Any way to create a Desktop shortcut to a subfolder?

Djard · Wednesday at 4:16 PM

I succeeded in creating a Desktop shortcut to a subfolder named "Guides" in the Documents directory. But if I use the same steps to create a shortcut to a subfolder named "Captures" in the Documents directory, it opens to "Home." Below are the steps I used.

1. Right-click in vacant area of Desktop -> New -> Shortcut -> in location field, type in path:

explorer.exe "C:\Documents\Guides"

2. Next -> type in name (e.g. Guides) -> Finish.

These steps also work for other subfolders in C:\Documents but not for most, even those with unique names. Is there a way to force the shortcut to open a subfolder, using RegEdit?

spapakons · Wednesday at 4:37 PM

If we are talking about Windows 7/8/10/11 the default location of your Documents folder is

C:\Users\yourname\Documents

so any subfolder inside Documents should be like:

C:\Users\yourname\Documents\subfolder

or in your case

C:\Users\yourname\Documents\Captures

So create a new shortcut and type the path above in the target, where yourname is the user name as shown in the Users folder. This should work. The same way you can copy paste a URL (aka internet location) so you can double-click the shortcut and open a specific website.

Helmut · Wednesday at 4:49 PM

Easier to Select Folder/File > More Options > Send to > Desktop(create shortcut).
Then no errors are made in manually typing in the Target: or Start in: fields.

Using your method, Browse To the Folder/File, again the Target: and Start in: paths will be filled in.

As far as I know this works for everything in the Documents folders.

There is no "explorer.exe" in the path.

NormanF · Wednesday at 6:07 PM

If you're a creating a dummy hub for a bunch of office applications, you have put explorer. exe in the path so the hub will open the folder. You can change the default file icon to a hub one.

glasskuter · Wednesday at 7:04 PM

I am successfully able to create a shortcut to a file located in both sub and sub-sub folders as well as create shortcuts to the folders themselves. I can open either folder or file from the shortcut. I did it the old fashioned way....right click on folder or file, select send to (create shortcut), select desktop.. They all opened correctly.

NormanF · Wednesday at 7:29 PM

Its changed by Windows updates. The more reliable alternative is TaskbarGroups. Your applications icons live in Shortcuts Taskbar Group folder that you can pin with your hub icon to the taskbar or to the Open Shell Start menu.

Web apps have to go to in a Start Menu folder and you have to change the blank icons for them to show up.

Djard · 2026-06-25T15:30:28-0400

I thank everybody for responding.

My apology for not mentioning I moved "C:\Users\{username}\Documents" to "C:\Documents," where a navigation panel opens at left and lets me expand folders, unlike the former in the quick access section.

I already tried the "Send to" option that sometimes works but not for a subfolder named Captures. And I do not want to pin the shortcut to my already crowded taskbar. I was hoping for a solution that involves editing the Registry as I have had more success with that option when customizing (maybe GPEdit?).

I compared the properties of my shortcut to my "Guides" subfolder with those of "Captures": the properties are identical: the former opens to the target subfolder; the latter opens to "Home" in File Explorer.

I used the command: explorer.exe "C:\Documents\Cigars" to create a Desktop shortcut to a subfolder named Cigars, and it worked, opening the subfolder. When I changed its path in Properties to Captures, the link opened to "Home." So it seems Windows handles the folder name differently. Thinking my screen capture software might be dictating the location, I renamed the Captures subfolder to My Special Screenshots. This also opens to "Home."

Another thing I tried was to copy the fully functional "Guides" shortcut, rename it as Captures and modify the path. But that opens to Home. Anything else I can try?

spapakons · 2026-06-25T15:40:04-0400

Have you used the "change location" option to move the Documents folder or you simply copy-pasted the files into the new folder? Since only the C:\Documents\Captures doesn't work, it might be associate with something else like a symbolic link or network location. File Explorer doesn't know how to handle it and opens Home as a result. I would try to rename the folder and if that doesn't work, I would create a new folder, copy all the files from Capture into the new folder and create a shortcut to the new folder. This should work.

pseymour · 2026-06-25T16:05:30-0400

What happens when you open a Run box and put in what you want for the shortcut, i.e., explorer.exe "C:\Documents\Whatever-the-folder-is-named-currently"?

