Windows Explorer Defaults to Libraries Folder in Windows 7

When you open Windows Explorer in Windows 7, it opens the Libraries folder by default. You can change the default startup folder using the Windows Explorer shortcut properties, as you did in earlier versions of Windows. Note that you cannot change the default start folder if you’re using WinKey + E to launch Explorer.

In Windows 7, right-clicking on the Windows Explorer Taskbar icon will show the Jump Lists. To access the shortcut properties, hold the SHIFT key down, right-click on the shortcut and choose Properties. Rest of the procedure is the same as in other versions of Windows.

To change the startup folder to (My) Computer, use this target path:

explorer.exe ::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

Where the GUID {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} represents the My Computer folder.

For Documents folder, use this target path:

explorer.exe ::{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}

You may also suffix the full path instead of using GUID. For example,

explorer.exe D:\Scripts

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23 Comments

L-A

said this on Saturday, July 10th 2010 8:07 pm

dano : This solution is indeed simple, but it still creates a new process everytime you open Explorer… Is there a workaround that doesn’t create a new process?
dano

said this on Monday, June 28th 2010 9:50 pm

Not sure how you figured that out, but there is a problem with it. When you open a new directory, it tries to open a new explorer.exe process to view that directory. This is not the behavior that most people are looking for.

Instead, just change the shortcut to:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe “”

(Just blank quotes). This will open the explorer to the “My Computer” location.
Peeter

said this on Tuesday, June 22nd 2010 5:31 pm

You don’t need to use the special hex code syntax. You can just simply change the target line to: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe C:\MyFolder\Stuff