How to Set Win­dows 7 Explor­er to Open Your Favorite Fold­er By Default

Ashish Mundhra

20 Dec 2011

I hardly use the Windows 7 library and hence I find it a bit irritating sometimes that the Windows explorer folder icon on my taskbar opens the Library by default. I mean, I should be able to quickly set it to open my favorite/most frequently used folder, right? Turns out, this isn’t that straight-forward.

If you too don’t use the Windows 7 Library often enough and want to set explorer to open your favorite folder each time then here’s a trick using which you can directly open any drive or folder using the very same Windows Explorer folder on taskbar.

Setting Windows Explorer to Open Your Favorite Folder By Default

Step 1: Browse to the folder that you want to open using the Windows Explorer in the future.

Step 2: Now, click on the address bar to reveal the full address of the folder and copy the address to a temporary text file.

Step 3: Close the directory and right-click on the Windows Explorer folder on the taskbar. Now, again right-click on Windows Explorer written just above the unpin folder option and select properties.

Step 4: In the properties dialog box, hunt for the Target: field to see a text reading %windir%\explorer.exe . Copy and save it to a text file (This is us creating a failsafe if we want to revert back to default settings).

Step 5: Now pay attention! After the %windir%\explorer.exe, give a space then write /e, (with the coma) than again give a space followed by the address of the directory you copied in the step 2.

Click on OK to save your settings.

You can now open any folder of your choice using the above trick but what about opening My Computer or Documents? What are their paths? Well if you want to open My Computer or My Documents directly, just copy and paste the following text in the Target: field

My Computer

My Documents

My Verdict

When I tried the trick on my computer, I noticed a considerable amount of time gap between me clicking the Windows Explorer and opening of the desired folder. After a research of half an hour, I noticed a very unusual thing. The thing is, if you change the shortcut of Windows Explorer from libraries to any other folder of your choice then, each time when you click on it to open the folder, an individual explorer process will start.

I found it a bit irritating but there is nothing we can do about it. However, one workaround is to pin the folder to the taskbar using the Windows 7 Taskbar Items Pinner. It not only fixes the multiple explorer bug but also lets you pin multiple favorite folders. But depending on how you work, there are pros and cons to both the methods so choose accordingly.

Last updated on 8 Feb, 2018
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Folders , properties, etc. won’t open in windows explorer, no error message

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It sounds like you could have a virus or other malware. Get your antivirus program up to date and boot into Safe Mode. Then run a full system scan

Forum moderator Keith has some suggestions along this line at

If that fixes it, fine. If not you can open an administrator command prompt and run SFC if the above doesn’t help. Click START, then typesfc in the search box, right-click SFC.EXE and click Run as administrator. Then from the command prompt typesfc /scannow.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

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Thanks for your contribution but this did not help.

I have run full system antivirus scans in safe mode and normal boot with 2 different scanners, I have run memory diagnostics at boot, and I have run the sfc scan and nothing returned for any of them. It seems to work fine in safe mode .

System restore has no effect.

I am on a system that uses Cisco Clean Access to allow access to a network, and this does not run in safe mode, so I cannot update drivers from the internet. I am on a netbook now, by the way, not my main PC, which is Windows 7 32-bit and not experiencing the same problem .

Has anyone else encountered this exact problem? Do I need to take my PC to a technician?

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Windows explorer folder properties

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Question

I am trying to verify the contents of two folders on my network using Windows Explorer. I will attached a screenshot as soon as they verify my account.

In the left pane, is my original folder selected (\\NAS02-4DD\usbshare1-2\Archive\Metal Building\A & S\Drawings\NSDrawings) and then I right click and hit properties to see the file count and size of the folder.

In the right pane is the copied folder selected (\\NAS02-4DD\Archives\0Arch\Metal Buildings\A & S\Drawings\NSDrawings) doing the same thing.

You can see what the properties are by the two respective NSDrawings Properties windows. They do not match. However, if you physically count the files, and even look in the bottom left corner of each window (after I hit CtrlA) you will see there are indeed 902 files in each folder. I have re-booted all 3 machines associated with these files, and can not get them to ever read the same when I view the properties of each folder.

This is a HUGE problem when it comes to trying to verify if my files have indeed copied in full from users computers to a new N.A.S. unit.

Is there a solution or other way to verify this information without having to open each folder and view its’ contents manually? I am going to be moving about 8TB of information around, and all of it needs to be verified after moving.

