Win Explorer in Vista

[Don Bouchard]

A feature of Vista Windows Explorer that is personally annoying is that
Explorer opens with the address: "My Name > Documents" requiring me to
click the address bar and (since what I am looking for is infrequently in
the Documents folder) change it to the drive and folder I want. Can Win
Explorer be changed to open with the default C:\ or, better yet, pointing to
(My Computer) all the drives currently available on the computer?

 

[dev]

/Don Bouchard/ said:

A feature of Vista Windows Explorer that is personally annoying is that
Explorer opens with the address: "My Name > Documents" requiring me to
click the address bar and (since what I am looking for is infrequently in
the Documents folder) change it to the drive and folder I want. Can Win
Explorer be changed to open with the default C:\ or, better yet, pointing to
(My Computer) all the drives currently available on the computer?

A shortcut can be configured to point to/open just about any folder you
desire.

Some examples, gleaned from earlier posts...

s"%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe " /e, /n c:

Then of course, you can make the "c:" be anything you want. For instances,
if you always want to go to a folder named MyData... it would look like
this:
"%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe " /e, /n c:\MyData or
"%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe " /e, /n c:\MyDocuments\MyData
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e, c:\users\hb\downloads\

My Computer" highlighted in left side with all drives visible but not
expanded and C: highlighted in right side: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe
/e,/select,c:

Desktop highlighted and nothing expanded: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe
/e,/n,/select,/root,c:

All drives visible and the system drive highlighted and expanded in full
screen: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,/select

All drives visible and the system drive expanded in small screen:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,/select,%systemroot%

Only Windows Directory visible highlighted and expanded:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,/root,%systemroot%

All drives visible but only C: highlighted and expanded:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,c:

Nothing expanded and My Computer highlighted in right side:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n,/e,/select,

Opens the Windows folder as a folder: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe %systemroot%

Opens as "My Computer": %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe %systemroot%,

This opens the Desktop folder with "My Computer" highlighted:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe %systemroot%,/select,

"Desktop" highlighted in the left side and no drives visible:

%systemroot%\explorer.exe
/e,/root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D},/select

"My Computer" highlighted in left side and all drives visible but none
expanded:

%systemroot%\explorer.exe /e,/root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

"Desktop" in left side highlighted and "My Computer" highlighted in right
side and no drives visible:

%systemroot%\explorer.exe /e,/select,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

To open Windows Explorer to Computer with all drives showing, right click
the shortcut Windows Explorer and select Properties. In the Target Line,
enter the following path, including the space and comma.

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,

 

[Don Bouchard]

I apologize for my lack of Vista computer sophistication: please explain
what I do with "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,/select,c:" Where do type this
in? And will this change the default opening for Win Explorer?

Thank you.

 

[Don Bouchard]

Thank you.

Don

To open Windows Explorer to Computer with all drives showing, right click
the shortcut Windows Explorer and select Properties. In the Target Line,
enter the following path, including the space and comma.

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Don

This shortcut is a good one.

Change the target in the shortcut to:

%SystemRoot%\Explorer.exe /e,
::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

Right click on an existing shortcut and use copy / paste.

Also something else you might not have found yet. In Windows
Explorer select Organise, Layout, Navigation Pane.

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Don

Your welcome, enjoy.

 

[Adam Albright]

I apologize for my lack of Vista computer sophistication: please explain
what I do with "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,/select,c:" Where do type this
in? And will this change the default opening for Win Explorer?

1. Go to Explorer, your root drive (C folder) click on new, make
shortcut.

2. In the wizard that opens click browse and select a folder. Example,
if you wanted to start off seeing your E drive folder select the E
folder and finish following on screen prompts.

3. Now right click on the shortcut you just made, rename if you like,
select properties, now paste in the string you want
under target.

4. If you want to have Explorer open full screen, under Run, change to
open window as maximixed.

5. Cut and drop the shortcut on your desktop or wherever you want it.

Now test it out and see if it does what you want. This ONLY effects
how Explorer will open from the shortcut you just created.

 

[Guest]

You can set Windows Explorer to open anywhere you would like. The easiest
way to do it is to go to your WinExplorer icon, right click on it, choose
Properties and in Target type: C:\Windows\explorer.exe /n, /e, C:.
Obviously, I have mine set up to start in the root C: directory but you can
change C: to anything you like and that's where WinExplorer will open.

