If you get this error then you probably had Desktop pointing to x: drive and moved the files to somewhere else (by right-clicking Desktop, selecting Properties and clicking Move). 
One of the registry settings wasn’t updated by the move. 
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerUser Shell FoldersDesktop
This probably still has a value of x:desktop. Change it to %USERPROFILE%Desktop
Note: x refers to a previous location.
this totally worked! i have been trying to figure the problem out for two months and the information provided was very helpful. thank you so much!!!
when I went into the registry, the desktop folder was already named this, and it still does not work. any ideas?