Windows 8 Where are my files?

[HDJA]

If I put a file (picture, song, video, etc), on my Desktop where shortcuts would usually go, where is the file actually stored? Is it stored in the Desktop file? Or is there another place it actually resides?

I'm going through a file recovery problem, a want to know where to have my program look so I'm not waiting for 24 hours for my files.

 

[Josephur]

The default is C:\Users\Username\Desktop
If you haven't changed the location that is.

 

[datawizard0103]

When you drag and drop a picture, sound file, or video onto your desktop, it is not just a shortcut; it is an actual file on your hard drive. Things that you save to your desktop in Windows are usually kept in the "Desktop" folder under your user profile directory. Normally, you can find this directory in the "C:\Users\YourUsername" folder as stated by @ Josephur Therefore, in order to find and recover your data more quickly if you're having problems with file recovery, you should instruct your data recovery software to go through this Desktop folder.

 

[Neemobeer]

If Onedrive or Google drive are involved then those locations may be different than the default