Windows Explorer default startup directory (Tue, Sep. 1, 2004)

Don't you hate it when you start Windows Explorer and it always starts in the wrong directory?! For me, it opens in the "My ___" directory structure by default, and I never use those directories. It would be much better if it would open up and show me the contents of the "C:\" drive, or perhaps a subdirectory like "C:\Work". Fortunately this can be done, if you know the magic incantation.

I've create a shortcut to start Explorer from the Windows taskbar. To get it to start in the desired subdirectory, I right-click on the shortcut icon, then select "Properties". From there I change the "Target" field. It originally looks like this:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe

For it to start in a directory named "C:\Work" I change it to look like this:

explorer.exe /e,"C:\Work"

This is a beautiful thing. It probably only saves a few minutes every day, but it greatly reduces the annoyance factor (!).