Variable for Documents, Pictures, Music and Video folders

garlin · Sep 13, 2025

dacrone said:
prob have to use powershell in those instances... but @garlin or @pseymour would be better suited to answer that correctly

Your answer is probably the most efficient, but you can omit the "-command" since it's a trivial one-liner.

Code:

for /f "delims=" %%D in ('powershell "[Environment]::GetFolderPath('Desktop')"') do set desktopPath=%%D

shell:[whatever] is a great shortcut, but only works if you're opening Explorer windows. It's not a construct for use outside of Explorer.

Try3 · Sep 13, 2025

jacobacci said:
any way I can use a variable to access these folders (e.g. in a batch file)

I think dacrone's approach is well-suited to incorporating references to user folder paths in batch files.
All 5 of the common user folder paths can be retrieved this way:

for /f "delims=" %%D in ('powershell "[Environment]::GetFolderPath('Desktop')"') do set DesktopPath=%%D

for /f "delims=" %%L in ('powershell "[Environment]::GetFolderPath('MyDocuments')"') do set DocumentsPath=%%L

for /f "delims=" %%M in ('powershell "[Environment]::GetFolderPath('MyMusic')"') do set MusicPath=%%M

for /f "delims=" %%P in ('powershell "[Environment]::GetFolderPath('MyPictures')"') do set PicturesPath=%%P

for /f "delims=" %%V in ('powershell "[Environment]::GetFolderPath('MyVideo')"') do set VideoPath=%%V

:: Results
echo Desktop path is %DesktopPath%
echo Documents path is %DocumentsPath%
echo Music path is %MusicPath%
echo Pictures path is %PicturesPath%
echo Video path is %VideoPath%

Pause to examine the results

and if you were working purely in PS, you could use equivalent expressions in the form
$UserDesktop = [environment]::GetFolderPath('Desktop')

But, if you were working in VBS, you'd be limited to Desktop & Documents folder paths using this approach
UserDesktopPath = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell").SpecialFolders("Desktop")
MsgBox UserDesktopPath

UserDocumentsPath = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell").SpecialFolders("MyDocuments")
MsgBox UserDocumentsPath

All the best,
Denis

pseymour · Sep 13, 2025

antspants said:
What I’m not sure of, is why some are “Local” and some not. But they all hit their intended relocated folder’s.

Local Pictures, as opposed to OneDrivePictures.

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Try3 · Sep 13, 2025

pseymour said:
Local Pictures, as opposed to OneDrivePictures

Local pictures as opposed to Pictures.
I thought I had seen an explanation of their differences ages ago but cannot find it.

Denis

pseymour · Sep 13, 2025

Not sure what you mean by just Pictures. There are various pictures folders, as listed in Brink’s tutorial. I explained the Local distinction.

garlin · Sep 13, 2025

Some users created a MS Account directly onto OneDrive-hosted folder paths, other users will add OneDrive later.

Try3 · Sep 13, 2025

If you look in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
you may see some 'Local' entries for some user folders.
For example, the entries
My Video
{35286a68-3c57-41a1-bbb1-0eae73d76c95} [known as "Local videos"]
both point to the same folder in my case. OneDrive has never been involved.

The list of 'local' entries includes
{754AC886-DF64-4CBA-86B5-F7FBF4FBCEF5} ThisPCDesktopFolder
{f42ee2d3-909f-4907-8871-4c22fc0bf756} Local Documents
{7d83ee9b-2244-4e70-b1f5-5393042af1e4} Local Downloads
{a0c69a99-21c8-4671-8703-7934162fcf1d} Local Music
{0ddd015d-b06c-45d5-8c4c-f59713854639} Local Pictures
{35286a68-3c57-41a1-bbb1-0eae73d76c95} Local Videos

I think KeithM once posted an explanation of the meaning of 'local' user folders but all I can find is his list of their GUIDs.

All the best,
Denis

dacrone · Sep 13, 2025

local i believe is referring to the folders inside of "My Documents"

jacobacci · Sep 13, 2025

As the OP I can only say WOW to all the answers that came in in a short time. THANK YOU all!
To clarify the context a bit, I have attached an example batch. I'd be happy to use a power shell script if that makes things easier.
The batch files converts audio files in input directory using ffmpeg and outputs them to output directory.
The output path is set to "D:\RF My Videos\ffmpeg Convert\output\". Of course this does not work on a machine that has the video directory in the %userfolder%. That is why I am looking for a way to point to My Video Folder independent of how my machine is set up.

