How to programmatically add a folder to Favorites in Windows File Explorer

Question

I am aware of the solutions answered here. Basically the idea is to create a link to folder in the %USERPROFILE%\Favoriates folder.

However it doesn't work for me. I'm using Windows8 (don't know if that matters). In my %USERPROFILE%\Favoriates, it contains favoriate items for IE, not the file explorer.

I tried to locate this settings in registry and file system by creating a folder with very unique name and adding it to file explorer favoriates. Then search for the name in registry and file system. Didn't yield anything.

The Favorites list is intended to be under user control. Applications should not be inserting them into the user's Favorites. This leads to unhappy users. — Raymond Chen, May 20 '13 at 20:29

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 20 '13 at 18:58

4

It looks like you want %UserProfile%\Links.

Pinned favorites

answered May 20 '13 at 18:58

Jimmy

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score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 09 '13 at 20:10

Programmatically, you want to retrieve the location using SHGetKnownFolderPath with KNOWNFOLDERID_Links, instead of hard-coding any location, and then use IShellLink to create the shortcut file in that location.

Here is a C# example for the first part:

[DllImport("shell32.dll")]
static extern int SHGetKnownFolderPath(
                      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStruct)] Guid knownFolderId, 
                      uint flags,
                      IntPtr userToken,
                      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] out string knownFolderPath);

// this corresponds to the KNOWNFOLDERID_Links constant:
public static readonly Guid Links = new Guid("bfb9d5e0-c6a9-404c-b2b2-ae6db6af4968");

public static string GetKnownFolderPath(Guid knownFolderId)
{
    string path;
    int result = SHGetKnownFolderPath(knownFolderId, 0, IntPtr.Zero, out path);
    // … (error handling; check result for E_FAIL, E_INVALIDARG, or S_OK)
    return path;
}

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 20 '13 at 18:58

0

Ah, looks like for Windows 8 this location has changed to %USERPROFILE%\Links, rather than %USERPROFILE%\Favoriates.

So to answer my question. To programmically add a folder to the Favoriates in Windows 8 file explorer, you need to make a link to that folder in the %USERPROFILE%\Links folder:

mklink /D %USERPROFILE%\Links\<Link_Name> <Tartget_Folder_Path>

answered May 20 '13 at 18:58

KFL

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3

Don't hard code paths. Use the API (e.g., SHGetKnownFolderPath) to get the correct path. – Adrian McCarthy May 20 '13 at 19:59

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered May 20 '13 at 18:58

0

The Explorer Favorites are stored here %USERPROFILE%\Links.

answered May 20 '13 at 18:58

David Ruhmann

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 27 '16 at 18:53

Function AddAFolderShortCut($fileName, $targetPath)
{
    Write-Host "Creating Shortcut $fileName points to $targetPath"
    $WshShell = New-Object -comObject WScript.Shell
    $Shortcut = $WshShell.CreateShortcut("$env:USERPROFILE\Links\$fileName.lnk")
    $Shortcut.TargetPath = $targetPath
    $Shortcut.Save()
}

AddAFolderShortCut "FolderName" "C:\folderpath"

How to programmatically add a folder to Favorites in Windows File Explorer

5 Answers5

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