Sometimes it's desired to work with one of the special system folders. As discussed on another page, Windows XP system folders can be opened by entering the folder name in the Run line. However, in Vista this procedure does not work. Instead, the folder name has to be preceded with the command "shell:". Although the Run line can still be used, it is not shown in the default Vista configuration and the Start menu's "Start Search" line can be used instead. For example, to open the "SendTo" folder, enter shell:sendto Note that there must be no spaces between "shell:" and the command. Also note the colon. The command is not case-sensitive. Similar considerations hold for Windows 7.
The command prompt can also be used to open special system folders with the shell command. In the command prompt the shell command must be used in conjunction with the "start" command. For example, to open the "Cookies" folder the command would be:start shell:cookiesThis method of opening system folders is also applicable in Windows XP or 7.
Below is a list of system folders that can be opened. The list is taken from the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FolderDescriptions (The list will vary somewhat depending on the version of Vista.) A similar list applies to windows 7 and it can be found at this related link.
Vista System Folders
| AddNewProgramsFolder Administrative Tools AppData AppUpdatesFolder Cache CD Burning ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder Common Administrative Tools Common AppData Common Desktop Common Documents Common Programs Common Start Menu Common Startup Common Templates CommonDownloads CommonMusic CommonPictures CommonVideo ConflictFolder ConnectionsFolder Contacts ControlPanelFolder Cookies CredentialManager CryptoKeys CSCFolder Default Gadgets Desktop Downloads DpapiKeys Favorites Fonts Gadgets Games GameTasks History InternetFolder Links Local AppData LocalAppDataLow LocalizedResourcesDir MAPIFolder My Music My Pictures My Video |
MyComputerFolder NetHood NetworkPlacesFolder OEM Links Original Images Personal PhotoAlbums Playlists PrintersFolder PrintHood Profile ProgramFiles ProgramFilesX64 (in 64-bit systems) ProgramFilesX86 (in 64-bit systems) ProgramFilesCommon ProgramFilesCommonX64 (in 64-bit systems) ProgramFilesCommonX86 (in 64-bit systems) Programs Public PublicGameTasks Quick Launch Recent RecycleBinFolder ResourceDir SampleMusic SamplePictures SamplePlaylists SampleVideos SavedGames Searches SearchHomeFolder SendTo Start Menu Startup SyncCenterFolder SyncResultsFolder SyncSetupFolder System SystemCertificates SystemX86 Templates TreePropertiesFolder UserProfiles UsersFilesFolder Windows |