Works nicely! Thanks! Now if we can just get it to auto expand in the left pane of File Explorer.
RA
8 years ago
Incredible, thanks!
Paul
8 years ago
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
Daniel
8 years ago
Perfect! Thanks so much!
Markus
8 years ago
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.
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.
Jason Love
8 years ago
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…
Jose Luis
8 years ago
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!
Alex
8 years ago
Works perfectly, thanks!
Quem for brasileiro tem que renomear para “File Explorer”, se renomear para “Explorador de Arquivos” não vai funcionar.
Stewart Whyte
8 years ago
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
Mark Robson
8 years ago
Simple when you know how! Great info.
cosmopolitan
8 years ago
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…:)
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!
Nina
7 years ago
After trying several different ways, this is the only one that actually worked. Thanks!
Emily
7 years ago
This doesn’t seem to work anymore after the latest Windows update (September 2016) — is there a new fix?
LZJ
7 years ago
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.
A User
7 years ago
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
Hez
6 years ago
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.
Alex
6 years ago
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 🙂
Udo Michelmann
6 years ago
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)
BJK
6 years ago
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
Frankie
6 years ago
Awesome fix. Thank you.
Eli
5 years ago
Thank you. I used it as a workaround to file explorer loading slowly known issue without having to disable services etc.
Hal
4 years ago
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.
Cool tips. Thanks!
Works nicely! Thanks! Now if we can just get it to auto expand in the left pane of File Explorer.
Incredible, thanks!
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
Perfect! Thanks so much!
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.
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…
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!
Works perfectly, thanks!
Quem for brasileiro tem que renomear para “File Explorer”, se renomear para “Explorador de Arquivos” não vai funcionar.
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
Simple when you know how! Great info.
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".
Too bad there isn’t any registery edit to do, instead of this dirty hack.
Nice find, but this hack appears to no longer work when using the latest Windows 10 updates.
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!
After trying several different ways, this is the only one that actually worked. Thanks!
This doesn’t seem to work anymore after the latest Windows update (September 2016) — is there a new fix?
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.
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 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.
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 🙂
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)
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
Awesome fix. Thank you.
Thank you. I used it as a workaround to file explorer loading slowly known issue without having to disable services etc.
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.
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Thank You. It worked great!