Win7: Changing Explorer’s Default

One of the biggest new features in Windows 7 are libraries, which are virtual folders which organize files of a certain type, regardless of their location on the hard drive. For example, one of the default libraries is Pictures, and you can tell Windows to search certain folders (or your entire hard drive) to find photos to add to the virtual Pictures folder.

While it’s a groovy new feature that I like, one thing I hate about it is that Microsoft decided to put it front and center with Windows Explorer. When you click on the “Windows Explorer” icon on the taskbar, the window displays your libraries instead of the standard hard drives you’re probably used to.

Fortunately, you can change this behavior back to the “old way” by simply editing a shortcut:

1) Close all open Windows Explorer windows.

2) Hold down the SHIFT key, right-click on the Explorer shortcut and choose “Properties”.

3) In the “Target:” box, paste the following text:

explorer.exe ::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

4) To change the shortcut back to the default behavior, repeat steps 1 and 2 and paste the following text instead:

%windir%\explorer.exe

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