Windows 7 "Recent Places" link is always empty

I've spent a lot of time searching for a solution and I'm hoping someone can give me some fresh ideas on how to tackle this annoying issue.

My "Recent Places" link is always empty. Looking at ..\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent reveals that items edited (so called "Recent Items") are tracked fine, but folders are not. Recent Items show up normally in the start menu. Whatever is responsible for putting the folder shortcuts into the "Recent" folder for explorer's "Recent Places" link is not doing it.

I know the "Recent Places" link is displaying the proper "Recent" folder in AppData and filtering out items. The reason I know is if I go to the Recent folder and delete files, I can then go to "Recent Places" and hit Ctrl-Z and get an undo warning prompt. So the link is right; there are just no folders shortcuts being created to display.

I'm running x64 Windows 7 on a SSD; I moved my Users directory to a secondary HDD and manually changed all the paths in the registry, created all the default junctions by hand. Unsure how this may have affected it but I'm sure it's probably related somehow.

I've tried:

* Checking and unchecking the "record recent changes" boxes in the start menu properties box

* uninstalling/reinstalling internet explorer

* deleting/restoring the "Recent" folder numerous times by force deleting at the command prompt and both downloading a clean Recent folder, and another time by letting the system restore itself after a restart.

* deleting/restoring the Links folder

* manually verifying the proper junctions are in place in my Users directory (e.g. Recent <=> X:\Users\user-name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent)

* manually verified all registry entries are correct for Explorer Shell

* run sfc /scannow more than once, no corrupted files found


I'm really at a loss - I'm curious if there isn't a service that's supposed to be running to track and record the saved-in folder trail?

Thanks for any help you can offer!