Earlier, we have covered the most comprehensive list of shell locations by their Class ID which you can use to create a shortcut to the specific shell location for quick access. Today I am going to share the list of shell commands using their friendly name. Although these are implemented by the same ActiveX objects, you will notice that not every shell location with a CLSID has a user friendly alias. For example, 'Devices and Printers', the one with the shell:::{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A} CLSID has no friendly-name equivalent.

In the general case, a shell command looks like this:

shell:Friendly Folder Name

For example,

shell:SendTo - the folder with items that you see in the "Send to" menu

- the folder with items that you see in the "Send to" menu shell:Desktop - the Desktop folder, and so on.

Read the the full list below of such commands in Windows 8.

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Shell Command Description shell:AccountPictures Account Pictures shell:AddNewProgramsFolder The "Get Programs" Control panel item shell:Administrative Tools Administrative Tools shell:AppData Same as %appdata%, the c:\user\<username>\appdata\roaming folder shell:Application Shortcuts Opens the folder which stores all Modern apps shortcuts shell:AppsFolder The virtual folder which stores all installed Modern apps shell:AppUpdatesFolder The "Installed Updates" Control panel item shell:Cache IE's cache folder (Temporary Internet Files) shell:CD Burning Temporary Burn Folder shell:ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder The "Uninstall a program" Control panel item shell:Common Administrative Tools The Administrative Tools folder for all users shell:Common AppData The C:\ProgramData folder (%ProgramData%) shell:Common Desktop Public Desktop shell:Common Documents Public Documents shell:Common Programs All Users Programs, which are part of Start menu. Still used by the Start screen shell:Common Start Menu All Users Start Menu folder, same as above shell:Common Startup The Startup folder, used for all users shell:Common Templates Same as above, but used for new documents templates, e.g. by Microsoft Office shell:CommonDownloads Public Downloads shell:CommonMusic Public Music shell:CommonPictures Public Pictures shell:CommonRingtones Public Ringtones folder shell:CommonVideo Public Videos shell:ConflictFolder The Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Sync Center\Conflicts item shell:ConnectionsFolder The Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network Connections item shell:Contacts Contacts folder (Address book) shell:ControlPanelFolder Control Panel shell:Cookies The folder with IE's cookies shell:CredentialManager C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Credentials shell:CryptoKeys C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Crypto shell:CSCFolder This folder is broken in Windows 8/7, provides access to the Offline files item shell:Desktop Desktop shell:Device Metadata Store C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataStore shell:DocumentsLibrary Documents Library shell:Downloads Downloads folder shell:DpapiKeys C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Protect shell:Favorites Favorites shell:Fonts C:\Windows\Fonts shell:Games The Games Explorer item shell:GameTasks C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\GameExplorer shell:History C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History, IE's browsing history shell:HomeGroupCurrentUserFolder The Home Group folder for the current user shell:HomeGroupFolder The Home Group root folder shell:ImplicitAppShortcuts C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\ImplicitAppShortcuts shell:InternetFolder This shell command will start Internet Explorer shell:Libraries Libraries shell:Links The "Favorites" folder from the Explorer navigation pane. shell:Local AppData C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local shell:LocalAppDataLow C:\Users\<username>\AppData\LocalLow shell:LocalizedResourcesDir This shell folder is broken in Windows 8 shell:MAPIFolder Represents the Microsoft Outlook folder shell:MusicLibrary Music Library shell:My Music The "My Music" folder (not the Library) shell:My Pictures The "My Pictures" folder (not the Library) shell:My Video The "My Videos" folder (not the Library) shell:MyComputerFolder Computer/Drives view shell:NetHood C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts shell:NetworkPlacesFolder The Network Places folder which shows computers and devices on your network shell:OEM Links This shell command does nothing on my Windows 8 Retail edition. Maybe it works with OEM Windows 8 editions. shell:Original Images Not functional on Windows 8 shell:Personal The "My Documents" folder (not the Library) shell:PhotoAlbums Saved slideshows, seems to have not been implemented yet shell:PicturesLibrary Pictures Library shell:Playlists Stores WMP Playlists. shell:PrintersFolder The classic "Printers" folder (not 'Devices and Printers') shell:PrintHood C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts shell:Profile The User profile folder shell:ProgramFiles Program Files shell:ProgramFilesCommon C:\Program Files\Common Files shell:ProgramFilesCommonX86 C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files - for Windows x64 shell:ProgramFilesX86 C:\Program Files (x86) - for Windows x64 shell:Programs C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs (Per-user Start Menu Programs folder) shell:Public C:\Users\Public shell:PublicAccountPictures C:\Users\Public\AccountPictures shell:PublicGameTasks C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\GameExplorer shell:PublicLibraries C:\Users\Public\Libraries shell:Quick Launch C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch shell:Recent The "Recent Items" folder (Recent Documents) shell:RecordedTVLibrary The "Recorded TV" Library shell:RecycleBinFolder Recycle Bin shell:ResourceDir C:\Windows\Resources where visual styles are stored shell:Ringtones C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Ringtones shell:Roamed Tile Images Is not implemented yet. Reserved for future. shell:Roaming Tiles C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\RoamingTiles shell:SavedGames Saved Games shell:Screenshots The folder for Win+Print Screen screenshots shell:Searches Saved Searches shell:SearchHomeFolder Windows Search UI shell:SendTo The folder with items that you can see in the "Send to" menu shell:Start Menu C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu (Per-user Start Menu folder) shell:Startup Per-user Startup folder 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 C:\Windows\System32 shell:SystemCertificates C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SystemCertificates shell:SystemX86 C:\Windows\SysWOW64 -Windows x64 only shell:Templates C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates shell:User Pinned Pinned items for Taskbar and Start screen, C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned shell:UserProfiles C:\Users, the users folder where the user profiles are stored shell:UserProgramFiles Not implemented yet. Reserved for future. shell:UserProgramFilesCommon same as above shell:UsersFilesFolder The current user profile shell:UsersLibrariesFolder Libraries shell:VideosLibrary Videos Library shell:Windows C:\Windows

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