Windows 10 offers an easy way of changing the start location for File Explorer. However, it only gives you two starting locations to choose from: Quick access and This PC. But what if you want File Explorer to start in another location? What if you'd like your File Explorer to start in your OneDrive folder , your Dropbox folder, one of your Libraries or any other folder from your Windows 10 computer or device? Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do that in Windows 10. Because of that, we started to scour for possible solutions. In the end, we managed to find one hack that works well. Read on to learn how you can set Windows 10's File Explorer to start in any location you want:
NOTE: If you want to change the start location for File Explorer to one of the default choices you have in Windows 10 - Quick access or This PC - we recommend you to read this guide: How To Set The Start Location For File Explorer In Windows 10.
Step 1. Create a shortcut to the starting location that you want to use
First of all, decide where you want File Explorer to start in: whether you want it to start in OneDrive , your Libraries or any other folder from your Windows 10 computer or device. Once you've made up your mind, create a shortcut for that location, on your d esktop . If you need help on how to create shortcuts, check this article: How to create shortcuts for apps, files, folders and web pages in Windows.
For this guide, we used a folder named Digital Citizen , that is found in our Documents library. One quick way to create a shortcut to this folder is to right click or press and hold on it and then choose: "Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut)".
File Explorer, Windows 10, start, folder, location, configure
The shortcut is now created and found on the desktop.
Step 2. Rename the shortcut you created to File Explorer
We now have a shortcut to the Digital Citizen folder on the desktop. Similarly, you should have a shortcut to the location you chose. Select the shortcut you just created, press F2 on your keyboard or right click and choose Rename. Then, start renaming the selected shortcut to File Explorer. When done, press Enter or click away from the shortcut, somewhere on your desktop.
File Explorer, Windows 10, start, folder, location, configure
Later in this guide you will see why you have to rename your shortcut to File Explorer.
Step 3. Open the folder which stores the items that are pinned to the taskbar
The existing File Explorer shortcut that is pinned to the Windows 10 taskbar is stored into a special folder that you need to open.
In order to do that, open File Explorer and copy & paste this path in its address bar and press Enter on your keyboard: %APPDATA%MicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser PinnedTaskBar
File Explorer, Windows 10, start, folder, location, configure
In this folder you should see all the shortcuts you have on your taskbar, including File Explorer.
NOTE: Before going ahead with step number 4, we recommend that you make a backup of the File Explorer shortcut that you found in this folder and store it somewhere else. Later, you might want to use it to restore the default startup folder for the File Explorer shortcut on the Windows 10 taskbar.
Step 4: Replace the default File Explorer shortcut with the one you created
Replace the File Explorer shortcut found inside " %APPDATA%MicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser PinnedTaskBar " with the one you created at step 1, by using Copy and Paste or Cut and Paste. When you are asked to confirm the replacement, press "Replace the file in the destination".
File Explorer, Windows 10, start, folder, location, configure
The folder where Windows 10 stores the shortcuts found on the taskbar now contains your custom File Explorer shortcut which will make this app start in the folder you wanted.
Step 5: Close all File Explorer windows and restart it
All that remains is for you to close all the File Explorer windows that you have opened. Then, start File Explorer using the shortcut from the Windows 10 taskbar. You will see that it starts using the folder you wanted.
Caveats to our hack and how to solve them
While our hack works, it has the following shortcomings that you should be aware of:
It works only for the File Explorer shortcut that is found on the Windows 10 taskbar. If you use other shortcuts found in other places, like in the Start Menu , File Explorer will start using its default start location. It won't start using the location you selected.
You should not delete the folder/location that you selected for the File Explorer startup. If you do that, Windows 10 informs you that there is a problem with the shortcut and choose whether you want to restore the item that was deleted or delete the shortcut from the taskbar.
File Explorer, Windows 10, start, folder, location, configure
If the startup location you selected has a custom icon, then you will see that icon instead of the default File Explorer icon in the right-click menu of the File Explorer shortcut from the taskbar.
File Explorer, Windows 10, start, folder, location, configure
The custom icon will show up also in the top left corner of the File Explorer app window or in the address bar, as in the screenshot below.