rem this batch processes all files in folder 'input' and puts the result in folder 'output'
set inext=mkv
set outext=mka
set command=-acodec copy
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%G IN ('dir /b /s *.%inext%') DO ffmpeg -i "%%G" %command% "D:\RF My Videos\ffmpeg Convert\output\%%~nG.%outext%"
pause

Try3 · Sep 13, 2025

My vague memory is that Local Documents etc refers to the location used by File explorer's ThisPC display of 'shortcuts' to user folders
and that this can sometimes differ from the relevant user folder path itself [due to errors during changes or user profile corruption?].
The solution was to delete the Local Documents etc entries so that ThisPC would then conform to the correct user folder paths. That's why KeithM posted their GUIDs. [I think the sequence was 1 run a tutorial that removed all the 'shortcuts' from ThisPC, 2 delete all the Registry's local folder GUIDs, 3 run the same tutorial to tell ThisPC to display its 'shortcuts' again.]
But I thought the discussion included an explanation of what the point was of Windows having any Local Documents etc paths defined at all. And it's this explanation that I cannot find.

All the best,
Denis

Try3 · Sep 13, 2025

jacobacci said:
I can only say WOW to all the answers that came in in a short time. THANK YOU all!
To clarify the context a bit, I have attached an example batch. I'd be happy to use a power shell script if that makes things easier.
The batch files converts audio files in input directory using ffmpeg and outputs them to output directory.
The output path is set to "D:\RF My Videos\ffmpeg Convert\output\". Of course this does not work on a machine that has the video directory in the %userfolder%.

I think you are saying that you have relocated
C:\Users\%UserName\Videos
to
D:\RF My Videos

In that case you can add a line in your batch file
for /f "delims=" %%V in ('powershell "[Environment]::GetFolderPath('MyVideo')"') do set VideoPath=%%V
and then change your output line to
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%G IN ('dir /b /s *.%inext%') DO ffmpeg -i "%%G" %command% "%VideoPath%\ffmpeg Convert\output\%%~nG.

Note that this makes use of a Powershell function but, as far as you are concerned, you are staying in your batch file. Your batch file is merely calling up that PS function.

So you will then have
rem this batch processes all files in folder 'input' and puts the result in folder 'output'
set inext=mkv
set outext=mka
set command=-acodec copy
for /f "delims=" %%V in ('powershell "[Environment]::GetFolderPath('MyVideo')"') do set VideoPath=%%V

FOR /F "tokens=*" %%G IN ('dir /b /s *.%inext%') DO ffmpeg -i "%%G" %command% "%VideoPath%\ffmpeg Convert\output\%%~nG.%outext%"

pause

Denis

jacobacci · Sep 13, 2025

It works! @dacrone and @Try3 you are heroes.

Try3 · Sep 13, 2025

No, dacrone is.
All I did was make use of the solution dacrone posted.

Denis

pseymour · Sep 13, 2025

@Try3 No idea what you’re on about with your walls of text. It’s local as opposed to cloud. No more complex than that.

jacobacci · Sep 13, 2025

Try3 said:
No, dacrone is.
All I did was make use of the solution dacrone posted.

Denis

Thanks extended in avove post

jacobacci · Sep 14, 2025

Just an idea to make things simpler. Could I use an auto starting PowerShell script upon Windows startup to establish the relevant variables for the shell folders, so that they would be available to be used in any batch afterwards? This would keep the batches simpler.

Try3 · Sep 14, 2025

jacobacci said:
Just an idea to make things simpler. Could I use an auto starting PowerShell script upon Windows startup to establish the relevant variables for the shell folders, so that they would be available to be used in any batch afterwards? This would keep the batches simpler.

Variable persistence / variable scope is not straightforward.

I can recall the subject cropping up when I was first studying batch files but I have not even considered it since then.
One method is, instead of setting variables with a set cmd, using setx instead so you'd be setting them as 'environmental' variables.
Is there a way to create a persistent variable in batch file by writing to itself? - SO This article warns against the setx approach.

Straightforward variables only belong to the script setting them as you can see below.

jacobacci said:
This would keep the batches simpler

Well, yes. But not much since setting each variable will only take one line.
for /f "delims=" %%V in ('powershell "[Environment]::GetFolderPath('MyVideo')"') do set VideoPath=%%V

All the best,
Denis

jacobacci · Sep 14, 2025

Thanks, Dennis
I think I will leave it at the current solution. I have already copied the two changed lines to all my batches. Luckily I had the good sense to separate the extensions and the command parameters into variables a while back. The principle of listing all variables at the beginning of a progream was used in Niklaus Wirth's Pascal programming language which we learned close to 50 years ago during my studies at ETH Zürich.
So now I can just copy the two generic lines across.

Variable for Documents, Pictures, Music and Video folders

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