and in looking to try and free some up I went into my sons doc folders and saw that they saved in 2 places. One was called public documents that appeared to be empty so I thought it would save space if I deleted it which I did.
I then found when I tried to go into his 'my documents' folder this wouldn't open and an error message says ' "Documents.library-ms" is no longer working. This library can be safely deleted from your computer. Folders that have been included will not be infected. ' All others music etc. are fine.Trying not to panic as there are some important docs in there that haven't been copied I Googled the reply and found this forum that appears to give an answer, but some of the other posters don't appear to have been as stupid as me and deleted something so wondered if this fix would apply to me as well without losing all my son's work?
No space appears to have been created by doing this and his 'my docs' folder was 29.8 gb so am hoping its still there somewhere.
I tried to restore to an earlier date but because of the space issue this said it couldn't work and that I had never created a restore point which I'm sure I had!
Hope you can help?
Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Brink]

Hello Mark, and welcome to Eight Forums.

If you haven't already, you might check the Recycle Bin to see if the deleted items may still be in there to be able to quickly restore from.

Just to clarify, when you say you deleted the public documents, did you delete the actual folder in the library or at "C:\Users\Public\Documents", or did you just remove the folder from the Documents library? If you just removed the folder, then you could add the folder back to the library after fixing the library using the tutorial on the first page.

Using this tutorial will restore the library, but if you deleted the actual folder, then you may have deleted the actual documents. If so, those will not be restore with the library.

If you did delete the actual folder, then you might see if the free program Recuva may be able to recover any of the files.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[mrp192]

Thanks Shawn

Hi,
Thanks for getting back so quickly. What I did was to press on the link that said 2 locations at the top and saw that the one entitled 'My Documents' had files in it but the one entitled 'Public documents' appeared to be empty so I thought that if I deleted it that might be some space I could use to try and free up some space on the drive C.
I right clicked it and there was an option to remove it so I pressed that and it said removing, or similar, but then nothing seemed to happen. After a few minutes I assumed I had done something wrong so I pressed the cancelling option and the word 'cancelling' came up but again nothing seemed to happen. I left that for a good 30 - 40 minutes but nothing else happened.
I opened the task manager and it said that the program was waiting for me to take an action so I then pressed end task hoping that would cancel out everything I had done, but obviously not, as after the windows had closed I then tried to open the 'my documents' folder in the windows explorer tab and got the error message subject of this thread.
I don't think it has deleted my sons files as no space has been created on the C drive in 'Computer' so am assuming they are still there somewhere. But also I have since left the machine running in case a restart might finish some process and bin them for good!
I have looked in the recycle bin and the contents of the 'my docs' file don't appear to be there unless they are hidden from view. At the bottom it says 75 items and that is how many items are visible.
If I right click on the my docs folder and select properties to try and see if it gives a 'size of files figure' I just get a message saying that 'the properties for this item are not available.
Hope this makes things clearer?
Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Brink]

Mark,

It sounds like it may just be a botched removal of the "C:\Users\Public\Documents" folder from the library that caused the error. It'll be perfectly safe to follow the tutorial to delete and restore the Documents library to fix this error.

 

[mrp192]

Thank you so much

Hi Shawn,

I have followed the instructions and all has gone back to normal with apparently nothing missing. Thank you so much for your advice and help.

Regards and seasons best wishes,
Mark.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Mark. I'm happy to hear that all is fine again.

 

[KSG Dan]

What do you do if you created a new library and that stopped working?

 

[Brink]

Hello Dan, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Basically the same thing, except that you would need to create a new library and add the folders back to the new library afterwards.

 

[Runesman]

Brink can you please help me my documents got changed to this using windows 7 and I tried to delete them then restore them to default but it didn't work and my laptop is pretty much junk because I can't really download anything to help because it always freezes, I need to get a new one but I have important things in my documents that I need, I just really would like your help please.