Answers

Close thread, problem was a failing hard drive.

Sorry for wasting time, I should have inspected the drive more closely before posting.

All replies

I will attach a screenshot as soon as they verify my account.

You can see what the properties are by the two respective NSDrawings Properties windows.

Sorry about the delay on the screenshot, had to wait for approval.

No hidden files, this is not the only folder this happened in either.

A general remark: Before claiming that Windows Explorer gives incorrect information you must explore all other possibilities, if only because we would have known years ago if there was such a probem with Explorer.exe. In your case I suspect that you’re not copying all your files. When you run the batch file below then you will find out which files you are missing.

@echo off
set Source=»\\Nas\My source folder»
set Target=»\\archives\My target folder»

echo Processing %Source%
dir %Source% /s /a-d /on | find «:» | find /v «:\» > «%temp%\Source.txt»
echo Processing %Target%
dir %Target% /s /a-d /on | find «:» | find /v «:\»> «%temp%\Target.txt»

fc «%temp%\Source.txt» «%temp%\Target.txt» > «%temp%\diff.txt»
notepad «%temp%\diff.txt»

If I look inside the copied folder above (on the right side) all of the files are there (as illustrated by the screenshot — 902 files on each side). So all of the files are in deed being copied in these scenarios.

The problem is I do not want to open every individual file and check the contents to verify a copied folder. I am copying tens of thousands of folders, and terabytes of information. Typically I would just right click a major folder (the «Metal Buildings» folder for example) in the tree, and inspect the contents of each; and if the sizes (bytes), files and folder counts all match I can then safely delete the source. When the numbers do not match, I start going through the sub-folders until I find which one(s) have the missing files (via software first, and then manually if needed).

Why would the properties of the folder show 748 files when I right click it and hit properties, and when I select the folder (or open it) and hit ctrl-A (or manually count them) it shows 902 files within that folder? There are no system or hidden files within the folders.

The trigger for me finding this problem was when the copied folders appeared larger than the original in some cases. I think this is the third folder I have found this way in the past three days, and it is causing me to question my own sanity.

*edit* I appreciate the help so far Mr. Long

A general remark: Before claiming that Windows Explorer gives incorrect information you must explore all other possibilities, if only because we would have known years ago if there was such a probem with Explorer.exe. In your case I suspect that you’re not copying all your files. When you run the batch file below then you will find out which files you are missing.

@echo off
set Source=»\\Nas\My source folder»
set Target=»\\archives\My target folder»

echo Processing %Source%
dir %Source% /s /a-d /on | find «:» | find /v «:\» > «%temp%\Source.txt»
echo Processing %Target%
dir %Target% /s /a-d /on | find «:» | find /v «:\»> «%temp%\Target.txt»

fc «%temp%\Source.txt» «%temp%\Target.txt» > «%temp%\diff.txt»
notepad «%temp%\diff.txt»

I did run your batch file and it shows missing files, but I can physically see them in the source folder, and open them.

I did run your batch file and it shows missing files, but I can physically see them in the source folder, and open them.

The problem is I do not want to open every individual file and check the contents to verify a copied folder. I am copying tens of thousands of folders, and terabytes of information.

Mr. Long, As I have stated before; the problem is NOT with copying the files. All of the files are indeed in BOTH folders. The problem is when I right click the source folder to display properties, it shows an inaccurate size, file and folder count. The copied folder displays the correct information, as when I physically open both the source and destination folders, they do indeed have the same exact data contained within (per my original screenshot).

I apologize for MY error on the second screenshot, as I didn’t realize the screen on the left had scrolled away from where I had it when I toggled between windows (so it does not exactly show what I intended). The second screenshot was to show that the batch file I ran indicated the highlighted missing file (NS1413.dwg), but it was actually in the folder (not hidden, and able to open).

I am starting to think that my drive may be failing and this may not be a problem with Windows Explorer now.

I will post results after copying the previously cloned source drive later today. My source drive was part of a RAID, so I do have a current copy.

Thank you for the help so far.

I did run your batch file and it shows missing files.
and later on:
The problem is NOT with copying the files. All of the files are indeed in BOTH folders.

The two statements appear contradictory.

Close thread, problem was a failing hard drive.

Sorry for wasting time, I should have inspected the drive more closely before posting.

Close thread, problem was a failing hard drive.

