Many of the hidden system folders in Windows are identified in the Windows Registry along with a class ID (CLSID) key, special folder names, and the folders’ locations on your PC. Using those special folder names along with the Shell command means that even hidden folders buried deep in your file system are always just a few keystrokes away.

What Are CLSID Keys?

Specific folder locations (and also some software components) are given a CLSID that allows Windows and other programs to easily identify them without knowing their exact name. The CLSID keys, common names, and full paths to those folders are stored as entries in the Windows Registry. It’s kind of similar to how each computer on your network has a regular name that’s easy for you to remember–when you use the computer name, Windows looks up that computer’s IP address on your behalf.

In the same way, programs can use a common name for a folder in the Windows structure and rely on the actual location being stored as a CLSID key in the Registry. The shell objects we’ll be working with are listed in the Registry at the following location:

Each subkey in the long list inside the FolderDescriptions key represents a special folder. The name of each key is that folder’s CLSID. Click any one of them and you’ll see several important values attached to that key, such as Name (the common name of the folder) and RelativePath (the actual path where the folder is located).

How to Issue the Shell Command

So, what can you do with this information? You can issue a special command named Shell followed by a folder’s common name to open that folder. If that sounds a little simple, that’s the whole point. You can issue the Shell command from the Run dialog box (Windows+R), the Windows File Explorer address bar, or even the Internet Explorer address bar. Just type the command using the following format:

Here’s an example. Say you wanted to open the folder containing the pictures you have associated with your Windows account. Instead of browsing down into your account’s AppData folder (a hidden folder, by the way) and then finding the folder with your account pictures, you could just fire up the Run dialog, issue the following command, and then hit Enter:

It’s hard to argue that’s not faster, even if you’re not already a keyboard junkie.

Another useful example is shell:startup, which can be used to add new programs, files, or folders to open when Windows starts up.

What Folder Names Are Available?

That’s all well and good, but is it really worth it to comb through all those Registry entries looking for folder names just to save a little time browsing through folders later? Maybe, maybe not. Fortunately, that’s what you’ve got us for. Here is a list of all the folder names you can use after the shell command, along with the relative locations of those folders.

