Open Windows folders in a 2-pane Explorer view

I recently replace a hard drive and wanted to reset my preferred behavior for how My Documents opens. The default behavior for double-clicking the My Documents Desktop icon on a new Windows XP install is a single-pane "My Computer" view, and I prefer the two-pane "Explorer" view. If you right-click on My Documents and select Properties, the Properties dialog box will open on the Shortcut tab. By updating the Target field, you can change the behavior of how the window opens.
Default value: "C:\Documents and Settings\ctodd\My Documents"
Two-pane value: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e, "C:\Documents and Settings\ctodd\My Documents"
NOTE: ctodd is my Windows username


You can use the same format for any folder path. Right-click on the Desktop and select New | Shortcut. A wizard will launch where you can select the folder path followed by a name for the shortcut. Once your new folder path shortcut is created, right-click as before, and use the same format for the two-pane view above. There are also some additional switches you can include
SystemRoot%\explorer.exe [switch],[path]
/n: forces single-pane "My Computer" view
/e: forces two-pane "Explorer" view
/root: sets the root to the specified path, instead of the default Desktop
/select: selects the specified path (folder is not open)

Comments

Ross said…
Just what I was looking for, many thanks.

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