Sorry for wasting time, I should have inspected the drive more closely before posting

Apologies for replying to an old thread, but I have the same exact issue. Was it your source or destination (backup) drive that was failing? I don’t see where this is stated/implied. Thank you!

I just ran into this tonight, questioning my sanity as well. I think it’s a bug in Windows 10 (maybe others).
Basically, folder properties stops counting as soon as it encounters file names (or directories) that are too long.

To demonstrate, take a folder with some subfolders. Get the file size/count.
Now, create an empty text file with as many letters as allowed (just hold some key down).
Copy this file into each of the subfolders, and get properties again. The result is much lower.
Seems windows explorer has issues with long filenames, but doesn’t appropriately prevent those filenames from occurring.

Hunt for any long-named files/directories, and that should help.

I just ran into this tonight, questioning my sanity as well. I think it’s a bug in Windows 10 (maybe others).
Basically, folder properties stops counting as soon as it encounters file names (or directories) that are too long.

To demonstrate, take a folder with some subfolders. Get the file size/count.
Now, create an empty text file with as many letters as allowed (just hold some key down).
Copy this file into each of the subfolders, and get properties again. The result is much lower.
Seems windows explorer has issues with long filenames, but doesn’t appropriately prevent those filenames from occurring.

Hunt for any long-named files/directories, and that should help.

I’ve recently moved over to Windows 10, and I’ve over 20 years experience with Windows, but I too have been experiencing very weird behaviour in this regard as well.

Today, I’ve been trying to copy items from one hard disk onto a USB stick so that I can copy those files onto my other machine.

I right-click a selection of folders on the machine I wish to copy folders/files over from, and it says one number. I then choose copy, go to my USB stick and click paste and I get Windows 10 reporting a MUCH larger number complaining that there is insufficient space on my USB. I know how big my USB is, and that right-click on the folders I wanted to copy was reported as being well under the size of the USB.

Something is being reported very incorrectly in Windows 10 and this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this.

I’m having the same problem. I’m copying files from an external drive to my laptop, which is running Windows 10. After everything is copied I’m verifying the folder sizes are the same by right clicking on them and selecting properties. Some of the folders are showing different sizes on the external drive VS what’s on the laptop. The size on the laptop is smaller than what’s showing on the external drive.

The interesting thing is if I open up the folder on the laptop and do a CtrlA to select everything in the folder and right click and select properties the size matches what’s on the external drive.

On my laptop I copied one of the folders that had this issue and renamed it. The name of the folder I copied was «1234567_12345-12345-1234567890 -123 051516Files test» (without the quotes). This is a total of 52 characters including spaces. This gave me a folder called » 1234567_12345-12345-1234567890 -123 051516Files test Copy » (again without the quotes). When I right click on this folder and select properties I get the incorrect files size like the folder I copied it from. I then renamed the copied folder to «1234567_12345-12345-1234567890 -123 051516Filestest» (again without the quotes). The only difference from the original file name is I removed the last space between Files and test. This is a total of 51 characters. When I right clicked on this folder and selected properties and it showed the correct file size that as in the external drive.

This test had me thinking this had something to do with the number of character in the name of the folder. But that didn’t make sense because I have folders with more than 52 characters in the name that worked fine.

I then copied the «1234567_12345-12345-1234567890 -123 051516Files test» folder to C:\Temp and right clicked on the folder and selected properties and it showed the correct file size that is on the external drive. So the only thing I did was copied the folder to the C:\Temp directory.

I then tried to delete the «1234567_12345-12345-1234567890 -123 051516Files test» folder that I originally copied from my external drive and I get an error message that says:

This folder contains items whose names are too long for the Recycle Bin. And it asks if I want to permanently delete this folder.

However, when I delete the folder with the same name that I copied to C:\Temp I do not get this error message and the folder is deleted.

The folder that’s giving me all this trouble is buried 7 directories deep with a lot of the directories having many characters in their name. There are other directories at the same level as this directory with file names with more characters than this one and they can be deleted and compute the correct file size.

The only difference was the folder I’m having problems with VS the one with more characters in the name is it contained other folders which went a few levels deeper.

I then tried deleting all the folders underneath the problem folder and I get the same error message. I tried again and said yes to permanently deleting the folders. I then went back to the problem folder and deleted it without any error message.

My conclusion is the issue I’m facing has to do with either the number of levels of folders I have or the total number of characters in the name of the folders so the filepath is too long.