shell:AccountPictures – %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures shell:AddNewProgramsFolder – Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Get Programs shell:Administrative Tools – %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools shell:AppData – %AppData% shell:Application Shortcuts – %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Application Shortcuts shell:AppsFolder – Applications shell:AppUpdatesFolder – Installed Updates shell:Cache – %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache shell:Camera Roll – %UserProfile%\Pictures\Camera Roll shell:CD Burning – %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Burn\Burn shell:ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder – Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features shell:Common Administrative Tools – %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools shell:Common AppData – %ProgramData% shell:Common Desktop – %Public%\Desktop shell:Common Documents – %Public%\Documents shell:CommonDownloads – %Public%\Downloads shell:CommonMusic – %Public%\Music shell:CommonPictures – %Public%\Pictures shell:Common Programs – %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs shell:CommonRingtones – %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Ringtones shell:Common Start Menu – %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup shell:Common Startup – %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup shell:Common Templates – %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Templates shell:CommonVideo – %Public%\Videos shell:ConflictFolder – Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Sync Center\Conflicts shell:ConnectionsFolder – Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network Connections shell:Contacts – %UserProfile%\Contacts shell:ControlPanelFolder – Control Panel\All Control Panel Items shell:Cookies – %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\INetCookies shell:Cookies\Low – %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\INetCookies\Low shell:CredentialManager – %AppData%\Microsoft\Credentials shell:CryptoKeys – %AppData%\Microsoft\Crypto shell:desktop – Desktop shell:device Metadata Store – %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataStore shell:documentsLibrary – Libraries\Documents shell:downloads – %UserProfile%\Downloads shell:dpapiKeys – %AppData%\Microsoft\Protect shell:Favorites – %UserProfile%\Favorites shell:Fonts – %WinDir%\Fonts shell:Games – Games shell:GameTasks – %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\GameExplorer shell:History – %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\History shell:HomeGroupCurrentUserFolder – Homegroup(user-name) shell:HomeGroupFolder – Homegroup shell:ImplicitAppShortcuts – %AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\ImplicitAppShortcuts shell:InternetFolder – Internet Explorer shell:Libraries – Libraries shell:Links – %UserProfile%\Links shell:Local AppData – %LocalAppData% shell:LocalAppDataLow – %UserProfile%\AppData\LocalLow shell:MusicLibrary – Libraries\Music shell:MyComputerFolder – This PC shell:My Music – %UserProfile%\Music shell:My Pictures – %UserProfile%\Pictures shell:My Video – %UserProfile%\Videos shell:NetHood – %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts shell:NetworkPlacesFolder – Network shell:OneDrive – OneDrive shell:OneDriveCameraRoll – %UserProfile%\OneDrive\Pictures\Camera Roll shell:OneDriveDocuments – %UserProfile%\OneDrive\Documents shell:OneDriveMusic – %UserProfile%\OneDrive\Music shell:OneDrivePictures – %UserProfile%\OneDrive\Pictures shell:Personal – %UserProfile%\Documents shell:PicturesLibrary – Libraries\Pictures shell:PrintersFolder – All Control Panel Items\Printers shell:PrintHood – %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts shell:Profile – %UserProfile% shell:ProgramFiles – %ProgramFiles% shell:ProgramFilesCommon – %ProgramFiles%\Common Files shell:ProgramFilesCommonX64 – %ProgramFiles%\Common Files (64-bit Windows only) shell:ProgramFilesCommonX86 – %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Common Files (64-bit Windows only) shell:ProgramFilesX64 – %ProgramFiles% (64-bit Windows only) shell:ProgramFilesX86 – %ProgramFiles(x86)% (64-bit Windows only) shell:Programs – %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs shell:Public – %Public% shell:PublicAccountPictures – %Public%\AccountPictures shell:PublicGameTasks – %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\GameExplorer shell:PublicLibraries – %Public%\Libraries shell:Quick Launch – %AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch shell:Recent – %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent shell:RecordedTVLibrary – Libraries\Recorded TV shell:RecycleBinFolder – Recycle Bin shell:ResourceDir – %WinDir%\Resources shell:Ringtones – %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Ringtones shell:Roamed Tile Images – %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\RoamedTileImages shell:Roaming Tiles – %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\RoamingTiles shell:SavedGames – %UserProfile%\Saved Games shell:Screenshots – %UserProfile%\Pictures\Screenshots shell:Searches – %UserProfile%\Searches shell:SearchHistoryFolder – %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\ConnectedSearch\History shell:SearchHomeFolder – search-ms: shell:SearchTemplatesFolder – %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\ConnectedSearch\Templates shell:SendTo – %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo shell:Start Menu – %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu shell:StartMenuAllPrograms – StartMenuAllPrograms shell:Startup – %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup shell:SyncCenterFolder – Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Sync Center shell:SyncResultsFolder – Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Sync Center\Sync Results shell:SyncSetupFolder – Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Sync Center\Sync Setup shell:System – %WinDir%\System32 shell:SystemCertificates – %AppData%\Microsoft\SystemCertificates shell:SystemX86 – %WinDir%\SysWOW64 shell:Templates – %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Templates shell:ThisPCDesktopFolder – Desktop shell:UsersFilesFolder – %UserProfile% shell:User Pinned – %AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned shell:UserProfiles – %HomeDrive%\Users shell:UserProgramFiles – %LocalAppData%\Programs shell:UserProgramFilesCommon – %LocalAppData%\Programs\Common shell:UsersLibrariesFolder – Libraries shell:VideosLibrary – Libraries\Videos shell:Windows – %WinDir%

And there you go. Of course, once you find these folders, you can easily bookmark them so you can get to them even quicker in the future. But, if you’re a keyboard person, it might be worth adding some of these to your repertoire.