Also, did you try dragging the folder from Explorer to the Desktop with the right mouse button? When you let go, you should get a context menu with an option to create a shortcut.

spapakons · 2026-06-25T16:08:44-0400

You don't need the explorer.exe part, just type the path directly in the Run box, but I suspect it will have the same result. File Explorer won't know how to handle it and just open to Home. Try creating a new folder and copy all the contents of Capture to that. Then create a shortcut to the new folder. This should work.

pseymour · 2026-06-25T16:10:19-0400

You already said that in your last post. No need to repeat it.

Helmut · 2026-06-25T19:57:57-0400

You are trying to use command line switches with explorer.exe not Shortcuts. To start Windows Explorer at a different point.
Look up what are currently valid command line switches and contexts, that has changed in recent years.

It is far easier to use Shortcuts with the methods outlined several times before.

Djard said:
And I do not want to pin the shortcut to my already crowded taskbar.

But you cannot do that now anyway, it's not allowed.

Djard · 2026-06-26T12:17:41-0400

spapakons: I used the Move option in the Location tab of Properties from the context menu to relocate the Documents directory.

pseymour: I created a new subfolder with my cat's name, Scruffins -> right-clicked in Desktrop -> New -> Shortcut -> Browsed to and selected Scruffins -> OK -> Next -> Finish. But the shortcut open to "Home."

Dragging the subfolder to Desktop with the right mouse button and selecting "Create shortcut here" also opens to "Home." Doing the same with "Alt" key depressed or using the "Send to" option also gives the same result.

explorer.exe "C:\Documents\Captures" -> OK in the Run field opens to "Home."

Helmut: Did I misunderstand NormanF's post above, who seems to suggest pinning to the Taskbar?

spapakons · 2026-06-26T12:33:38-0400

Something is wrong with the folder association. Instead of opening a specific with File Explorer it opens Home. What if a folder is in a totally different location? If you have a second partition or disk, such as D: try creating a folder there, like D:\test and see if you can create a shortcut to that. If you can, then something is wrong with your Documents folder. If it still opens Home, then something is wrong with Windows. I can't help you any further. No idea what to do.

PS: Just saw your first post again. So a folder on Desktop works but not in Documents. Something is wrong with the Documents folder. Enable showing hidden files and see if there is anything unknown and suspicious. I would check for malware. Also run this command in a Run box:

chkdsk C: /f

to scan the disk and fix any logical errors. It cannot be done while Windows is running, it will suggest to do it on startup. Reply yes and restart to complete.

Also instead of creating a Captures folder inside C:\Documents try creating it on root, that is C:\Captures and check if you can create a shortcut for this.

pseymour · 2026-06-26T12:51:36-0400

What do you get, at a command prompt, with

Batch:

dir "C:\Documents\Captures"
attrib "C:\Documents\Captures"

Djard · 2026-06-26T13:37:26-0400

spapakons: I ran chkdsk C: /f and no errors are reported. I also created the folder in the root directory and created a Desktop shortcut to the folder, but alas, "Home" opens.

pseymour: Running the first command report that "Volume in drive C has no label." Windows' Disk Management shows the correct assignment (screenshots attached). If a volume label is merely cosmetic, its absence should not affect shortcut assignments...right?

spapakons · 2026-06-26T13:41:37-0400

I also have not assigned a name for my drives. I have no problem creating shortcuts for any folder. You can download the latest ISO from Microsoft and run Setup to do an in-place upgrade/repair. This should fix any issues in Registry or whatever. Then check if you can create a shortcut to the folder.

Djard · 2026-06-26T14:12:29-0400

I just noticed that while a shortcut to my "Captures" folder opens to "Home" in the left panel of File Explorer, the contents of the subfolder DO appear in the right pane. Because the subfolder was empty, I could not see that the shortcut actually worked: I am used to seeing the folder appear in the left panel. Placing a dummy file in the folder revealed this matter.

So all the create shortcut methods work, only the parent folder is absent in the navigation panel at left. I suppose I can live with that.

TairikuOkami · 2026-06-26T14:23:36-0400

MS created a mess, by default docs link to OneDrive and by default they are always online.
Dragging a shortcut is probably the easiest way to do it without serious repercussions.

spapakons · 2026-06-26T14:26:46-0400

TairikuOkami said:
MS created a mess, by default docs link to OneDrive and by default they are always online.
Dragging a shortcut is probably the easiest way to do it without serious repercussions.

View attachment 175285

One way to avoid automatically moving your folders to OneDrive is not use a Microsoft account to login. Use a local Administrator account and login to OneDrive or other applications only with your Microsoft account. Not globally associate your local account with your Microsoft account.

Any way to create a Desktop shortcut to a subfolder?

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