 

[Guest]

Here in lies the problem. All we want to do is change one very little thing.
Although you all have been the most help I've been able to find, it still
requires us to be programmers. I, like Don, have no clue as to where I should
type all of these strings you have offered. I can't even find a "WinExplorer"
icon.
I right click on the Pearl, click on Explore, and bam... I'm on the Start
Menu folder.

Why is there not an easy way to stop this?

 

[KristleBawl]

Start -> right-click on Computer -> Show on Desktop

KB

 

[Guest]

Thanks KristleBawl. We are thankful for your contribution.

There as been alot said about this Explore(r) issue. Unfortunately, it has
yet to be corrected in a fashion that most of us would like. It baffels us
commoners how IT people can spit code out faster then light yet we still have
what seems like a relatively simple thing go on unresolved.
You see, most of us behave in certain ways based on years of conditioning.
We right click on the Start Icon (Vista Pearl), click on Explore(r), and all
of our folders and files magically appear. The issue is that the default
folder is "Start Menu". The folder does most of us no good. We prefer to have
it default to something more meaningful.

Although your suggestion has been the most useful, the result is not the
same as if I were to open Explore(r) and see all my goodies.

FOr those of you old enough to remember the old Windows, Explorer would open
where you last left off. Ahhh! The good old days!

 

[Pflueger]

Although your suggestion has been the most useful, the result is not the
same as if I were to open Explore(r) and see all my goodies.

FOr those of you old enough to remember the old Windows, Explorer would open
where you last left off. Ahhh! The good old days!

Michael,

I think you are confused. When Windows Explorer in Vista opens that window
you describe (name/Documents/), in the list of folders there you can scroll
around to find any "goodies" you want -- all of the folders and drives are
there. On the left of the window it says "Folders" and there is either a
list of your folders visible, or just the word "Folders" at the bottom and a
little arrow that you need to click to make them visible -- scrolling that
list is just like in XP.

To me, Windows Explorer has always been used for more direct access to
primarily folders and files (therefore, Documents), while My Computer in XP
(Computer in Vista) is used mostly when you want to go right to the drives,
or by right-clicking it for getting to the guts that runs the PC. But
"Computer" listed in Vista WE works exactly the same.

I always put a shortcut (drag/drop it) for WE in my Quick Launch and it sits
right there on my taskbar.

Try not to let frustration make things seem more complicated than they
really are -- anything basic to computing is easily accessible once you
learn where it is. Save your frustration for when you encounter something
nobody else seems to have an answer for.

If you need further clarification, come back.

Pflu

 

[Guest]

Thank you! You seem to understand exactly what I'm talking about and I too
understand your comments and descriptions of what takes place. I now realize
that there is no way to change that deafult from "start menu" to what I want.
Given all of the experts in this community, it would have been exposed by now!

Adding a short cut to my desktop would mean that I would have to add one for
every folders that I have created for storing my documents, pics, etc. My
issue is this. I use Explorer for seeing folders and files. It is convenient,
all inclusive, simple to get to and apperantly they way Microsoft intended.
Having it open with the "Start Menu" folder, a folder that has a specific
functionality to the computers start process, seems dumb especially when
Explorer was once configured to "remember" where I was the last time I used
it.

Further, since Explorer is very similar to opening and saving a file in a
program such as Excel where you can specify a default, it would seem logical
that Explorer would behave in the same fashion.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. No more on this from me.

 

[Dave Wood [MS]]

My guess {and this is entirely personal, I have no special insider
knowledge} is that right-clicking on the start orb was assumed originally
{back during Win95 development?} to be a pretty advanced feature that would
only be used when you wanted to change items on your start menu. To actually
open Explorer it was expected that people to use one of the other numerous
ways of opening it:
- The "Windows Explorer" start menu item itself {in Accessories}.
- My Documents start menu item {Documents in Vista}
- My Computer start menu item {Computer in Vista}
- Windows key + E
- Type C: into the Run menu {or Start box on Vista}

However, since joining the Windows teams I have seen several usability
studies, and I have been surprised to see that very frequently users open an
Explorer window by right-clicking on the Start button {I don't think I even
knew you could do this until fairly recently}.

Dave