File Explorer, Windows 10, start, folder, location, configure
If you want the File Explorer icon back, you need to edit the properties of the custom File Explorer shortcut you created at step 1 and use the default icon found in "C:Windowsexplorer.exe". To learn how to change the icon of a shortcut, read this guide: How To Change the Icon of Any Shortcut in Windows.
File Explorer, Windows 10, start, folder, location, configure
Conclusion
Even if Windows 10 only offers two choices when it comes to the start location you can set for File Explorer , that doesn't mean you cannot bypass its default settings. However, the procedure we showed you in this article is nothing more than a hack, so if you know of other, better ways of setting the start location for File Explorer to anything you want, don't hesitate to share them with us, in the comments form below. We bet that there are many other people out there who would want to know them .
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I have been trying to find a way to change that default behavior for a while now. Greatly appreciate it.
Anonymous ·
Happy to help. Do not hesitate to subscribe to our newsletter, for more useful tutorials.
Eli ·
Thank you. I used it as a workaround to file explorer loading slowly known issue without having to disable services etc.
Frankie ·
Awesome fix. Thank you.
BJK ·
until a week ago I could open explorer showing all folders in my D drive. Suddenly that stopped and your technique in this article was my base for establishing it months ago.
Any ideas on what now prevents me from restoring it with this process
Udo Michelmann ·
My choice:
On the desktop, create a link to c:windowsexplorer.exe [preferred start folder], e.g. c:windowsexplorer.exe d:
Send this link to the task bar and delete the ootb explorer symbol from the task bar.
When you use this new link, explorer opens up in start folder d:
This is an easy and efficient way.
Cheers, Udo (NimmDieDa[at]web[dot]de)
Alex ·
Hi, first of all thank you so much for this guide. W10 can be a pain in the neck…
But: I discovered a much easier solution for making the file explorer start in any given folder:
From “This PC” view, create a shortcut of any drive to the desktop, doesn’t matter which.
And that’s it already! Then just right-click to Properties and enter any folder or drive you like in the “Target” field (something the original File Explorer won’t let you do)… It even lists all the folders and files in that partition for you to choose directly without having to write the full folder name!
I honestly can’t believe it would be that easy. So if you prefer to access the explorer from the desktop that is it. If you like the taskbar more then your solution is the way to go. (I for my part have done both.)
Tell me what you think 🙂
Hez ·
It appeared to work perfectly, but after restarting the computer it’s just a shortcut, it will make a new icon for file explorer when you click the shortcut.
A User ·
Go to Step 2 (select the drive/folder you want, create the shortcut on the desktop, change its icon etc)
Then right-click the icon and select “Pin to Start Menu”
Then (in the start menu) right-click and select “Pin to Task Bar”
– you can remove (and keep a backup copy) of the original File Explorer shortcut
LZJ ·
It is so much easier to just create the shortcut to the folder you want to open to, and then just drag that shortcut to the taskbar directly. Super simple and just as effective.
Dan ·
Yes, that is what I had to resort to in the end, but then you get two folder icons in the taskbar, which is not optimal for most of us.
Emily ·
This doesn’t seem to work anymore after the latest Windows update (September 2016) — is there a new fix?
Nina ·
After trying several different ways, this is the only one that actually worked. Thanks!
Jeet ·
This hack does not work anymore in my new Windows 10 version… pls find a newer way.
AEVS ·
I’m using it in Windows 10 Pro v.10586.545 and it’s terrific! I had actually looked for the Taskbar pin setting before in the AppDataRoamingMicrosoft Windows folders, but never thought to look in Internet Explorer, instead. Thank you so much for this well-organized how-to!
Andrew Pennebaker ·
Nice find, but this hack appears to no longer work when using the latest Windows 10 updates.
Charles Milette ·
Too bad there isn’t any registery edit to do, instead of this dirty hack.
cosmopolitan ·
Thanks, Codrut Neagu!, your instruction worked so nicely,
that I take the chance, to ask a further question:
Ho to get rid of/turn off the “annotations”/”tool tips” on top of explorer windows,
e.g. the pink coloured Shortcut Tools in your example screens above?
To remove these I already unchecked “show tooltips” where possible…:)
Codrut Neagu ·
Hi… I will look into this but there's a good chance that you can't disable those "custom tools".
Mark Robson ·
Simple when you know how! Great info.
Stewart Whyte ·
Great tip; expertly and exactly set out.
