This is for those of you who use Windows Explorer for organizing your Programs folder 
but are tired of having to find the Windows Explorer and “mouse down” through the 
following path: C\Windows\Start Menu\Programs. This is a way to create shortcuts 
in the task bar for quick and easy access of customized Windows Explorer views.

With your desktop in view, choose Start/ Find/Files or Folders, type EXPLORE. EXE 
in the NAMED box, and C: \WINDOWS in the LOOK IN box. When the file turns up, click 
the STOP button to halt the search, right drag a copy of the file onto the desktop, 
and choose CREATE SHORTCUT(s) HERE. Right click your shortcut and choose Properties.

The Target setting, near the middle of the Shortcut sheet, tells Explorer to show 
the contents of the root folder, C: \. If that's what you want, you're nearly home 
free. Choose the Change Icon button, type C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ SHELL32.DLL in the File 
Name box (for Windows 2000 users type, %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\SHELL32.DLL), select 
an alternative icon for your shortcut, and press Enter. If you want several different 
starting points for Explorer, create the appropriate number of shortcuts.

Now comes the hard part. Open the Properties dialog box for each shortcut, and type 
a command, placing it in the Target box, in the following format: 

C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE {/n},{/e},{options},{folder} 

·	/n, - Opens a new single pane Explorer window
·	/e, – Opens a 2 pane view of the selected folder
·	options- lets you choose between /root and /select
·	/root, – Used with folder. Chooses the designated folder as the starting point(root) 
of the folder tree. (Ordinarily, \DESKTOP is the root)
·	/select, – Highlights the designated folder and displays the contents of the parent 
folder in the right pane.
·	folder – designates the folder path

Note that there is a space bertween EXPLORER.EXE and {/n}, but no spaces elsewhere. 
Each comma belongs to the preceeding element. Curly braces mean an item is optional- 
for example, you can include /n, and omit the the others. Spend a little time and 
experiment and you will understand how the parameters work. The following are some 
examples:

To present a SINGLE PANE view of C:\WINDOWS, use this command (don’t forget the mentioned 
space):

C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n, C:\WINDOWS (for Win98)

C:\WINNT\EXPLORER.EXE /n, C:\WINNT (for Win2k)

To present a DUAL PANE view with an open, highlighted \WINDOWS folder as the top 
folder in the left pane, use:

C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /e,C:\WINDOWS (for Win98)

OR

C:\WINNT\EXPLORER.EXE /e, C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\ALL USERS\START MENU\PROGRAMS… 
(for Win2k)

To present a DUAL PANE VIEW WITH C: \WINDOWS, as the top folder in the left pane, 
use:

C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /e,/root,C:\WINDOWS (for Win98)

C:\WINNT\EXPLORER.EXE /e, /root,C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS (for Win2K)

You can leave these shortcuts on the desk top however, this is not always a convenient 
place to access them. If you have WIN 98, I suggest you gather them in a folder. 
(Right click on the DESKTOP, choose NEW FOLDER and rename it say… Explorer Views). 
Drag your newly created shortcuts in the Explorer Views folder and then drag the 
Explorer Views folder to the TASK BAR next to the START button. Now you have a kind 
of “Quick Launch” Explorer view folder.







On Saturday, January 4, 2003 at 11:14 am, Gene wrote:
>I have a question about Force 
>Explorer to Start With the Folder You Want:

>
>The instructions from this article do not seem to work. When I go to Explorer from 
>the start menu (in Explorer) there is no option to work with the shortcut. If I 
try 
>it from Explorer directly, it won't accept the change. I want to change this stupid 
>annoyance, but can't seem to figure out how. Any help?

• Reply or follow-up to this message

• Search this forum
• Start a new thread on a different subject

• Report abuse of the forum