Just upgraded old sysbox with new mb/ CPU/ RAM; and installed new Win10 Pro on new SSD (haven’t yet compared but would probably have been cheaper to buy a complete new machine!!
I’ve NEVER understood why Richmond tries to hard-dictate this basic issue, when so much else is highly flexible (to the point of confusion and uncertainty!)
Thanks again.
Stewart
Alex ·
Works perfectly, thanks!
Quem for brasileiro tem que renomear para “File Explorer”, se renomear para “Explorador de Arquivos” não vai funcionar.
Jose Luis ·
Thanks for the tip, works like a charm. A tip for users of languages other than English: rename the folder to the words “File Explorer”, not to your languages equivalent of this (source: my own experience 🙂
Jose Luis ·
I’m sorry to rectify, but next day Windows had deleted my taskbar shortcut to the File Explorer. It seems it wasn’t happy with the change I made 🙁 Microsoft please provide a solution for this!
Shellie ·
How did you get it on the taskbar? Every way I tried was a fail!
Jason Love ·
Thank you for this tutorial. Yours is the only page that addresses this glaring shortcoming of Windows 10. Are other users happy with just two choices, neither of which are our User folder?
Unfortunately, I slowly followed your instructions and got hung up at the part where you enter %APPDATA%MicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser PinnedTaskBar in Files Explorer. My desktop shortcut does not show up.
All this work for the freedom to choose our own Target folder…
Markus ·
This doesn’t work for me. When I click the new button in the taskbar, it says something like (translated from German):
Element cannot be opened. Perhaps it was moved, renamed or deleted. Do you want to remove the element?
Codrut Neagu ·
I didn’t test in German. But it does work if you use English as your OS display language.
So an idea would be for you to switch to English as your display language, follow the steps from the tutorial, and then, if you want, switch back to German.
Andre ·
Where is the Startup folder located?
Codrut Neagu ·
There are 2:
1. %appdata%MicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartup – this is for the the currently logged in user
2. %programdata%MicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartup – this is for all the users
Charles ·
You __need__ to name it “File Explorer” even on localized Windows version. After renaming it, the localized name should appear.
Daniel ·
Perfect! Thanks so much!
Paul ·
Bizzarrely my settings were carried over from Windows 7 – so the File Explorer shortcut on my taskbar that opened in a specific folder still does so after upgrading to Windows 10, and the left pane is auto expanded. Now if only I could discover where that setting is stored….
Paul ·
NB – the shortcuts folder shows up in a “Roaming” location …if this helps identify what is happening.
%AppData%RoamingMicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser PinnedTaskBar
RA ·
Incredible, thanks!
Triquetra ·
Works nicely! Thanks! Now if we can just get it to auto expand in the left pane of File Explorer.
Discussion (38)
Thank You. It worked great!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I have been trying to find a way to change that default behavior for a while now. Greatly appreciate it.
Happy to help. Do not hesitate to subscribe to our newsletter, for more useful tutorials.
Thank you. I used it as a workaround to file explorer loading slowly known issue without having to disable services etc.
Awesome fix. Thank you.
until a week ago I could open explorer showing all folders in my D drive. Suddenly that stopped and your technique in this article was my base for establishing it months ago.
Any ideas on what now prevents me from restoring it with this process
My choice:
On the desktop, create a link to c:windowsexplorer.exe [preferred start folder], e.g. c:windowsexplorer.exe d:
Send this link to the task bar and delete the ootb explorer symbol from the task bar.
When you use this new link, explorer opens up in start folder d:
This is an easy and efficient way.
Cheers, Udo (NimmDieDa[at]web[dot]de)
Hi, first of all thank you so much for this guide. W10 can be a pain in the neck…
But: I discovered a much easier solution for making the file explorer start in any given folder:
From “This PC” view, create a shortcut of any drive to the desktop, doesn’t matter which.
And that’s it already! Then just right-click to Properties and enter any folder or drive you like in the “Target” field (something the original File Explorer won’t let you do)… It even lists all the folders and files in that partition for you to choose directly without having to write the full folder name!
I honestly can’t believe it would be that easy. So if you prefer to access the explorer from the desktop that is it. If you like the taskbar more then your solution is the way to go. (I for my part have done both.)
Tell me what you think 🙂
It appeared to work perfectly, but after restarting the computer it’s just a shortcut, it will make a new icon for file explorer when you click the shortcut.
Go to Step 2 (select the drive/folder you want, create the shortcut on the desktop, change its icon etc)
Then right-click the icon and select “Pin to Start Menu”
Then (in the start menu) right-click and select “Pin to Task Bar”
– you can remove (and keep a backup copy) of the original File Explorer shortcut
It is so much easier to just create the shortcut to the folder you want to open to, and then just drag that shortcut to the taskbar directly. Super simple and just as effective.
Yes, that is what I had to resort to in the end, but then you get two folder icons in the taskbar, which is not optimal for most of us.
This doesn’t seem to work anymore after the latest Windows update (September 2016) — is there a new fix?
After trying several different ways, this is the only one that actually worked. Thanks!
This hack does not work anymore in my new Windows 10 version… pls find a newer way.
I’m using it in Windows 10 Pro v.10586.545 and it’s terrific! I had actually looked for the Taskbar pin setting before in the AppDataRoamingMicrosoft Windows folders, but never thought to look in Internet Explorer, instead. Thank you so much for this well-organized how-to!
Nice find, but this hack appears to no longer work when using the latest Windows 10 updates.
Too bad there isn’t any registery edit to do, instead of this dirty hack.
Thanks, Codrut Neagu!, your instruction worked so nicely,
that I take the chance, to ask a further question:
Ho to get rid of/turn off the “annotations”/”tool tips” on top of explorer windows,
e.g. the pink coloured Shortcut Tools in your example screens above?
To remove these I already unchecked “show tooltips” where possible…:)
Hi… I will look into this but there's a good chance that you can't disable those "custom tools".
Simple when you know how! Great info.
Great tip; expertly and exactly set out.
Just upgraded old sysbox with new mb/ CPU/ RAM; and installed new Win10 Pro on new SSD (haven’t yet compared but would probably have been cheaper to buy a complete new machine!!
I’ve NEVER understood why Richmond tries to hard-dictate this basic issue, when so much else is highly flexible (to the point of confusion and uncertainty!)
Thanks again.
Stewart
Works perfectly, thanks!
Quem for brasileiro tem que renomear para “File Explorer”, se renomear para “Explorador de Arquivos” não vai funcionar.
Thanks for the tip, works like a charm. A tip for users of languages other than English: rename the folder to the words “File Explorer”, not to your languages equivalent of this (source: my own experience 🙂
I’m sorry to rectify, but next day Windows had deleted my taskbar shortcut to the File Explorer. It seems it wasn’t happy with the change I made 🙁 Microsoft please provide a solution for this!
How did you get it on the taskbar? Every way I tried was a fail!
Thank you for this tutorial. Yours is the only page that addresses this glaring shortcoming of Windows 10. Are other users happy with just two choices, neither of which are our User folder?
Unfortunately, I slowly followed your instructions and got hung up at the part where you enter %APPDATA%MicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser PinnedTaskBar in Files Explorer. My desktop shortcut does not show up.
All this work for the freedom to choose our own Target folder…
This doesn’t work for me. When I click the new button in the taskbar, it says something like (translated from German):
Element cannot be opened. Perhaps it was moved, renamed or deleted. Do you want to remove the element?
I didn’t test in German. But it does work if you use English as your OS display language.
So an idea would be for you to switch to English as your display language, follow the steps from the tutorial, and then, if you want, switch back to German.
Where is the Startup folder located?
There are 2:
1. %appdata%MicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartup – this is for the the currently logged in user
2. %programdata%MicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartup – this is for all the users
You __need__ to name it “File Explorer” even on localized Windows version. After renaming it, the localized name should appear.
Perfect! Thanks so much!
Bizzarrely my settings were carried over from Windows 7 – so the File Explorer shortcut on my taskbar that opened in a specific folder still does so after upgrading to Windows 10, and the left pane is auto expanded. Now if only I could discover where that setting is stored….
NB – the shortcuts folder shows up in a “Roaming” location …if this helps identify what is happening.
%AppData%RoamingMicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser PinnedTaskBar
Incredible, thanks!
Works nicely! Thanks! Now if we can just get it to auto expand in the left pane of File Explorer.
Cool tips. Thanks!